OCU at Mid-America Christian men's basketball preview

Stars test their defense against nation's third-best 3-point shooting team

A.J. Cockrell provided OCU with season highs in points, assists and field goals Saturday.

Men's Basketball | 2/19/2020 10:43:00 PM

7:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20
Gaulke Activity Center | Oklahoma City

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University looks to play the spoiler against Mid-America Christian
• Mid-America Christian held the No. 2 spot in the NAIA rankings for the third consecutive week. The Stars seek their first win against a top-25 opponent this season

ABOUT THE STARS
• Oklahoma City University won going away 98-82 over Bacone on Saturday in Muskogee, Okla. The Stars (14-12, 6-10 SAC) reeled off a significant 8-0 run to break a tie and lead 67-59 with 13:40 remaining
• A.J. Cockrell, a 6-foot-8 senior from Tulsa, Okla., produced his second 20-point performance and fourth double-double as a Star with 22 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. He shot 10-for-12 from the field. Cockrell posts 10.2 points and 4.7 rebounds a contest with a 67.5 percent field-goal percentage
• Rashaun Coleman, a 6-foot junior from Houston, added his third 20-point scoring output of 2019-20 with 20 points, three assists and two steals. Coleman hit 9 of his 13 shots from the floor. Coleman picks up 12.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists a game
• Oklahoma City has defended the 3-point line well this season, limiting foes to 31.2 percent shooting from 3-point land to rate 11th in the NAIA in that category. Eric Wattree has sunk 46.1 percent of his 3-point attempts to rank 14th nationally. 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 has a 20-12 advantage all-time against Mid-America Christian
• Mid-America Christian came away with an 89-75 win Jan. 25 at Abe Lemons Arena. Anthony Davis boasted of 24 points and 12 rebounds for OCU

ABOUT THE EVANGELS
• Mid-America Christian fended off 20th-ranked Texas Wesleyan 94-89 on Saturday in Oklahoma City. The Evangels (25-1, 16-0 SAC) notched two wins over ranked foes last week including a 90-89 win over 15th-ranked Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas)
• Ashford Golden, a 6-6 senior, had 26 points while shooting 6-for-7 from 3-point territory. Golden averages 17.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game with a 40.7 percent shooting clip from downtown
• Mid-America Christian hits 41 percent of its 3-point tries to rank third in the country
• The Evangels garnered the third spot in the preseason SAC coaches' poll

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

Josh Gamblin (112-52 fifth season with MACU)
• Gamblin notched his 100th career victory Jan. 4 against John Brown (Ark.). Gamblin became the hoopdirt.com coach of the week for Jan. 13-19, while Mid-America picked up National Association of Basketball Coaches team of the week for Dec. 30-Jan. 5
• In his first season with Mid-America Christian, Gamblin took the Evangels to their first ever NAIA national championship, defeating No. 1-ranked Georgetown (Ky.) 100-99 in overtime. He became the youngest coach (27) in college basketball history to win a national championship at a four-year institution. Gamblin collected the 2015-16 Rawlings-NAIA Division I coach of the year and also has received the Dr. James Naismith-Emil S. Liston Sports Award
• He joined Mid-America after a tenure at the University of Oklahoma, where Gamblin was a graduate assistant under head coach Lon Kruger

ON THE AIR
• Watch the game live on the Mid-America Christian YouTube channel or follow the game via live stats here
• Oklahoma City University athletics provides live and on-demand audio of its contests on OCU's Stretch portal. Listen to the game live here
• Andrew Himes calls the action. 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

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

#23 Anthony Davis

#22 Eric Wattree

#2 Rashaun Coleman

Players Mentioned

#23 Anthony Davis

#22 Eric Wattree

#2 Rashaun Coleman