7:45 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17
Abe Lemons Center | Oklahoma City
THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University faces off against its first Sooner Athletic Conference men's basketball foe of the season in Texas Wesleyan on Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena
• OCU's all-time record against Texas Wesleyan is 17-16 with their last matchup ending in an 83-77 win Feb. 17 in Fort Worth, Texas to clinch a first-round bye in the SAC Tournament for the Stars
• Texas Wesleyan edged 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 nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing with two tenths of a second left to make the difference
• Tickets cost $7 for adults and $5 for students. All tickets must be purchased via OCU's HomeTown Ticketing portal. No tickets are to be purchased via cash on site. OCU students, faculty and staff gain admission to all OCU regular-season home athletics events free of charge with their ID
ABOUT THE STARS
• OCU prevailed over Friends (Kan.) 86-84 in overtime Saturday in Wichita, Kan. The Stars (2-3) improved to 5-1 in overtime games under Mark Berokoff
• Kori Guest, a 6-foot-6 senior, forged his first double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds at the Garvey Center. Guest provides Oklahoma City with 15.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game in 2022-23
• Dravon Clayborn, a 6-2 senior, delivered 18 points, five rebounds and five assists with 3-pointers that both forced overtime and accounted for the winning basket. Clayborn has accumulated 9.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 5.3 assists a contest
• The Stars rank 33rd among the NAIA this season with 4.40 blocked shots per game as a team
• The Stars came in seventh in the preseason SAC coach's 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 and has won six national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008
ABOUT THE RAMS
• Texas Wesleyan dropped an 81-74 decision to OUAZ on Saturday in Surprise, Ariz. The Rams (1-2) suffered their second loss in a row
• Peyton Sallee, a 6-1 senior, had 16 points and five 3-pointers. Sallee averages 14.5 points and 5.0 rebounds a game while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range
• SAC coaches predicted a fifth-place finish for Texas Wesleyan within the league in the preseason
MEET THE COACHES
Mark Berokoff (second season at OCU, 18-17)
• Mark Berokoff directed Oklahoma City to a 17-14 record in his first season as the Stars' head coach. The Stars collected the No. 3 seed in the SAC Tournament and earned their most conference wins since 2009-10 with a 15-7 mark
• Berokoff directed Randall to three national championships and a national runner-up showing in nine years as head coach of the Saints. Berokoff led Randall to a 147-122 mark. Randall annually squared off with SAC teams and knocked off OCU twice in that span. His college head-coaching record stood at 164-136 in 10 years before the season
• Berokoff produced 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 became two-time national coach of the year
• Berokoff's coaching career spans the high school, college and professional levels. His joint head-coaching record over 20 years in the college and prep ranks was 389-213 entering the 2022-23 season
Brennen Shingleton (190-111, 11th season with Texas Wesleyan)
• Texas Wesleyan has made the NAIA Championship Tournament five of the past six years under Shingleton, who served as an assistant coach and later as an associate head coach for 10 years prior to becoming head coach of the Rams
• 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 audio and video of its contests on OCU's BlueFrame platform as well as live statistics. Cost to watch OCU athletics live is $4.99 per game, while there is a men's basketball season pass available for $48
• Andrew Himes will provide the play-by-play. Himes enters his 12th season as the voice of the Stars and has been broadcasting OCU basketball for 15 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
