Men's Basketball 1/17/2020 12:29:00 PM

OCU at No. 10 John Brown Men's Basketball Preview

Stars Hit the Road for Tough Test at Bill George Arena

3:45 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18
Bill George Arena

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University heads to NAIA No. 10 John Brown University looking to earn their third straight win
• The Stars are wrapping up a three game week, and looking to build on the momentum of back-to-back home routs

ABOUT THE STARS
• OCU blistered the nets in the opening stretches of both halves on Thursday night, making their first 10 shots of the night and their first nine attempts after halftime, as the Stars smashed Bacone 106-66
• Anthony Davis, a 6-foot-7 senior from Lewisville, Texas, posted his second highest point total of the season in an extremely efficient performance. Davis tallied 21 points and did so on 8-for-9 shooting in the game, and he made all five of his 3-point attempts. Davis averages 12.5 points per game, and he also chips in 5.8 rebounds per contest while shooting the ball at a 51.2% pace
• Trae Bryant, a 6-foot-1 senior from Wilmington, N.C., posted 18 points in the game, and he too missed only once in the game as he was 7-for-8 from the floor and 4-for-5 from long distance. Bryant also tied for the team lead with seven assists. Since returning to the Stars' lineup, Bryant is pouring in a team-best 16.3 points per game, and he is shooting better than 50% from the floor and from beyond the arc
• Oklahoma City has allowed the lowest opposing 3-point field-goal percentage in NAIA Division I at 27.7 percent this season. Eric Wattree has hit 51.1 percent of his 3-point shots to rank eighth nationally. The national leaders include those who have played 75 percent of his team's games. 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 holds the all-time series lead with John Brown with a 37-16 record against the Golden Eagles. The Stars won all three meetings between the two teams a year ago, including a 74-73 win in the SAC Championship game at Abe Lemons Arena in the team's last meeting on March 2. This will be the fourth straight time the teams have met with JBU in the NAIA Division I men's basketball top-25 coaches' poll
• OCU has won the last eight games in the series, with JBU's last win coming in Abe Lemons Arena on Jan. 9, 2016

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
• JBU had their hands full with the Eagles of Southwestern Christian in Bethany on Thursday night. It took JBU 10 extra minutes of play, but the Golden Eagles were able to take the win in double overtime, 98-91
• Densier Carnes was one of five Golden Eagles in double figures, as he led the way for JBU with his seventh double-double of the season. Carnes had 23 points and reeled in 18 rebounds while making 15 of 16 shots from the foul line in the game. JBU was 37-for-41 from the charity stripe in the game
• JBU ranks in the top-five in NAIA Division I in Defensive rebounds per game (2nd, 28.059), Scoring Defense (4th, 64.294 ppg), and Free Throw Percentage (5th, 75.5%)

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

Jason Beschta (98-76, sixth season with John Brown; 160-112)
• Beschta guided JBU to the NAIA national tournament a year ago - the first appearance for the Golden Eagles under his watch - with a 23-11 record
• Prior to his time at JBU, Beschta led the Eagles of Oklahoma Wesleyan for three seasons, amassing a 62-36 record a OKWU. He led the Eagles to a round of 1 finish in the NAIA Division II national tournament in 2012-13, finishing that season 25-10.
• Played collegiately at Bryan (Tenn.), racking up 2,138 career points, and he made 432 career 3-pointers for the Lions - both second on the career lists when he graduated

ON THE AIR
• John Brown University athletics will provide live video of the game through its Stretch portal. OCU will have live audio of the games available through Stretch as well, separate from the JBU video feed
• Andrew Himes will provide the play-by-play on the OCU stream. 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

#23 Anthony Davis: F; 6' 7"; Senior

#22 Eric Wattree: G; 6' 3"; Senior

Players Mentioned

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

#23 Anthony Davis
: 6' 7"; Senior
: F

#22 Eric Wattree
: 6' 3"; Senior
: G

Players Mentioned

#3 Trae Bryant

#23 Anthony Davis

#22 Eric Wattree

Players Mentioned

#3 Trae Bryant

#23 Anthony Davis

#22 Eric Wattree