5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5
Pickens-Springer Gymnasium in Bethany, Okla.
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University opens Sooner Athletic Conference play against Southwestern Christian.
ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars (2-1) outlasted Oklahoma Christian 83-70 last Saturday in the Central Oklahoma Classic to improve to 2-1 on the season. Oklahoma City outscored OC 45-24 in the second half, while shooting 63.6 percent from the field and keeping OC to just 35.3 percent in the period.
Lou Dunbar, a 6-foot-3 sophomore from Seabrook, Texas, scored 23 points for the Stars while shooting 7-for-11 from the 3-point territory. OCU shot 13-for-20 from beyond the arc compared to OC's 5-for-16. Dunbar is tied in second place for 3-point percentage with 50 percent in the SAC. He posts 15.7 points per game and a 53.6 percent field-goal percentage.
Andrew Akaji, a 6-4 freshman from Belleview, Fla., led OCU with nine rebounds and added 10 points. Akaji supplies the Stars with 7.0 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds a game. Evan White, a 6-4 senior from San Antonio, hit 4 of 5 from 3-point territory to add 12 points. White averages 6.7 points and 2.3 rebounds with a 40 percent 3-point percentage.
OCU's 38.6 percent 3-point shooting ranks 16th in the NAIA. Jamil Donovan ranks seventh in NAIA Division I and leads the SAC with 6.0 assists per game. To see how OCU rates statistically among NAIA Division I, click here.
The Stars picked up votes in the preseason NAIA Division I rankings. OCU has been slotted to take sixth in the SAC according to the preseason coaches poll. Oklahoma City has won or shared the SAC regular-season championship 12 times, most recently in 2007-08. OCU has captured six national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
The all-time series between the two teams is tied at 2-2. The Stars ousted the Eagles 75-63 in the most recent matchup Feb. 7, 2015 at Abe Lemons Arena.
ABOUT THE EAGLES: The Eagles lost its SAC opener to St. Gregory's 91-85 on Thursday at Sumner Fieldhouse. SCU (2-6, 0-1 SAC) won the points in the paint battle 50-22 but the Cavaliers converted 22 Eagles turnovers into 37 points.
Marvin White, a 6-2 junior, had a game-high 29 points with five rebounds off the bench. White, a junior guard, leads the team in points per game (24.1) and rebounds (5.1) per game. Shawn Scott, a 6-foot sophomore, scored 16 points. Scott averages 11.6 points and 3.9 rebounds a contest.
Southwestern Christian ranks 12th in the NAIA in free-throw percentage (73.6 percent). The Eagles were projected to finish eighth place in the SAC in the preseason poll.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Vinay Patel embarks on his first season as OCU head coach. He came to Oklahoma City after spending one season as Rogers State's assistant coach. He aided Rogers State to a 20-8 season led by conference player of the year Frederico Santos. Patel spent nine years as assistant at West Texas A&M. During that time, West Texas went to the NCAA Division II Tournament five times, won the Lone Star Conference championship and took two Lone Star South Division titles. He elevated to the interim head-coaching position before he ended his time at West Texas A&M.
Dave Bliss enters his first season as Southwestern Christian head coach after leading Bryan Allen Academy (Texas) to the Class 2A Texas Christian Athletic League state championship in each of the past five years. Bliss' collegiate coaching experience began under Bob Knight at Army and Indiana before accepting his first head-coaching position at University of Oklahoma in 1975. In Bliss' 40 years of collegiate coaching experience including stops at Oklahoma, Southern Methodist, New Mexico and Baylor, he has compiled a record of 528-334.
FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest from OCU athletics through several ways.
Check out OCU athletics on several social media platforms by looking up the handle @ocustars. The Stars are on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and new for 2015-16, Instagram.
Fans can sign up to receive the latest OCU athletic headlines via e-mail by going here.
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: OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio, stats and video of the Stars' games. Listen to the game by clicking here. Andrew Himes provides the commentary. Himes, in his fifth season as the voice of the Stars, has been broadcasting OCU games for eight years starting on color commentary as an OCU student.
Fans can follow the game via live video and live stats.
