7:45 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1
C. Felton Gayles Field House | Langston, Okla.
THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University takes on Langston, which has gone undefeated so far this men's basketball season
• The Stars have won their past three encounters with Langston. Langston's last victory over Oklahoma City took place at C. Felton Gayles Field House 88-85 on Jan. 2, 2020
ABOUT THE STARS
• Oklahoma City put together a furious rally, but succumbed to Paul Quinn (Texas) 76-69 on Monday in Dallas. The Stars (3-5, 1-1 Sooner Athletic Conference) sliced their deficit to 66-65 with 2:48 left on Kori Guest's steal and subsequent basket after trailing by as much as 15 points early in the second period
• Avery Jackson, a 6-foot-3 freshman from Frisco, Texas, spearheaded the Stars with 16 points and two rebounds while shooting 6-for-9 from the floor and 3-for-5 from 3-point range. Jackson has amassed 18.9 points and 4.8 rebounds a game while shooting 54.5 percent from the field and 53.1 percent from beyond the arc this season
• Brandon Jackson, a 6-6 junior from Westmont, Calif., provided OCU with 15 points and seven rebounds. Jackson nailed 3 of his 6 shots from downtown. He has turned in 13.6 points and 7.6 rebounds a contest along with a 40.4 percent 3-point shooting clip in 2022-23
• OCU ranks 30th in the NAIA this season with 29.5 defensive rebounds per game
• The Stars came in seventh 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
• Oklahoma City owns a 25-6 advantage in the all-time series against Langston. On Jan. 22, the Stars topped Langston 84-77 at C. Felton Gayles Field House. Guest scored a team-best 20 points to go along with six rebounds and 5-of-11 shooting from 3-point land
ABOUT THE LIONS
• Langston pummeled Central Christian (Kan.) 87-50 on Tuesday in Langston, Okla. The Lions (7-0, 3-0 SAC) have their finest start to a season since getting out to a 12-0 start and winning their first four SAC contests in 2018-19
• Anthony White, a 6-3 senior, had 22 points and four steals while hitting 8 of his 11 field-goal tries and 5 of 7 3-point attempts. White has averaged 15.0 points a game with a 54.7 field-goal percentage and 51.7 percent 3-point shooting this season
• The Lions lead the NAIA with 22.3 made free throws a contest this season
• Langston held the fourth position in the preseason SAC poll, picking up three No. 1 votes from the conference coaches
ABOUT THE COACHES
Mark Berokoff (20-19, second season with OCU)
• 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
• 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 combined head-coaching record over 20 years in the college and prep ranks was 389-213 entering the 2022-23 season
Chris Wright (first season with Langston)
• Chris Wright arrived at Langston after leading Talladega (Ala.) to a 106-25 record with four appearances in the NAIA Championship Tournament in four seasons. Talladega went 32-6 and reached the national title game last season, falling to Loyola (La.) 71-56 on March 22 in Kansas City, Mo.
• Wright entered this season with a 210-103 career head-coaching mark in 10 years at Talladega, Central Baptist (Ark.), Graceland (Iowa) and Fresno Pacific (Calif.). He guided Central Baptist to its first national-tournament berth in his only season there in 2016-17
• Wright began his coaching career as an assistant at St. Edward's (Texas) before moving on to Angelo State (Texas), Arkansas Tech and Texas State also in an assistant coaching capacity
ON THE AIR
• Oklahoma City University athletics provides live and on-demand audio, stats and video of its contests on OCU's BlueFrame platform. OCU will offer a live audio stream of the game
• Andrew Himes will offer commentary. 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
• Langston will offer live video and live stats of the game
