OCU at USAO Men's Basketball Preview

OCU Looks for Third Win in Last Four Games After Strong Showing Last Week

Men's Basketball | 1/22/2020 10:35:00 PM

7:45 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23
Drover Field House

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University heads to nearby Chickasha, Okla. to take on the USAO Drovers as the first round of conference play nears an end
• The Stars won two of three games last week, as they had their best week since the semester break

ABOUT THE STARS
• OCU came within an eyelash of a third straight win - and a big road upset - as they pushed the No. 10 John Brown University Golden Eagles to overtime on Saturday afternoon before falling 92-86
• Rashaun Coleman, a 6-foot junior from Houston, Texas, posted a season-high 23 points as he took on a key role for the Stars with OCU experiencing foul trouble early in the game. Coleman made seven of the 10 shots he took from the floor, and both of his 3-point attempts. Coleman also added five assists, and he got a shot off in the final seconds as OCU nearly won the game in regulation
• Anthony Davis, a 6-foot-7 senior from Lewisville, Texas, posted 17 points in the game, and he made nine of 10 attempts at the foul line. Davis also had five rebounds and the Stars only blocked shot of the game. Darrion Willies (11), and A.J. Cockrell (10) also scored in double figures
• Oklahoma City has allowed the lowest opposing 3-point field-goal percentage in NAIA Division I at 28.1 percent this season. Eric Wattree has hit 46.9 percent of his 3-point shots to rank 19th nationally. 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 USAO 39-21. The Stars won the last time the two teams met on Feb. 21, 2019, while the Drovers took the game the last time the clubs battled in Chickasha on Jan. 5, 2019

ABOUT THE DROVERS
• USAO is in the midst of a three game losing streak, with their last win coming on Jan. 9 at Panhandle State. The Drovers lost 77-74 to No. 19 Texas Wesleyan their last time out on Saturday at home
• Dylan Causwell led four Drovers in double figures in the game, making eight of 14 shots from the field. He and Gerard Makuntae each had 13 rebounds in the game, and both posted double-doubles as Makuntae also scored 10 points. The Drovers have recorded 10 double-doubles as a team on the year, and Causwell has four of them
• USAO ranks in the top 10 in NAIA Division I in blocks per game (8th, 4.059) and 3-point Field Goals made per game (9th, 11.059)

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

Chris Francis (86-58, fifth season with USAO)
• Francis led the Drovers to the SAC Championship game in his first season at the helm of the program, and he has taken USAO to the NAIA National Tournament in each of the last three seasons. USAO reached the quarterfinal round in 2019 before losing to William Carey University (Miss.) in the round of eight
• Prior to his time at USAO, Francis was an assistant at LSU-Shreveport (La.) for a year and helped lead the Pilots to the NAIA Fab Four, and he also made an appearance in the NAIA tournament quarterfinals as a student assistant at his alma mater - Rogers State University (Okla.) in 2012
• Played collegiately at Rogers State and was one of the first recruits at RSU, and he ended his career as the Hillcats' all-time leader in games played (123), steals (139), and minutes played (2,498)

ON THE AIR
• The USAO athletics department 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 USAO 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

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

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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