OCU at Texas Wesleyan men’s basketball preview

Stars aim to bounce back from Thursday’s home loss

Walter Rickett scored 10 points and grabbed six boards in his last outing against Texas Wesleyan.

Men's Basketball | 1/5/2018 1:12:00 PM

5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 6
Sid Richardson Center | Fort Worth, Texas

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University hits the road for a Sooner Athletic Conference matchup with the defending 2017 NAIA Division I men's basketball national champion Texas Wesleyan Rams
• The all-time series between the two programs is tied 12-12
• Texas Wesleyan has won the last two meetings by an average margin of 23.5 points

ABOUT THE STARS
• Oklahoma City suffered its first home loss of the season Thursday night, falling to Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) 91-81 at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (9-3, 3-2 SAC), ranked 14th in NAIA Division I men's basketball, allowed an opponent to shoot at least 50 percent from the field and hit 50 percent from 3-point range for the first time this season in Thursday's loss
• Ridell Camidge, a 6-foot-4 senior from Wilmington, N.C., led OCU with 15 points against SAGU. Camidge averages 3.3 made 3-pointers and 18.8 points per contest
• Ivan Saicic, a 6-7 senior from Belgrade, Serbia, fueled the Stars with 13 points, two blocks and two steals on Thursday. In his last three games, Saicic is averaging 9.3 points and 7.7 boards
• Eric McCollum, a 6-9 junior from Newburgh, N.Y., became the fourth different Star to record a double-double this season, scoring 10 points and collecting 10 rebounds against SAGU
• Despite scoring only 81 points in Thursday's loss, Oklahoma City remains in the top-15 in scoring. The Stars rank 12th in NAIA Division I in points per game with 93.0
• The Stars improved to 14th in the new NAIA Division I rankings released Tuesday. OCU opened the season at No. 12 in the preseason 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
• In the most recent outing, Texas Wesleyan prevailed 79-54 over OCU on Feb. 4, 2017 at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars were held to 29.6 percent shooting while the Rams shot 52.6 percent

ABOUT THE RAMS
• Texas Wesleyan snapped its two-game losing skid with an 81-79 victory over Central Christian (Kan.) Thursday in McPherson, Kan. The Rams outscored Central Christian 49-33 in the paint and had five players score in double-figures
• Branden Jenkins, a 6-foot-5 senior from Chicago, leads the Rams in scoring with 20.1 points per game – the 17th highest average in NAIA Division I. Against Central Christian, Jenkins had 15 points, four rebounds and two assists
• Juwan Jones, a 6-foot sophomore from Linden, N.J., scored a game-high 24 points on Thursday and is second on the team in scoring, putting up 19.7 points per game. Jones is the reigning SAC men's basketball player of the week
• Among NAIA Division I, Texas Wesleyan ranks 18th in free throw percentage (72.9), 27th in total rebounds per game (40.3) and 30th in assists per game (16.3)
• Texas Wesleyan opened the preseason top 25 poll as the No. 1 team in NAIA Division I men's basketball. The Rams dropped out of the rankings on Dec. 5 and have not returned to the top 25 since
• Texas Wesleyan was picked to finish first in the SAC according to the preseason coaches poll. The Rams won the 2017 NAIA Division I national championship and finished last season 29-7

MEET THE COACHES
Vinay Patel (45-25, third season with OCU)
• Patel collected his second HoopDirt.com coach of the week honor for Dec. 4-10
• 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

Brennen Shingleton (110-64, sixth season with TWU)
• Shingleton is serving his sixth season as head coach at Texas Wesleyan after serving as an assistant coach and later as an associate head coach for 10 years
• He reached 100 wins during the team's National Championship run in 2017, making him the fastest coach to reach the milestone in the history of the program
• Shingleton is a two-time SAC coach of the year and was named NAIA national coach of the year last season

ON THE AIR
• Texas Wesleyan athletics provides live and on-demand audio, stats and video of its contests on its Stretch portal
• Oklahoma City University will carry live and on-demand audio of the contest on OCU's Stretch portal
• Andrew Himes describes the play-by-play. 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

#24 Ivan Saicic: F; 6' 7"; Senior

#3 Ridell Camidge: F; 6' 4"; Senior

#34 Eric McCollum: C; 6' 9"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#24 Ivan Saicic
: 6' 7"; Senior
: F

#3 Ridell Camidge
: 6' 4"; Senior
: F

#34 Eric McCollum
: 6' 9"; Junior
: C

Players Mentioned

#24 Ivan Saicic

#3 Ridell Camidge

#34 Eric McCollum

Players Mentioned

#24 Ivan Saicic

#3 Ridell Camidge

#34 Eric McCollum