OCU at Southwestern Christian men's basketball preview

Stars look to get ahead in league standings

8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2
Pickens-Springer Gymnasium in Bethany, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: After back-to-back home victories, Oklahoma City heads to Bethany, Okla., for a conference matchup with Southwestern Christian looking to break a tie for second in the Sooner Athletic Conference.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City ran past Bacone 86-63 on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena in Oklahoma City. The Stars (15-5, 6-4 SAC) used a 15-2 run midway through the second half to pull away.
Lou Dunbar, a 6-foot-3 junior from Richardson, Texas, led the Stars with 26 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists. Dunbar is the reigning NAIA player of the week thanks in large part to his 50-point performance against USAO on Jan. 26. On the season, he contributes 16.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.15 steals a game. He ranks fifth in the NAIA with 3.25 made 3-pointers per contest.
Tyler Alderman, a 6-9 senior out of Fisher, Ind., scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds. It was his fourth 20-point performance of the season. Alderman averages 11.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.05 rejections a game. Walter Rickett, a 6-2 junior from Dallas, had 14 points and four rebounds with 6-of-10 shooting from the field. Rickett provides 8.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per contest plus a 55.4 percent field-goal percentage this season.
OCU stands second in the NAIA in blocks per game (5.35) and third in total blocks (107). To see how the Stars compare to the rest of the NAIA statistically, click here.
The Stars dropped to the 18th 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.
The Stars have a 5-2 edge in the all-time series. OCU nipped Southwestern Christian earlier this season 85-84 on Jan. 12 in Oklahoma City. Syrus McDonald hit the game-winning free throw with 2.6 seconds left.

ABOUT THE EAGLES: Southwestern Christian knocked off No. 21 Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) 79-67 on Saturday in Bethany, Okla. Southwestern Christian (14-8, 6-4 SAC) opened the game on a 14-5 run and led by as many as 17.
Marvin White, a 6-2 senior, had 20 points, six rebounds and two assists in the win. He is the leading scorer for the Eagles, averaging 19.4 points to go along with 5.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He ranks 12th in the NAIA in points per contest. Jamal Ray, a 6-4 junior, provided 18 points, six rebounds and one steal. He averages 13.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.33 steals per contest.
Southwestern Christian currently ranks sixth in Division I in opponents' field-goal percentage (39.9 percent). The Eagles were picked to finish sixth in the 10-team Sooner Athletic Conference.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Vinay Patel is in 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 559-351 with four conference regular-season titles, one league tournament crown, five National Invitational Tournament bids and eight NCAA Tournament appearances.

QUOTABLE: "Southwestern Christian has a very talented team. We beat them [at OCU] basically at the buzzer the last time we played them. Pretty much the same thing last year both times we played them as well. Every game we play against those guys since I've been here has been really close. This is the time of the year that people are going to be creating some separation in our league, and you could go from third to ninth in the league in one game right now. Every game we're playing is very important, and I know they're going to be fired up to play us, so I hope we can rise up to challenge the intensity they bring." –Patel on the matchup with Southwestern Christian

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ON THE AIR: OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio, stats and video of the Stars' games. Listen to the game live by visiting OCU's Stretch portal here. Andrew Himes provides the commentary. Himes, in his fifth season as the voice of the Stars, has been broadcasting OCU games for eight years starting on color commentary as an OCU student.
Southwestern Christian will provide live stats as well as video of the game.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

#1 Walter Rickett: G; 6' 2"; Junior

#3 Syrus McDonald: G; 6' 0"; Senior

Players Mentioned

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

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

#1 Walter Rickett
: 6' 2"; Junior
: G

#3 Syrus McDonald
: 6' 0"; Senior
: G