Men's Basketball 1/13/2020 1:06:00 PM

OCU vs. Southwestern Christian Men's Basketball Preview

OCU Returns Home Looking to Snap Two-Game Skid

7:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University welcomes cross-town foe Southwestern Christian University to Abe Lemons Arena on Tuesday night
• The Stars have won 11 of the last 12 meetings with SCU
• 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
• The Stars rallied late in the second half at Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Saturday night, but their comeback fell short in the final minute as the Lions took the 83-73 win
• Trae Bryant, a 6-foot-1 senior from Wilmington, N.C., led the OCU offense with 15 points - including back-to-back buckets that pulled OCU within four points at 77-73 with only 40 seconds to play in the game. Bryant also had four rebounds, three assists, and two steals in the game. Since returning to the lineup, Bryant is averaging 14.3 points per game, and he is shooting the 3-point shot at a 44.8% clip
• Darrion Willies, a 6-foot-6 senior from Fontana, Calif., added 14 points and pulled in a team-high 14 rebounds in the loss. Willies was 6-for-12 from the field in the game
• Rashaun Coleman, a 6-foot junior from Houston, Texas, scored 10 points, and had a team leading four assists in the game
• Oklahoma City leads NAIA Division I by holding opponents to 26.8 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
• OCU leads the all-time series against Southwestern Christian 11-3. The Eagles snapped a 10-game OCU winning streak in the series in the first meeting of the 2018-19 season, but OCU bounced back to take the most recent game, 104-86 on Feb. 5, 2019

ABOUT THE EAGLES
• Southwestern Christian has dropped their last two games, taking a 93-86 loss at home to Southwestern Assemblies of God on Jan. 9, and falling at No. 22 Texas Wesleyan 97-87 on Saturday, Jan. 11
• Derek Dantzler-Fulner, a 6-foot-6 junior from Tempe, Ariz., leads the Eagles in both scoring and rebounding. Dantzler-Fulner is scoring nearly 16 points per game, and he reels in more than eight rebounds per contest. He also ranks in the top-10 in NAIA Division I in both free throw percentage (2nd, 89.7%) and defensive rebounds per game (7th, 7.154)
• The Eagles shoot free throws at a 78.3% pace, which ranks second in NAIA Division I
• Southwestern Christian took the eighth 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

Brandon Rollins (9-4, first season with Southwestern Christian)
• Rollins moved from Mid-America Christian to Southwestern Christian over the summer to take his first head coaching position after spending four seasons on the MACU staff, where he helped lead the Evangels to the 2016 NAIA Division I National Championship
• Prior to MACU, he spent one season as an assistant coach at SCU, and one season as an assistant coach at Northwest Classen High School in Oklahoma City
• Rollins played collegiately at SCU, appearing in 89 games for the Eagles after they joined the NAIA in 2010-11

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, $29.95 for a men's basketball season pass and $74.95 for an all-season pass for 2019-20
• Andrew Himes will provide the play-by-play. Himes enters his ninth season as the voice of the Stars and has been broadcasting OCU basketball for 12 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 Trae Bryant: G; 6' 1"; Senior

#21 Darrion Willies: F; 6' 6"; Senior

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

Players Mentioned

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

#21 Darrion Willies
: 6' 6"; Senior
: F

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

Players Mentioned

#3 Trae Bryant

#21 Darrion Willies

#2 Rashaun Coleman

Players Mentioned

#3 Trae Bryant

#21 Darrion Willies

#2 Rashaun Coleman