7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7
Abe Lemons Arena Inside the Freede Center
THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University will play host to Ecclesia (Ark.) in men's basketball as part of the Mid-America Christian Classic
• This is the second meeting between OCU and Ecclesia, the first coming during the 2017-18 season
• Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for students, and OCU students, faculty and staff get into all regular-season OCU home athletics events free with their ID
• When the Stars score 70 points, fans get a 2-for-1 combo coupon for Raising Cane's
ABOUT THE STARS
• Baker (Kan.) dealt OCU an 85-70 loss Tuesday in Baldwin City, Kan. Baker outscored the Stars 23-8 at the free-throw line
• Chris Williams, a 6-foot-2 senior, scored 29 points for OCU Tuesday's in the loss to Baker, he is shooting 51.7 percent from the floor and 91.6 percent from the free-throw line. Williams is averaging 22 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.50 steals per game
• Elijah Christman, a 6-5 senior, scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds against Baker on Tuesday. Christman has made nine 3-pointers shooting 60 percent on the season from beyond the arc. He is shooting 68.1 percent from the floor
• Eric McCollum, a 6-9 senior, is leading the Stars with 18 total rebounds through two games. McCollum pulled down a season-high 12 boards against Baker. He is shooting 66.6 percent from the floor
• OCU has been slotted at No. 5 in the preseason NAIA Division I rankings. Oklahoma City has made 24 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 first place in the Sooner Athletic Conference according to the preseason coaches poll. OCU owns 13 SAC regular-season titles and nine SAC Tournament crowns
• OCU downed Ecclesia 101-74 in the only other meeting between the two schools Nov. 10, 2017 at the Gaulke Activity Center at Mid-America Christian. The Stars opened the season 5-0
ABOUT THE ROYALS
• Ecclesia has started off the 2018-19 season 0-3. Central Baptist hammered Eccelsia 108-59 on Monday in Conway, Ark. The Royals managed 34.4 percent shooting from the field
• De'Vontae Ross, a 6-3 freshman, is the team's top performer averaging 22.5 points, making 10 3-pointers for 71 percent shooting from 3-point land
• Cash Krueger, a 6-6 senior, is leading the team with 6.5 rebounds and is scoring 11 points per game
• Davion Lockridge, a 6-1 senior, leads Ecclesia with a .800 shooting percentage from 3-point land and is averaging 16 points and seven assists
ABOUT THE COACHES
Vinay Patel (61-32, fourth season with OCU)
• Patel has guided three OCU all-Americans, including the Stars' first first-teamer since 2008, 2017 Sooner Athletic Conference player of the year, the 2017 and 2018 SAC co-defensive player of the year, a finalist for the Dark Horse Dunker competition, 11 all-conference performers and four academic all-SAC choices. He is the 2018 John Hudson SAC coach of the year
• 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
Tanner Huck (first season)
• Huck comes to Eccelsia from Barclay (Kan.), where he most recently served as an assistant basketball coach for the 2017-18 school year. Last season, Barclay finished in a three-way tie for first place in the conference, and finishing as the runner-up in the conference tournament. The Bears also posted the first regional tournament win in program history last season.
• As a player, Huck had a decorated career playing for the Barclay Bears, Spending over half of his four years in the starting lineup. He was a career 58 percent shooter from the field and 75 percent from the free-throw line.
ON THE AIR
• Oklahoma City University athletics provides live and on-demand audio, stats and video of its contests on OCU's Stretch portal. Cost to watch the game is $7.95 per game, $34.95 for a men's basketball season pass and $79.95 for an all-season pass in 2017-18
• Andrew Himes adds the commentary. Himes enters his eighth season as the voice of the Stars and has been broadcasting OCU basketball for 11 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
