OCU vs. Texas Wesleyan men's basketball preview

Stars square off with Texas Wesleyan in NAIA Network game of week

Xavier Smith made the Bevo Francis Award watch list announced Jan. 15.

Men's Basketball | 2/3/2017 3:09:00 PM

5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University collides with Texas Wesleyan in a contest between top 20-ranked teams and the NAIA Network game of the week.
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: The Stars clipped Southwestern Christian 78-77 on Thursday in Bethany, Okla. Syrus McDonald broke loose for the winning basket with seven seconds left for OCU (16-5, 7-4 Sooner Athletic Conference).
Walter Rickett, a 6-foot-2 junior from Dallas, sparked OCU with 18 points and four rebounds while shooting 7-for-12 from the floor. He reached double digits in scoring for the fourth consecutive game. Rickett supplies the Stars with 8.6 points and 3.2 rebounds a game and a 55.6 percent field-goal percentage.
Xavier Smith, a 6-9 senior from Richardson, Texas, chipped in 15 points, six rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals. He blocked Shawn Scott's layup attempt just before the buzzer. Smith amasses 15.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.48 blocks per game. Lou Dunbar, a 6-3 junior from Seabrook, Texas, had 13 points and sank 3 of 5 3-point shots. Dunbar averages 16.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.14 steals a game while hitting 46.9 percent of his 3-point tries.
OCU ranks second among the NAIA in blocked shots a game (5.29) this season. See how the Stars rank among the NAIA's statistical leaders, click here.
The Stars with to 18th in the newest NAIA Division I rankings. 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 series against Texas Wesleyan 12-11. Texas Wesleyan prevailed 98-76 on Jan. 21 in Fort Worth, Texas. Dunbar boosted the Stars with 22 points.

ABOUT THE RAMS: Mid-America Christian toppled Texas Wesleyan 95-92 on Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas. Trey Slate buried the winning 3-pointer with 3.2 seconds left to upend Texas Wesleyan (18-4, 2-4 SAC).
Dion Rogers, a 6-7 senior, lifted Texas Wesleyan with 27 points, three steals and five 3s. Rogers accumulates 19.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.33 steals a game. Ryan Harris, a 6-foot junior, had 26 points, six rebounds, three steals and five treys. Harris averages 15.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.76 steals a contest.
Texas Wesleyan dishes out an NAIA-best 20.4 assists a game. The Rams were ticketed for a third-place finish in the preseason SAC coaches poll.

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.
Brennen Shingleton is in his fifth season as head coach at Texas Wesleyan after serving as an assistant coach and later as an associate head coach for ten years. Shingleton holds an overall record of 76-52 in four seasons. Last year, Shingleton was named conference coach of the year after leading the Rams back to the NAIA Tournament and the SAC regular-season championship.

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

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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