Ryan Birt recorded the most steals (six) in a game in the conference this season Saturday.

Men's Basketball 1/27/2021 2:09:00 PM

OCU vs. Texas Wesleyan men's basketball preview

Stars face Texas Wesleyan in their 2020-21 home opener

7:45 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University makes its home debut this season against Texas Wesleyan
• OCU has limited its home contests to essential gameday personnel and prohibited spectators from attending
• Fans can watch Stars home games via the OCU Sports Network
• OCU coaches will join the Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers nationwide initiative uniting basketball coaches across the country for a common cause – saving lives from cancer. Coaches across the nation will support childhood cancer awareness during 2021 Suits and Sneakers Week on Jan. 25-31

ABOUT THE STARS
• The Stars suffered a season-opening 74-67 setback to Central Christian (Kan.) on Saturday in McPherson, Kan. Central Christian nailed 12 of 25 3-point attempts against OCU (0-1). The Stars competed for the first time since March 3, 2020 (326 days)
• Kori Guest, a 6-foot-6 junior from Tulsa, Okla., supplied OCU with 12 points, six rebounds and three steals. Guest sank all four free-throw attempts
• Ryan Birt, a 6-2 senior from Plano, Texas, contributed 11 points, three rebounds and six steals. Birt swiped the most steals in a single game this season within the Sooner Athletic Conference
• Oklahoma City shot 48.5 percent from the field as a team to rank 14th in NAIA Division I. Compare OCU with the rest of the NAIA statistically last season here
• The Stars took the eighth spot in the preseason SAC coaches poll. OCU owns 13 SAC regular-season championships and 10 SAC Tournament titles. Oklahoma City has advanced to the NAIA Division I Championship Tournament 25 times all-time and has won six national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008
• The all-time series between the two teams is tied 15-15. Texas Wesleyan swept the season series last season with a 73-69 win Feb. 8, 2020 in Fort Worth, Texas. Rashaun Coleman compiled 11 points and four assists for the Stars while hitting all five of his field-goal attempts. The Rams pulled away from a 60-60 tie score with 5:35 remaining
• Texas Wesleyan toppled OCU 67-65 for the national championship March 21, 2006 in Kansas City, Mo. Ben Hunt rebounded a missed free throw, zoomed to the other end of the court and drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing with two tenths of a second left to make the difference

ABOUT THE RAMS
• Texas Wesleyan ripped Dallas Christian 99-63 on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Rams (6-2, 3-3 SAC) hit 55.6 percent of their second-half field-goal tries
• Francis Doe, a 6-4 junior, had a career-high 23 points to go with six rebounds and two blocked shots. Doe generated his output in 19 minutes and led the Rams bench to 53 points. Doe averages 8.5 points and 2.3 rebounds a contest
• Peyton Sallee leads the Rams in scoring (17.4 points a game) and ranks fifth in the NAIA with a 63 percent 3-point shooting clip. Texas Wesleyan accumulates 11.00 steals per game as a team to rank seventh nationally in that category this season
• Texas Wesleyan received votes in the latest NAIA rankings
• SAC coaches voted Texas Wesleyan as the fourth-best team in the league in the preseason

MEET THE COACHES
Tim Kisner (first season with OCU)
• Kisner served as an assistant coach at John Brown (Ark.) the previous two seasons. John Brown went 51-16 (.762 winning percentage) with a program record-tying 28 victories last season, two national-tournament berths, two second-place finishes in the SAC and two appearances in the SAC Tournament title game. The Golden Eagles were 44-48 (.478) the two years prior to Kisner's arrival
• Guided Fresno Pacific to 14 victories as head coach in 2015-16, which was a five-game improvement over the previous season
• Started four years at point guard for Central Michigan from 1997-2001, earning spots on the program's all-time list for points, assists, 3-pointers and steals

Brennen Shingleton (166-96, eighth season with Texas Wesleyan)
• Shingleton served as an assistant coach and later as an associate head coach for 10 years prior to becoming Texas Wesleyan head coach
• He reached 100 wins during the team's national championship run in 2017, making him the fastest coach to reach the milestone in the history of the program
• Shingleton is a two-time SAC coach of the year and was named NAIA national coach of the year in 2017

ON THE AIR
• Oklahoma City University athletics provides live and on-demand video of its contests on OCU's BlueFrame platform. Cost to watch OCU athletics is $4.99 per game
• Andrew Himes will provide the play-by-play. Himes enters his 10th season as the voice of the Stars and has been broadcasting OCU basketball for 13 years starting on color commentary as an OCU student
• OCU has partnered with BlueFrame Technology to create the OCU Sports Network. To watch live video, fans can find the Stars' BlueFrame platform over the web on the SAC Network along with streaming apps for mobile devices (iOS and Android) and televisions including Amazon Fire Tablet, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku. The app can be found and installed by searching for the SAC Network

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Players Mentioned

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

#3 Ryan Birt: G; 6' 2"; Senior

#22 Kori Guest: F; 6' 6"; Junior

Players Mentioned

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

#3 Ryan Birt
: 6' 2"; Senior
: G

#22 Kori Guest
: 6' 6"; Junior
: F

Players Mentioned

#2 Rashaun Coleman

#3 Ryan Birt

#22 Kori Guest

Players Mentioned

#2 Rashaun Coleman

#3 Ryan Birt

#22 Kori Guest