Vote for Darrion Willies in the Dark Horse Dunker contest at darkhorsedunker.com.

Men's Basketball 2/14/2020 2:22:00 PM

OCU at Bacone men's basketball preview

Stars completes non-conference slate Saturday

4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15
Palmer Center | Muskogee, Okla.

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University meets Bacone in the Stars' final non-conference contest of the season
• Bacone is in its first season as an NAIA Division II independent after spending the previous four years as a Sooner Athletic Conference member

ABOUT THE STARS
• Oklahoma City fell in overtime 88-82 to John Brown (Ark.) on Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena. John Brown swept the regular-season series from the Stars (13-12, 6-10 SAC) for the first time since 2012-13, when OCU defeated John Brown for the SAC Tournament title that March
• Trae Bryant, a 6-foot-1 senior from Wilmington, N.C., posted 18 points and three assists. Bryant nailed 15 of 16 free-throw shots. Bryant provides OCU with 13.7 points and 3.5 assists a contest while shooting 51.4 percent from 3-point land
• Anthony Davis, a 6-7 senior from Lewisville, Texas, collected 16 points, nine rebounds, two assists and three steals. Davis has averaged 15.8 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest over the past four games. Davis accumulates 13.8 points and 6.7 rebounds with a 50.5 percent field-goal percentage
• Oklahoma City limits foes to 31 percent shooting from 3-point territory to rank 10th nationally. Eric Wattree's 46.1 percent 3-point shooting ranks 14th in NAIA Division I. 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 remained undefeated in the all-time series against Bacone, moving to 9-0
• The Stars crushed Bacone 106-66 on Jan. 16 in Oklahoma City. OCU hit its first 10 field-goal tries while tallying a season-best point total. Davis powered OCU with 21 points

Stuff the Dark Horse Dunker ballot box with votes for Oklahoma City University's own Darrion Willies daily at https://t.co/w6MCT2RpJc! #OCUmbb #DarrionDUNKS #GreatdaytobeaStar #hoops @CollegeSLAM pic.twitter.com/bu4qFSwj6L
— OCU Men's Basketball (@OCUmbball) February 14, 2020

Tweet #DarrionDUNKS

ABOUT THE WARRIORS
• Bacone has been idle since Feb. 4, when Langston flattened Bacone 103-36 in Langston, Okla. Bacone (0-21) scuffled to 28.8 percent shooting from the floor and 35.7 percent from the foul line
• Joseph Johnson, a 6-3 freshman, had 11 points and five rebounds. Johnson averages 8.8 points and 3.6 rebounds a game with 44.4 percent shooting from 3-point range
• Bacone scores 70.4 points a game while allowing opponents 98.8 points per contest

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

Carl Cowan (2-46, first season with Bacone)
• Bacone went 0-21 in the SAC in its final season as a member of the conference last season
• Cowan, also the Bacone athletic director, graduated from Northeastern State University in 2006 with a bachelor of science degree in elementary education
• He started his coaching career at Locust Grove High School in 2006 and spent the last 10 years at Beggs

ON THE AIR
• Oklahoma City University athletics provides live and on-demand audio and live stats of its contests on OCU's Stretch portal. Listen to and follow the game live here
• 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

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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