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Oklahoma City University Athletics

Oklahoma City University
Home Of Champions|73 National Championships
Elijah Christman
Elijah Christman has provided OCU with 4.6 points and 2.4 rebounds a game plus 38.9 percent 3-point shooting.

Men's Basketball

OCU vs. John Brown men's basketball preview

Stars tied with three teams at two games back in SAC standings

8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center
 
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University takes on John Brown (Ark.) looking to keep pace in the extremely competitive Sooner Athletic Conference.
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 dropped a 79-54 decision to Texas Wesleyan on Saturday in Oklahoma City in the NAIA Network game of the week. OCU shot 17.24 percent from the floor in the second half and fell to 16-6, 7-5 in the SAC.
Brandon Patten, 6-foot-7 junior from Orange Park, Fla., led OCU in scoring for the first time this season with 14 points to go along with five rebounds, one blocked shot and four 3-pointers. It was the fourth time this season Patten scored in double figures. He provides 5.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 0.5 blocks per game.
Walter Rickett, a 6-2 junior from Dallas, provided OCU with 10 points and six rebounds while shooting 4-for-9 from the floor. He reached double digits in scoring for the fifth consecutive game. Rickett supplies the Stars with 8.7 points and 3.4 rebounds a game and a 54.9 percent field-goal percentage. The leading scorer for OCU this season is Lou Dunbar. The 6-3 junior from Seabrook, Texas, had six points, two rebounds and two assists in the loss. Dunbar averages 16.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.09 steals a game while hitting 45.0 percent of his 3-point tries.
OCU ranks second among the NAIA in blocked shots a game (5.27) this season. See how the Stars rank among the NAIA's statistical leaders, click here.
The Stars with to 18th in the latest 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 all-time series against John Brown 31-16. The Stars took home an 84-76 win over the Golden Eagles on Dec. 1, 2016. Dunbar led all scorers with 27 points while going 5-for-7 from downtown.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES: John Brown topped Wayland Baptist (Texas) 90-81 on Saturday in Siloam Springs, Ark. The Golden Eagles shot 32-of-42 from the free-throw stripe and never trailed in the game to move to 14-9, 6-6 SAC.
Zach English, a 6-2 senior, lifted John Brown with 23 points and four rebounds while going 8-for-10 from the floor. English accumulates 12.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.77 made 3-pointers per contest. Jake Caudle, a 6-1 sophomore, had 15 points, two steals and three treys. Caudle averages 12.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists a contest.
John Brown ranks sixth in the NAIA shooting 40.0 percent from 3-point-range. They were pegged to finish eight in the conference.
 
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.
Jason Beschta enters his third season as John Brown head men's basketball coach after serving as the head coach at Oklahoma Wesleyan for three seasons. He is 42-44 through his first three seasons with the Golden Eagles. During his three-year tenure at OKWU, Beschta had a record of 62-36.
 
QUOTABLE: "John Brown is a very tough basketball team. They led us at halftime when we played up there, and we know it's going to be another hard game for us. If we come out and play like we did [against Texas Wesleyan Saturday] we're going to get beat. We just can't show up and get pushed around again." – Patel on the matchup with John Brown

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

Lou Dunbar

#22 Lou Dunbar

G
6' 3"
Junior
Brandon Patten

#23 Brandon Patten

F
6' 7"
Junior
Walter Rickett

#1 Walter Rickett

G
6' 2"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Lou Dunbar

#22 Lou Dunbar

6' 3"
Junior
G
Brandon Patten

#23 Brandon Patten

6' 7"
Junior
F
Walter Rickett

#1 Walter Rickett

6' 2"
Junior
G