OCU vs. St. Gregory's men's basketball preview

Stars look to extend eight-game win streak at Abe Lemons Arena

8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University looks to return to its winning ways against St. Gregory's.
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: OCU fell 74-64 to Wayland Baptist (Texas) on Monday in Plainview, Texas. The Stars (13-3, 4-2 Sooner Athletic Conference) had their second shooting performance at 35 percent or worse this season by shooting 35 percent from the field.
Tyler Alderman, a 6-foot-9 senior from Fishers, Ind., posted his fourth double-double of the season with 21 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. He shot 8-for-13 from the field. Alderman produces 10.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.19 blocks per game with a 61.5 percent field-goal percentage.
Lou Dunbar, a 6-3 junior from Seabrook, Texas, collected 14 points while shooting 4-for-10 from 3-point range. He sank four of OCU's five treys. Dunbar provides OCU with 14.4 points and 3.0 rebounds a game and a 43.3 percent 3-point shooting clip. Xavier Smith, a 6-9 senior from Richardson, Texas, had 13 points and nine boards. He made the first Bevo Francis Award watch list of 100 small-college players. Smith averages 16.9 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.25 rejections per game.
OCU ranks among the NAIA's top five in blocked shots and blocks per game this season. See how the Stars rank among the NAIA's statistical leaders, click here.
The Stars remained among the top 10, moving to eighth in the NAIA Division I rankings released Tuesday. OCU has 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 overall series against St. Gregory's 37-3. The Stars took a 75-62 decision over St. Gregory's on Feb. 27, 2016 at Abe Lemons Arena to close out the 2015-16 regular season.

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS: St. Gregory's dropped a 78-56 verdict to Southwestern Christian on Monday in Bethany, Okla. St. Gregory's (6-7, 2-4 SAC) tallied its lowest scoring output of the season.
Jordan Rutherford, a 6-7 senior, accrued 17 points, three rebounds and two blocks. Rutherford delivers 18.5 points and 6.9 rebounds a game along with a 43.6 percent 3-point shooting percentage. Rodney Smith, a 6-foot senior, had 16 points and two rebounds. Smith averages 20.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists a game while hitting 47.4 percent of his 3-point shots.
St. Gregory's 77.4 percent free-throw percentage ranks second in the NAIA. The Cavaliers were expected to finish ninth in the SAC in the preseason.

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.
Dylan Lemley took over as St. Gregory's coach after spending last season as an assistant coach to John Martin, an OCU alum who became St. Gregory's athletic director. Lemley played for St. Gregory's for three complete seasons, picking up 2010-11 SAC freshman of the year. OCU alum Austin Ennis, who was on the Stars' 2008 national championship team, serves as Lemley's assistant.

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, YouTube and 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. Follow the game via live audio, stats and video by visiting OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Cost to watch the 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 calls the action. 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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

#22 Lou Dunbar

#4 Tyler Alderman

#11 Xavier Smith

Players Mentioned

#22 Lou Dunbar

#4 Tyler Alderman

#11 Xavier Smith