OCU vs. USAO men’s basketball preview

Stars look for first win in conference play

Ryan Wiley tipped in the game-winner vs. USAO on Jan. 26.

Men's Basketball | 12/5/2017 11:59:00 AM

7:45 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

STATS | WATCH | LISTEN

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University looks for its first win in Sooner Athletic Conference play against USAO at Abe Lemons Arena
• The contest matches top-25 teams following the release of the latest rankings Tuesday
• Bring a canned food item for the annual OCU athletics Christmas food drive benefiting Skyline Urban Ministry. OCU student-athletes collected 22,293 food items in last year's drive. The Stars have supplied 92,320 food items to feed hungry people of the community over the past decade. The food drive ends Dec. 10
• Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for students and OCU students, faculty and staff get into all regular-season OCU home athletics events free with their ID
• When the Stars score 70 points, fans get a 2-for-1 combo coupon for Raising Cane's

ABOUT THE STARS
• Oklahoma City (6-2, 0-1 SAC) dropped its conference opener 77-70 to Mid-America Christian Saturday at the Gaulke Activity Center. Despite the loss, the Stars outscored the Evangels in points in the paint (34-20), points off turnovers (15-8) and second-chance points (17-7)
• Terence Bonhomme, a 6-foot senior from St. Martinville, La., paced OCU with 17 points and six rebounds against Mid-America Christian. He averages 20.6 points per game and is No. 1 in NAIA Division I men's basketball in free throw percentage, shooting 97.4 percent on the season
• Elijah Christman, a 6-5 junior from Justin, Texas, added 14 points and eight boards in Saturday's loss. Christman averages 9.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest this year
• The Stars remain one of the highest-scoring teams in NAIA Division I, ranking ninth in scoring offense per game with an average of 95.7 points. OCU ranks 20th in NAIA Division I in 3-point field goals made per game with 9.5
• OCU went to 23rd in the newest NAIA Division I top 25. Oklahoma City has made 23 NAIA Division I Tournament appearances and won six national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008
• The Stars have been picked to finish second place in the Sooner Athletic Conference according to the preseason coaches poll. OCU owns 12 SAC regular-season titles and nine SAC Tournament crowns
• Oklahoma City last met USAO in the SAC Tournament championship game on March 4 at Abe Lemons Arena, falling to the Drovers 93-90. Lou Dunbar led the Stars with 26 points, including seven made 3s. OCU leads the all-time series between the two programs 36-20
• In the Jan. 26 matchup between OCU and USAO, Dunbar went for a career-high 50 points against the Drovers and became the first OCU player to score 50 points since OCU entered NAIA membership in 1985-86. Ryan Wiley delivered the winning tip-in in a 95-93 Stars win

ABOUT THE DROVERS
• USAO (9-0, 1-0 SAC) comes off a 70-69 win at home over Central Christian (Kan.) in its SAC opener. The Drovers faced a five-point deficit with five minutes to go in the second half, but rallied back to win despite shooting 42.0 percent from the field
• Brandon Scott, a 5-11 senior from Dallas, leads USAO in scoring with 19.1 points per game. He also has dished 45 total assists this season, the 11th most in NAIA Division I
• USAO enters Wednesday's contest as one of the best rebounding teams in the nation, averaging 29.6 defensive rebounds per game (3rd in NAIA Division I) and have a plus-10.3 rebounding margin per game (16th in NAIA Division I). The Drovers also rank 6th in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 42.2 percent from beyond the arc
• The Drovers jumped to seventh in the NAIA rankings
• USAO, the defending SAC Tournament champions, were picked to finish fourth in the SAC according to the preseason coaches poll

MEET THE COACHES
Vinay Patel (42-24, third season with OCU)
• Patel has guided two OCU all-Americans, including the Stars' first first-teamer since 2008; the 2017 Sooner Athletic Conference player of the year, the 2017 SAC co-defensive player of the year, a finalist for the Dark Horse Dunker competition, six all-conference performers and three academic all-SAC choices
• 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 the conference player of the year
• Patel spent nine years as assistant before serving as the head coach 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

Chris Francis (35-26, third season with USAO)
• Francis spent a year as an assistant coach at LSU Shreveport, a Red River Athletic Conference school with a reputation for high-quality basketball, before coming to USAO. In the year he was there, the Pilots made an appearance in the semi-finals of the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship in Kansas City, Mo.
• Francis started his collegiate coaching career as a student assistant at Rogers State University in 2011-12 as the Hillcats made an appearance in the quarterfinals at the NAIA Division I Tournament

ON THE AIR
• Oklahoma City University athletics provides live and on-demand audio, stats and video of its contests on OCU's Stretch portal. Cost to watch the game is $7.95 per game, $34.95 for a men's basketball season pass and $79.95 for an all-season pass in 2017-18
• Andrew Himes calls the action. Himes enters his seventh season as the voice of the Stars and has been broadcasting OCU basketball for 10 years starting on color commentary as an OCU student
• Fans can access regular-season broadcasts from NAIA institutions as well as from NAIA Championships postseason contests via Stretch Internet through custom apps on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Users can search for "NAIA" on the app interfaces on any compatible device, and then download the free NAIA Network app

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Players Mentioned

#5 Terence Bonhomme: G; 6' 0"; Senior

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

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

#32 Ryan Wiley: F; 6' 7"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#5 Terence Bonhomme
: 6' 0"; Senior
: G

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

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

#32 Ryan Wiley
: 6' 7"; Senior
: F