Men's Basketball 2/24/2018 9:56:00 PM

OCU vs. Texas Wesleyan men's basketball preview

Stars square off with Texas Wesleyan in showdown for conference title

3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University takes on Texas Wesleyan with the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season championship at stake
• The Stars could share the SAC regular-season championship with a win. Texas Wesleyan could clinch the SAC title outright with a victory
• Icy weather forced the postponement of OCU's game against Texas Wesleyan. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday
• 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
• Oklahoma City took a 77-70 loss to Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) on Friday in Waxahachie, Texas. The Stars (21-7, 13-6 SAC) posted a 39.4 percent field-goal percentage to shoot under 40 percent for only the third time this season
• Eric McCollum, a 6-foot-9 junior from Newburgh, N.Y., scored a season-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds for third double-double of the season. McCollum shot 9-for-11 from the field. McCollum reels in 6.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game
• Ridell Camidge, a 6-4 senior from Wilmington, N.C., added 15 points, four assists and two steals. Camidge supplies OCU with 19.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists a game while hitting 43.8 percent of his 3-point shots. Camidge ranks fourth in the NAIA at 3.42 3-pointers per game and fifth with 89 3s this season
• Ivan Saicic, a 6-7 senior from Belgrade, Serbia, turned in 15 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Saicic records 10.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per contest
• OCU ranks eighth in NAIA Division I and tops the conference with 91.0 points per game. See how OCU compares with the rest of the NAIA statistically this season here
• The Stars went to 12th in the most recent NAIA Division I 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 11 SAC regular-season titles and nine SAC Tournament crowns. The Stars last won the SAC regular-season crown in 2007-08
• Texas Wesleyan won 106-92 on Jan. 6 in Fort Worth, Texas. Terence Bonhomme led OCU with 20 points. Texas Wesleyan took a 13-12 lead in the series over Oklahoma City

ABOUT THE RAMS
• Texas Wesleyan edged Central Christian (Kan.) 78-75 on Friday in Fort Worth, Texas. Curtiss Anderson hit a jumper in the paint to put the Rams (21-8, 14-5 SAC) ahead with 1:43 left and help Texas Wesleyan to its third consecutive SAC regular-season title
• Branden Jenkins, a 6-5 senior, piled up 25 points and nine rebounds before fouling out. Jenkins averages 22.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.42 steals per game. He ranks sixth among the NAIA in scoring. Jenkins made the Bevo Francis Award watch list's latest cut to the top 50 small-college basketball players in the nation
• The 20th-ranked Rams hit 75.4 percent from behind the free-throw line to rank fifth in NAIA Division I
• Texas Wesleyan was the preseason favorite to win the conference

POSTSEASON IMPLICATIONS
• With a win, the Stars would be the second seed in the SAC Tournament. With a loss, OCU would be the fourth seed in the conference tournament
• Texas Wesleyan has clinched the top seed in the conference tournament
• The top four seeds in the conference tournament host quarterfinal games Tuesday. The remainder of the SAC Tournament will be March 2-3 in Siloam Springs, Ark. NAIA Division I Tournament berths will be at stake as the nation's premier NAIA basketball conference stages its postseason tournament

MEET THE COACHES
Vinay Patel (56-29, 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 (123-66, sixth season with Texas Wesleyan)
• 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
• 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 women's basketball season pass and $79.95 for an all-season pass in 2017-18
• Andrew Himes gives 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

VOTE RICKETT THE DARK HORSE DUNKER
• Walter Rickett of Oklahoma City advanced to the quarterfinals of the Dark Horse Dunker competition, and he needs your help to advance. Vote for Rickett daily until noon Feb. 28 by going to darkhorsedunker.com. Learn more here

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