OCU at John Brown men's basketball preview

Stars encounter first ranked foe this season

8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6
Bill George Arena | Siloam Springs, Ark.

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University looks to deal John Brown (Ark.) its first Sooner Athletic Conference loss of the season in a showdown of ranked NAIA Division I men's basketball squads

ABOUT THE STARS
• The Stars overcame an eight-point second-half deficit in a 76-71 win Saturday in McPherson, Kan. Mark Howell's 3-point play put Oklahoma City (6-2, 1-1 SAC) in the lead for good 67-65 with 4:36 remaining
• Chris Williams, a 6-foot-2 senior from Denver, totaled 22 points, five rebounds and four steals while knocking down 5 of 9 3-point attempts. He has provided OCU with 23.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.00 steals a contest while shooting 42.9 percent from 3-point land. Williams ranks fifth nationally in scoring and 15th in free-throw percentage (88.1 percent)
• Trae Bryant, a 6-3 senior from New Rochelle, N.Y., piled up 14 points, three assists and two blocked shots Saturday. Bryant hit all five of his field-goal attempts and each of his three free-throw shots. Bryant averages 10.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists a game
• The Stars sink 78.1 percent of their free throws to rate fifth in the NAIA, while Eric McCollum grabs 3.9 offensive rebounds per game to rank third nationally. To see where OCU ranks among the NAIA Division I statistical leaders, click here
• OCU moved to 14th in the latest NAIA Division I rankings after holding the fifth spot in the preseason top 25. 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's all-time record against John Brown sits at 34-16. In the most previous meeting, the Stars ripped John Brown 80-66 on Jan. 27 at Abe Lemons Arena. Ridell Camidge averaged 33.5 points a game as OCU swept the season series in 2017-18

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
• John Brown dumped 11th-ranked Texas Wesleyan 80-65 on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. John Brown (7-2, 3-0 SAC) finished the game with a 21-7 run and completed a two-game road sweep of Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) and Texas Wesleyan for the first time
• Josh Bowling, a 6-6 senior, had team highs with 21 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Bowling records 15.2 points and 5.2 rebounds a game, ranking eighth in the NAIA with a 90 percent free-throw percentage
• Desmond Kennedy, a 6-3 junior, chipped in 18 points and two steals while hitting all six of his free-throw attempts. Kennedy averages 11.9 points and 2.3 rebounds a game
• John Brown broke into the newest top 25 at No. 18. The Golden Eagles rate third nationally with 12.56 3-pointers made per game, while Brenton Toussaint leads the NAIA with an 82 percent field-goal percentage
• SAC coaches predicted John Brown to finish eighth in the league in the preseason

ABOUT THE COACHES
Vinay Patel (66-33, 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

Jason Beschta (67-62, fifth season with John Brown)
• Beschta has an overall coaching record of 123-94 in his eightth season as a head coach
• Has produced seven all-SAC performers at John Brown including honorable-mention all-Americans Josh Bowling and Max Hopfgartner
• Beschta directed Oklahoma Wesleyan to a 62-36 record in three years. Beschta became Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference coach of the year as the Eagles went 25-10, shared the conference regular-season title and reached the second round of the NAIA Division II Tournament in 2013-14

ON THE AIR
• John Brown provides live and on-demand audio, stats and video of its contests on its Stretch portal
• Andrew Himes will call the action via the OCU Stretch portal. Himes is in 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

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Players Mentioned

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

#4 Mark Howell: G; 5' 11"; Senior

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

#2 Chris Williams: G; 6' 2"; Senior

#3 Trae Bryant: G; 6' 1"; Junior

Players Mentioned

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

#4 Mark Howell
: 5' 11"; Senior
: G

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

#2 Chris Williams
: 6' 2"; Senior
: G

#3 Trae Bryant
: 6' 1"; Junior
: G