3:45 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20
Abe Lemons Arena inside Freede Center | Oklahoma City

THE MATCHUP

• Oklahoma City University opens the home portion of its Sooner Athletic Conference slate against Langston
• The Stars and the Lions were unable to play last season due to a COVID pandemic cancellation
• Tickets cost $7 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets can be purchased via OCU's HomeTown Ticketing portal
• OCU students, faculty and staff gain admission to all OCU regular-season home athletics events free of charge with their ID


ABOUT THE STARS

• Oklahoma City (2-5, 1-0 SAC) opened Sooner Athletic Conference play with a 72-60 road win over Central Christian on Thursday night. The Stars finished with its biggest rebounding advantage of the season (46-30) in the win over the Tigers while also holding an opponent to its lowest field goal percentage (28.1%, 18 of 64) of the season
• Ryan Birt, a senior guard from Plano, Texas, finished with a season-high 22 points in the win over Central Christian. He has scored in double-figures in four games and ranks third on the squad with an 11.6 points per game scoring average
• Romario Spence, a senior forward from Luton, England, recorded his second double-double of the season in the win over CCCK, finishing with 11 points and 13 rebounds. He leads the squad with an 8.9 rebounds per game average while ranking fourth with a 10.7 points per game scoring average
• The Stars took the eighth spot in the preseason SAC Preseason 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
• Oklahoma City holds a 23-6 advantage in the all-time series over Langston. The teams last met on Feb. 1, 2020 at Abe Lemons with the Stars claiming a 67-62 win
 
ABOUT THE LIONS

• Langston (0-4, 0-1 SAC) fell to John Brown University (Ark.) 79-64 in the conference opener for both teams on Thursday night at C.F. Gayles Field House in Langston. All five starters played in excess of 30 minutes in the loss with the two reserves combining for 24 minutes played.
• Armani Allen, a junior guard from Chicago) leads the team with a 21 points per game scoring average. He scored a season-high 25 points in the loss to John Brown.
• Langston was picked to finish 11th in the SAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. 


ABOUT THE COACHES

Mark Berokoff (first season with OCU)
• Mark Berokoff guided Randall to three national championships and a national runner-up finish in nine years as head coach of the Saints. Berokoff's record with Randall was 147-122. Randall regularly challenged SAC squads and defeated OCU twice during that time
• Berokoff coached five national player of the year honorees, 16 all-Americans, three national tournament outstanding player award winners and one scholar all-American with Randall. Berkoff was two-time national coach of the year
• Berokoff's coaching career includes experience on the high school, college and professional levels. His combined head-coaching record over 19 years in the college and prep ranks is 372-199
 
Philp Stitt (second season at Langston) 
• Has complied a 229-186 career record in 16 seasons as a head coach at four institutions.
• He is in third season at Langston. He guided the Lions to a 14-16 record in his first season as head coach in 2019-20.
• Served as head coach at Winston Salem State for five seasons, Florida Community College for two seasons and Marion Military Institute for six seasons before arriving at Langston.


ON THE AIR
• Oklahoma City University athletics provides live and on-demand audio, stats and video of its contests on OCU's BlueFrame platform. Cost to watch OCU athletics live is $4.99 per game, while there is a men's basketball season pass available for $52
• Andrew Himes will offer commentary. Himes enters his 11th season as the voice of the Stars and has been broadcasting OCU basketball for 14 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