OCU vs. USAO men's basketball preview

Stars look to keep pace in tough Sooner Athletic Conference

8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University tries to stop a three-game losing skid against Sooner Athletic Conference foe USAO. Free pizza will be provided for all OCU students who attend the game.
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 dropped a 98-76 decision to No. 12 Texas Wesleyan on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Stars (13-5, 4-4 Sooner Athletic Conference) trailed by double digits for the entirety of the second half.
Lou Dunbar, a 6-foot-3 junior from Seabrook, Texas, collected 12 points while shooting 5-for-10 from 3-point range. Dunbar provides OCU with 14.5 points and 2.9 rebounds a game and a 46.9 percent 3-point shooting clip. He ranks 13th in the NAIA with 2.78 made 3-pointers per game.
Xavier Smith, a 6-9 senior from Richardson, Texas, posted a double-double with 12 points and tied a season high with 13 boards. He leads the SAC with 10 double-doubles this season. Smith leads OCU with 16.6 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.39 rejections per game. Elijah Christman, a 6-5 sophomore from Justin, Texas, had his best game as a Star, posting 13 points to go along with two rebounds and one steal.
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 USAO 35-18. The Drovers took an 84-76 decision over Oklahoma City on Feb. 20, 2016 at Abe Lemons Arena. Jonathan Reed provided the Stars with 11 points off the bench.

ABOUT THE DROVERS: USAO defeated Southwestern Christian 78-74 Saturday in Chickasha, Okla. The Drovers (9-10, 4-4 SAC) won their third straight conference match after starting conference play 1-4.
Greg Smith, a 6-6 junior, had a season-high 23 points, to go along with 17 rebounds and two blocked shots. Smith delivers 9.5 points and 9.3 rebounds a game. Taran Buie, a 6-2 junior, had 21 points, five rebounds and five assists. Buie leads the NAIA with 26.6 points per game. He also averages 4.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.00 made 3-pointers per game.
USAO's 75.2 percent free-throw percentage ranks sixth in the NAIA. The Drovers were expected to finish fifth 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.
Chris Francis has a 26-22 head-coaching record in his second season leading USAO. Francis had been an assistant at USAO the past two seasons after previously serving as an assistant at LSU-Shreveport. Francis became a student assistant after setting the career record for games played at Rogers State.

QUOTABLE: "USAO is coming in as one of the hottest teams in the league. Chris [Francis] does a great job with his group, and they seem to be hitting on all cylinders since he has gotten his full team on the floor. They are extremely talented across the board and we are going to need one of our best defensive efforts of the year to help slow them down. I'm excited to get our team back on the floor, and hopefully we are competing at a very high level come game time." – Patel on the matchup with USAO

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

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

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

#10 Elijah Christman: F; 6' 5"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#10 Elijah Christman
: 6' 5"; Sophomore
: F