Men's Basketball 2/21/2014 3:36:00 PM

OCU at Texas Wesleyan men's basketball preview

Stars look for season sweep of Rams

Kaleb Smith is averaging 9.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.

5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22
Sid Richardson Center in Fort Worth, Texas

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University travels to take on first-year Sooner Athletic Conference member Texas Wesleyan.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU surged past USAO 81-64 Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars improved to 15-9 overall and 11-6 in SAC play with the win and moved into second place in the SAC standings with three regular-season games remaining.
Senior R.J. McGhee paced the OCU effort with 22 points and six rebounds against USAO. The 6-foot-6 forward from Baton Rouge, La., is averaging 18.6 points in SAC play to lead the Stars in scoring. McGhee is third on the team in rebounding grabbing 4.5 boards per contest.
Center Terrence Walker provided 17 points, on 50 percent shooting from the field, and five rebounds against the Drovers. The 6-foot-8 senior from Jonesboro, Ark., boasts a team-leading 59 percent field goal percentage to go along with 11.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per outing.
Reserve guard Ivan Matip added 13 points and nine rebounds while not missing a shot from the field or the free throw line on the night. The 6-foot-3 senior from Ojai, Calif., averages 4.7 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.
OCU made 34-of-39 attempts from the charity stripe against the Drovers and is 12th in NAIA Division I in free throw percentage at 73 percent. To see how the Stars stack up statistically with the rest of the NAIA, click here.
The Stars received votes in the latest NAIA Division I rankings. The Stars were picked to finish fourth in the SAC in the preseason coaches' poll. OCU has won national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
Texas Wesleyan holds a 10-7 advantage over OCU. In the last meeting between the two, the Stars prevailed 74-71 over the Rams on Jan. 23 at Abe Lemons Arena.

ABOUT THE RAMS: Texas Wesleyan dumped Southwestern Christian 84-55 Thursday at Pickens-Springer Gymnasium in Bethany, Okla. The Rams enter Saturday's contest at 15-12 overall and 8-9 in SAC play.
Jorge Redmon keyed the Rams' attack with 26 points, three assists and three rebounds. The 5-foot-10 guard leads Texas Wesleyan with 18.7 points per contest and is fifth in NAIA Division I with a free throw percentage of 88 percent.
Rilwan Bakare provided 11 points and five rebounds in 16 minutes of action off the bench. The 6-foot-7 forward averages 11.6 points per game and is the Rams' second leading rebounder with 6.0 boards per outing.
Jervon Hooks chipped in with nine points and six assists against the Eagles. The 5-foot-9 guard ranks sixth in NAIA Division I in assists per game (5.9) and total assists (147).
The Rams are fourth in NAIA Division I in assist per game (18.0) and sixth in total offensive rebounds (1,133). Texas Wesleyan was slated to finish fifth in the SAC by league coaches.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Dionne Phelps owns a record of 44-35 in his third season as OCU coach. He led the Stars to the SAC Tournament title and an NAIA Division I Tournament appearance in 2012-13. Phelps took over the Stars after serving as assistant coach for Oklahoma, which featured future No. 1 NBA Draft pick Blake Griffin during his tenure. Phelps has been a part of four conference title teams as well as three NCAA Tournament teams during his 23-year coaching career. Phelps played for Texas Lutheran, eventually joining the Bulldog Athletic Hall of Fame.
Brennan Shingleton is in the midst of his second season as head coach of Texas Wesleyan. He spent 10 seasons as an assistant and associate head coach for the Rams prior to being named head man. During his time at Texas Wesleyan, Shinglton has helped the Rams to four Red River Athletic Conference titles and the 2005-06 NAIA Division I championship.

QUOTABLE: "Texas Wesleyan is a very physical and a very athletic and deep team. We're going to have to get back and look at some film and see some things because they are playing really, really well at home." – Phelps on Texas Wesleyan

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Help OCU win an NAIA contest and gain more followers on social media in 2013-14. Become a fan of the Oklahoma City University Stars on Facebook by going to www.facebook.com/ocustars.
Become a follower of the OCU Stars on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ocustars.
Check out video of the Stars in action at www.youtube.com/ocustars.
Be sure to catch the OCU Athletics Update video program weekly on ocusports.com, the OCU YouTube Channel or on OCU Athletics' Facebook page. Click here to see the latest edition or see our video channel in the upper right-hand corner of our home page.

ON THE AIR: Texas Wesleyan will provide live stats for the contest.

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