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Oklahoma City University Athletics

Oklahoma City University
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OCU vs. No. 9 JBU Men's Basketball Preview

Stars Seek First Upset of Ranked Opponent in 2020

Curtis Osceola

Men's Basketball | 2/12/2020 8:44:00 PM

7:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University takes to the floor for their final weeknight home game of 2020 when they host NAIA No. 9 John Brown University on Thursday 
• The Stars came as close as anyone to defeating the Golden Eagles when the teams met in Siloam Springs, taking JBU to overtime before succumbing 92-86.
 
ABOUT THE STARS
• OCU secured the season series tiebreaker over Southwestern Christian on Tuesday evening, as they used a huge first half to roll their way to a 103-78 win over the Eagles
• Anthony Davis, a 6-foot-7 senior from Lewisville, Texas, led the Stars with 19 points in the win, and he was one of six Stars to reach double-figures. Davis was 7-for-10, and he had five rebounds and two assists as well. Davis is the Stars' leading scorer, averaging 13.7 points per game, and he is shooting 51.2 percent from the floor
• Elie Ghomsi, a 6-foot-7 sophomore from Bafoussam, Cameroon, narrowly missed out on a double-double, tallying 15 points and nine rebounds in the game. Ghomsi was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field in the game, including a 3-point field goal - just his third made 3-pointer of the season
• Oklahoma City has allowed the 7th-lowest opposing 3-point field-goal percentage in NAIA Division I at 30.6 percent 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 holds the all-time series lead with John Brown with a 37-17 record against the Golden Eagles. This will be the fifth straight time the teams have met with JBU in the NAIA Division I men's basketball top-25 coaches' poll
• JBU's win in January was their first win over OCU in the last nine games in the series, snapping a streak that dated back to Jan. 9, 2016
  ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
• JBU needed everything they had in the tank on Saturday afternoon when they needed 10 extra minutes to outlast Langston at Bill George Arena, 77-74 in double OT
• Densier Carnes was notched his 11th double-double of the season, leading the Golden Eagles with 24 points and he also reeled in 12 rebounds. JBU scored only 15 points off the bench in the game, and only two players outside the Golden Eagles' starting five contributed to the offense at all
• JBU ranks in the top-five in NAIA Division I in Defensive rebounds per game (2nd, 28.458), and Free Throw Percentage (4th, 76.1%)

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 (104-77, sixth season with John Brown; 166-113)
• 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
• Oklahoma City University athletics will provide live video and audio of the game through its Stretch portal. Live stats of the game will be available through the OCU Stretch portal as well as through the DakStats Websync service
• 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

Anthony Davis

#23 Anthony Davis

F
6' 7"
Senior
Darrion Willies

#21 Darrion Willies

F
6' 6"
Senior
Elie Ghomsi

#15 Elie Ghomsi

F
6' 7"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Anthony Davis

#23 Anthony Davis

6' 7"
Senior
F
Darrion Willies

#21 Darrion Willies

6' 6"
Senior
F
Elie Ghomsi

#15 Elie Ghomsi

6' 7"
Sophomore
F