OCU vs. Wayland Baptist men's basketball preview

Stars put unbeaten record on line vs. conference foe Wayland Baptist

3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City takes on Wayland Baptist (Texas) in the Stars' first Sooner Athletic Conference home game of the season.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students, while OCU students, faculty and staff are allowed into all regular-season OCU athletics events for free with their ID. If the Stars score 70 points, fans will get a prize from Raising Cane's.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City opened conference play by defeating John Brown (Ark.) 84-76 on Thursday at Bill George Arena in Siloam Springs, Ark. The Stars (7-0, 1-0 SAC) overcame a seven-point halftime deficit and shot 61.5 percent from the field.
Lou Dunbar, a 6-foot-3 junior from Seabrook, Texas, led the Stars with 27 points and two steals. Dunbar leads the team in scoring, averaging 18.0 points per game, and ranks ninth in the NAIA with 3.42 made 3-pointers per game.
Xavier Smith and Tyler Alderman both had 12 points for the Stars in the win. Smith, a 6-9 senior from Richardson, Texas, paced OCU with six rebounds and three blocked shots. He ranks fifth in the NAIA with 2.29 blocks per contest. Alderman, a 6-9 senior out of Fishers, Ind., pulled down five rebounds.
OCU stands first in the NAIA in blocks (6.29) per game. To see how the Stars compare to the rest of the NAIA statistically, click here.
The Stars held the 18th spot in the preseason poll. The Stars have been picked to take second in the SAC according to the preseason coaches' poll. Oklahoma City owns six NAIA national championships won in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
OCU leads the all-time series against Wayland 42-15. In the last meeting, the Pioneers knocked OCU out of the SAC Tournament last season 75-71 on March 3 in Waxahachie, Texas. Jonathan Reed scored a career-high 17 points in the contest.

ABOUT THE PIONEERS: Wayland Baptist gutted out an 88-84 win over Southwestern Christian on Thursday in Bethany, Okla. Russell Harrison gave the Pioneers (8-2) the go-ahead free throws with 2:01 left.
Marshall Nelson, a 6-2 junior, led WBU with 28 points, while also adding four rebounds and three assists. Nelson is averaging 12.0 points, 3.4 assists and 2.67 rebounds per game. Maurice Redmond, a 6-2 senior, had 15 points, six steals and four assists in the win. Redmond averages 15.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.20 steals per contest. He ranks third in the NAIA in total steals with 22.
Wayland Baptist has been picked to finish in seventh place in the 10-team Sooner Athletic Conference.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Vinay Patel enters his second season as OCU head coach. In his first year, Oklahoma City finished 15-11 and tied for second in the Sooner Athletic conference. Before coming to OCU, he spent one season as Rogers State's assistant coach and aided the Hillcats 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.
Former Pioneer all-American Ty Harrelson was named head coach of the Wayland Baptist men's basketball program in the summer of 2015. Harrelson, who played two seasons at Wayland from 2001-03 and holds multiple school records, came to Wayland after playing and coaching professional basketball the past 12 years, most recently in Australia. He is 29-14 in his second season with the Pioneers.

QUOTABLE: "I'm extremely pleased that we were able to fight back in that second half and get the win. It wasn't pretty, but we were able to fight, scratch and claw for a victory on the road." – Patel on the conference opening win over John Brown

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, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Receive the latest OCU athletic headlines via e-mail by going here.
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. Follow OCU's games via live audio, stats and video by visiting OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Cost to watch each game is $7.95 per game, $34.95 to see all 2016-17 home basketball games and $79.95 to watch all of OCU's action in every sport in 2016-17.
Andrew Himes provides the commentary. Himes, in his sixth season as the voice of the Stars, has been broadcasting OCU games for nine years starting on color commentary as an OCU student.

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Players Mentioned

#22 Lou Dunbar: G; 6' 3"; Junior

#2 Jonathan Ellis: G; 5' 7"; Junior

#4 Tyler Alderman: C; 6' 9"; Senior

#11 Xavier Smith: C; 6' 9"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#22 Lou Dunbar
: 6' 3"; Junior
: G

#2 Jonathan Ellis
: 5' 7"; Junior
: G

#4 Tyler Alderman
: 6' 9"; Senior
: C

#11 Xavier Smith
: 6' 9"; Senior
: C