Men's Basketball | 1/28/2019 3:38:00 PM
7:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center
THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University meets Mid-America Christian in a game postponed from earlier this season
• This game was moved from its original date of Jan. 3 with icy weather in town
• 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
• OCU dropped a nail-biter to No. 8 Langston 63-61 Saturday afternoon at C. Felton Gayles Fieldhouse. Oklahoma City fell just short despite an Elijah Christman's late 3-pointer
• Christman, a 6-foot-5 senior from Justin, Texas, led the Stars with 16 points going 3-for-4 from the floor all 3-pointers, sinking 7-of-8 from the charity stripe, pulling down two rebounds and swiping two steals. Christman's norms are 11.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and shoots 48.5 from beyond the arc, which is 10th best in the nation
• Anthony Davis, a 6-foot-7 junior from Lewisville, Texas, supplied 11 points, eight rebounds, one steal and one assist. Davis provides 11.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.11 steals, 1.1 assists and 0.83 blocks per contest
• 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
• Oklahoma City defeated Mid-America Christian 66-63 in the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament on Feb. 27, 2018. Jonathan Ellis provided a key basket with 1:29 remaining and sank a free throw with 18 seconds left. OCU leads the all-time series between the two programs 19-10
ABOUT THE EVANGELS
• Mid-America Christian fell 80-71 to Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday in Oklahoma City. Mid-America outscored OPSU 40-16 in the paint.
• Charles Beauregard, Jr., a 6-3 guard, led the Evangels with 20 points and grabbed three rebounds. Beauregard, Jr. averages 12.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.00 steals a game. Beauregard, Jr. ranks second in the NAIA with a 88.5 free throw percentage
• Justin Bogle, a 6-8 forward, chipped in 13 points, nine rebounds and an assist. Bogle provides 12.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.1 assists
• Mid-America has been slated to finish in seventh place in the Sooner Athletic Conference according to the preseason coaches poll.
ABOUT THE COACHES
Vinay Patel (71-38, 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. His overall coaching mark stands at 77-52 in five years
Josh Gamblin (77-48, fourth season with MACU)
• In his first season with Mid-America Christian, Gamblin took the Evangels to their first ever NAIA national championship, defeating No. 1-ranked Georgetown (Ky.) 100-99 in overtime. He became the youngest coach (27 years old) in college basketball history to win a national championship at a four-year institution
• Gamblin was named 2015-16 Rawlings-NAIA Division I coach of the year and also has received the Dr. James Naismith-Emil S. Liston Sports Award
• He joined MACU after a tenure at the University of Oklahoma, where Gamblin was a graduate assistant under head coach Lon Kruger
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 2018-19
• 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
