OCU vs. Central Christian men's basketball preview

Trae Bryant returned to the Stars lineup on Thursday night at Langston

Men's Basketball | 1/3/2020 10:30:00 AM

3:45 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University opens the 2020 home schedule with a Sooner Athletic Conference date against Central Christian (Kan.)
• CCCK won the first meeting between the teams as SAC opponents in 2018, but since that time, OCU has won three straight - including a season series sweep in 2018-19

ABOUT THE STARS
• OCU dropped a heartbreaker to open the 2020 portion of the schedule on Thursday night, as they watched a 15-point second half lead slip away in an 88-85 defeat at Langston University
• Anthony Davis, a 6-foot-7 senior from Lewisville, Texas, led all scorers in the game with 28 points on 11-for-17 shooting from the floor and 4-for-6 from long distance. Davis also added 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double
• Rashaun Coleman also scored in double-figures in the game, as the 6-0 junior from Houston tallied 11 points before fouling out of the game late
• Oklahoma City has allowed opponents to shoot 26.4 percent from 3-point range for the lowest percentage in the NAIA. To see how the Stars rank among the nation's statistical leaders, click 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 a 3-1 edge in the series since CCCK joined the SAC for the 2017-18 season. The Stars took a 79-69 win the last time these two teams met on Jan. 24, 2019 at Abe Lemons Arena. Chris Williams led the Stars with 17 points in the win, and Eric Wattree added a dozen

ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Central Christian comes into the game having lost their last three times on the floor - though one of those defeats was an exhibition loss at Drury University. The Tigers were off on Thursday evening, and they have not played a game since falling at Southwestern Christian on December 17 by a score of 75-70
• TJ Williams, a 6-foot-1 junior from Arlington, Texas, led the Tigers with 21 points in the loss at SCU. Williams leads the Tigers with a scoring average of 15.0 points per game, and he has dished out a team-leading 39 assists.
• Central Christian ranks in the top-20 in the NAIA in defensive rebounds per game (16th - 32.182), Field Goal Percentage (19th - 48.6%), and Rebounding Margin (20th - 7.455)
• The Tigers were picked to finish 10th in the SAC by conference coaches before the season

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

Tony Romero (11th season with Central Christian)
• Took over at Central Christian's head coach for the 2009-10 season after spending the previous five seasons on the Tigers' bench as an assistant
• Overall head-coaching record of 192-136 in his 11th year as a head coach at Central Christian
• Played at CCCK from 2000-04 where he was names All-MCAC as a senior.
• An Oklahoma City native, Romero graduated from Del City High School in 2000

ON THE AIR
• Oklahoma City University will provide live stats of the contest
• Oklahoma City University athletics provides live and on-demand video of its home contests on OCU's Stretch portal. Watch to the game live here
• Andrew Himes supplies the play-by-play. Himes is in his ninth season as the voice of the Stars and has been broadcasting OCU basketball for 12 years starting as the color commentator 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

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

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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