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Oklahoma City University Athletics

Oklahoma City University
Home Of Champions|73 National Championships
Jonathan Reed
Johnathan Reed scored a career-high 20 points in the Stars' last home game vs. Mid-America Christian.

Men's Basketball

OCU vs. Southwestern Christian men's basketball preview

Stars look to notch another conference win

8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center
 
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City looks to keep pace in the conference race with a home matchup against Southwestern Christian.
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 fell just short 76-73 to Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) in Waxahachie, Texas, on Saturday. The Stars (12-2, 3-1 SAC) used a 16-3 run at the end of the game to cut the lead to three, but failed to get any closer.
Lou Dunbar paced OCU with 32 points to go along with three rebounds and three steals. Dunbar, a 6-foot-3 junior from Seabrook, Texas, went 9-for-16 from the floor and 5-for-9 from beyond the arc. He averages 14.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.7 made 3-pointers per contest.
Xavier Smith, a 6-9 senior out of Richardson, Texas, scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked one shot. Smith leads OCU with 17.2 point and 9.2 rebounds, 2.45 blocks per contest. He ranks fourth in the NAIA in total blocks (34) as well as free throw percentage (91.7).
OCU stands second in the NAIA in total blocks (83) and blocks (5.93) per game. To see how the Stars compare to the rest of the NAIA statistically, click here.
The Stars stayed in the fifth spot in the latest NAIA Division I 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 Southwestern Christian 4-2. In the last meeting, the Stars edged Southwestern Christian 71-67 on Feb. 15, 2016 at Abe Lemons Arena in Oklahoma City. Dunbar led all scorers with 27 points, including the eventual game-winning jumper.

ABOUT THE EAGLES: Southwestern Christian dropped a 77-69 decision against No. 16 Texas Wesleyan on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Eagles (10-6, 2-2 SAC) never held the lead in the second half.
Joshua Simmons, a 6-7 junior, provided Southwestern Christian with 25 points and 11 rebounds on his way to becoming the NAIA player of the week. He is averaging 22.8 points 12.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game in five games this season. Marvin White, a 6-2 senior, scored 22 points, grabbed two rebounds and dished out two assists. He averages 18.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per contest.
The Eagles were picked to finish sixth 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.
Dave Bliss enters his second season as head men's basketball coach at Southwestern Christian. Under Bliss, SCU enjoyed its best season since joining the NAIA with a 19-15 record and an NCCAA Division I Tournament runner-up finish. In Bliss' 40-plus years of collegiate coaching experience including stops at Oklahoma, Southern Methodist, New Mexico and Baylor, he has compiled a record of 555-349 with four conference regular-season titles, one league tournament crown, five National Invitational Tournament bids and eight NCAA Tournament appearances.

QUOTABLE: "Coach Bliss has a great team over at Southwestern Christian. He has one of the best players in the country, and we are going to have our hands full with guarding their team. Our team is looking forward to getting back on the floor and competing. Hopefully we can compete at a higher level and put ourselves in better position to be successful." – Patel on the matchup with SCU

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

Lou Dunbar

#22 Lou Dunbar

G
6' 3"
Junior
Xavier Smith

#11 Xavier Smith

C
6' 9"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Lou Dunbar

#22 Lou Dunbar

6' 3"
Junior
G
Xavier Smith

#11 Xavier Smith

6' 9"
Senior
C