OCU at USAO men's basketball preview

Stars have forged three-way tie atop conference standings

Tyler Alderman ranks 30th in the NAIA in blocks a game.

Men's Basketball | 2/15/2017 8:30:00 PM

8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16
USAO Fieldhouse in Chickasha, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University faces USAO in a contest crucial to the race for the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season championship.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars gutted out a 72-69 victory over Bacone on Saturday in Muskogee, Okla., in the first of three road contests in a row for OCU. Xavier Smith converted Syrus McDonald's alley-oop pass for the winning dunk with 12 seconds left for Oklahoma City (18-6, 9-5 SAC).
Smith, a 6-foot-9 senior from Richardson, Texas, boosted OCU with 16 points and eight rebounds while hitting 6 of his 10 shots from the floor. He supplies the Stars with 15.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.46 blocked shots a game. Smith ranks second in NAIA Division I with 59 blocks and third in rejections per game.
McDonald, a 6-foot senior from Flint, Mich., tallied 13 points. McDonald posts 9.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists a game. Tyler Alderman, a 6-9 senior from Fishers, Ind., and Lou Dunbar, a 6-3 junior from Seabrook, Texas, each had nine points. Alderman, who grabbed six rebounds, averages 11.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.08 blocks a game while shooting 62.2 percent from the field.
OCU ranks second among the NAIA in blocked shots a game (5.25) this season. See how the Stars rank among the NAIA's statistical leaders, click here.
The Stars took the 19th spot in the last NAIA Division I top 25. 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 as well as 11 SAC regular-season championships.
OCU holds a 36-18 lead in the all-time series vs. USAO. The Stars edged USAO 95-93 on Jan. 26 at Abe Lemons Arena as Ryan Wiley tipped in the winning bucket as time expired. Dunbar exploded for 50 points and a school record-tying 11 3-pointers to become OCU's first 50-point scorer since Rich Travis on Dec. 4, 1967 at Frederickson Fieldhouse.

ABOUT THE DROVERS: USAO spoiled Texas Wesleyan's homecoming with an 86-80 overtime victory Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. Taran Buie knotted the game 75-75 by nailing a 3-pointer with one minute remaining for USAO (13-12, 8-6 SAC).
Buie, a 6-2 senior, piled up 29 points and six treys. Buie leads the NAIA with 27.1 points to go with 3.4 assists and 1.55 steals per contest. Julius Foster, a 6-foot junior, had 17 points and six rebounds. Foster averages 15.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.36 steals a game.
USAO hits 74.3 percent of its free throws to rank ninth among the NAIA. SAC coaches predicted the Drovers would finish fifth in the league 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 30-24 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.

HELP SMITH BECOME THE DARK HORSE DUNKER: Xavier Smith of Oklahoma City made the 16 finalists for the Dark Horse Dunker competition, and Smith needs your help to advance. Vote for Smith daily until noon Feb. 21 by going to darkhorsedunker.com. Learn more here.

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. Listen to the game live by visiting OCU's Stretch portal here. Andrew Himes serves as the play-by-play man. 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.
USAO will also provide live stats as well as video for the game.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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

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