OCU at Southwestern Assemblies of God Men's Basketball Preview

Stars look to bounce back after nearly upsetting #22 Texas Wesleyan on Thursday

Eric Wattree is shooting the ball at a 51.1% Clip so far in 2019-20

Men's Basketball | 1/10/2020 11:32:00 AM

6:45 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 11
Schaeffer Center Gymnasium

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University hits the road for a tilt against Southwestern Assemblies of God University. The Lions are receiving votes in the most recent NAIA Division I Men's Basketball coaches' poll
• The Stars fell to 22-ranked Texas Wesleyan 83-80 on Thursday night at Abe Lemons Arena in a game that saw OCU hold the lead for much of the night
• SAGU, meanwhile, picked up a road win on Thursday in Bethany, Okla. at Southwestern Christian University, 93-86

ABOUT THE STARS
• The Stars nearly pulled off the upset of No. 22 Texas Wesleyan on Thursday, as they built a nine-point lead early in the second half before the Rams rallied to take the win, 83-80
• A.J. Cockrell was 6-for-10 from the field and 6-for-8 from the foul line as he notched his second double-double of the campaign. Cockrell led OCU with 18 points in the game, and he added 11 rebounds. He is one of four Stars currently averaging in double-figures, with an average of nearly 11 points per game
• Trae Bryant was also 6-for-10 shooting in the game, and he made four of six three pointers, as he added 17 points in the defeat. Bryant is the Stars' leading scorer since returning to the lineup at 14 points per game, and he is shooting the long range shot at a 55.6% clip (10-for-18)
• Kealon Claybourne chipped in a dozen points in the loss, and Rashaun Coleman dished out a team-leading six assists
• Oklahoma City leads NAIA Division I by holding opponents to 26.6 percent 3-point shooting this season. Compare OCU with the rest of the NAIA statistically this season here
• The Stars have been slotted to take fifth place in the SAC according to the preseason coaches poll. OCU owns 13 SAC regular-season championships and 10 SAC Tournament titles. Oklahoma City reached the NAIA Division I Championship Tournament for the 25th time last season and has won six national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008
• SAGU leads the all-time series 7-6, though OCU swept the 2018-19 season series. OCU completed that series sweep in Waxahachie on Feb. 7, 2019 with a 78-65 win in the last meeting. Chris Williams led the Stars with 19 points in the game, which included a perfect 8-for-8 effort from the foul line

ABOUT THE LIONS
• SAGU enters the game on Saturday riding a five-game winning streak, which dates to Dec. 17, 2019 against Paul Quinn College. In that span, the Lions have won three Sooner Athletic Conference games - including a 90-60 home upset of No. 9 Wayland Baptist on Jan. 2, 2020. The Lions have won those games by an average of 25.2 points per game
• Nykolas Mason leads the Lions offensively, scoring 19.9 points per game and posting a field goal percentage of 65.9% - marks good enough for 12th and eighth in NAIA Division I, respectively. Mitchell McMullen has distributed the ball effectively thus far on the season as well, ranking third in the NAIA in Assist-to-Turnover Ratio at 5-to-1
• The Lions lead NAIA Division I in pilfering the basketball, with an average of 12.231 steals per contest
• SAGU took the fourth spot in the preseason SAC coaches poll

MEET THE COACHES
Hank Aldous (first season with OCU)
• Served as graduate assistant at the University of Denver prior to coming to OCU
• Became Southern Athletic Association player of the year as a senior at Hendrix (Ark.) during his playing career
• Aldous led Hendrix to two conference titles and its first conference tournament crown ever, becoming the SAA Tournament most valuable player. Hendrix made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament

Delton Deal (54-24 SAGU - third season; 191-112, 10th season overall)
• Deal led SAGU to the NAIA Division I men's basketball championship in his first season with the program in 2017-18
• Prior to SAGU, Deal took York (Neb.) to three NAIA Division II men's basketball championshp tournaments in seven years. Before his arrival, the Panthers had only one one winning season in program history, and under his watch, the Panthers did not suffer a losing record in a single season in any of his seasons
• Before his time at York, Deal coached in Fort Worth at Bethesda Christian High School where he was 97-28, and where he won the 2007 TAPPS 3A State Championship, That season, he also won State Coach of the Year honors

ON THE AIR
• Southwestern Assemblies of God University athletics will produce a live broadcast of Saturday's game, which will be available here
• Live Stats will be available through the DakStats websync site here

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Players Mentioned

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

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

#2 Rashaun Coleman: G; 6' 0"; Junior

Players Mentioned

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

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

#2 Rashaun Coleman
: 6' 0"; Junior
: G

Players Mentioned

#2 Chris Williams

#3 Trae Bryant

#2 Rashaun Coleman

Players Mentioned

#2 Chris Williams

#3 Trae Bryant

#2 Rashaun Coleman