8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31
Palmer Center | Muskogee, Okla.
THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University aims to extend its winning streak to eight games with a victory against Bacone on Thursday
• This game was moved from its original date of Jan. 3 with icy weather in town
• OCU won the last three matchups by an average of 23.3 points
ABOUT THE STARS
• Oklahoma City University buried Mid-America Christian under a second-half offensive barrage 97-81 on Tuesday night at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars rallied with 62 second-half points and a season-best 19 3-pointers
• Chris Williams, a senior from Denver, spearheaded the Stars with 23 points, five rebounds and eight assists while nailing 4-of-8 3-point shots. Williams posted 20 second-half points and a season high for assists. Williams averages are 18.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.37 steals a game
• Anthony Davis, a 6-foot-7 junior from Lewisville, Texas, picked up a season-best 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting from field and a 5-for-6 performance from 3-point land for the Stars. Davis' five 3-pointers were his season high. Davis provides 11.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.05 steals and 0.79 blocks per contest
• Trae Bryant, a junior from Wilmington, N.C., produced 21 points while shooting 6-for-8 from the floor. Bryant records 9.9 points, 2.4 assists, 2.1 rebounds and 1.06 steals per game
• 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 pulled away with a 97-71 win over Bacone on Dec. 15 in Abe Lemons Arena. Bryant turned in a season-high 23 points knocking down six 3-pointers. OCU leads the all-time series between the two programs 7-0
ABOUT THE WARRIORS
• Bacone fell 69-64 to Texas Wesleyan Saturday in Muskogee, Okla.. Bacone (2-16, 0-13 SAC) has now lost 10 games in a row
• Ramon Ajose, a 6-3 senior, leads the Warriors with 14.2 points and 6.4 rebounds a contest
• Tristan Tiger, a 5-10 sophomore, records 4.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.24 steals a game, which ranks sixth in the NAIA
• The Warriors rate 17th nationally with 8.47 steals per game
• SAC coaches projected Bacone to finish last in the league in the preseason poll
ABOUT THE COACHES
Vinay Patel (72-38, 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 78-52 in five years
Carl Cowan (2-16, first season with Bacone)
• Cowan graduated from Northeastern State University in 2006 with a bachelor of science degree in elementary education
• He started his coaching career at Locust Grove High School in 2006 and spent the last 10 years at Beggs
ON THE AIR
• Oklahoma City University athletics provides live and on-demand audio of its contests on OCU's Stretch portal. Listen to the game live and follow on live stats here
• Andrew Himes supplies the play-by-play. 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
