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SWOSU (3-1) at Central Oklahoma (3-0) Tuesday, November 24, 7:30 pm Edmond, Okla. (Hamilton Field House) Live Stats  |  Watch Live  |  Live Audio SWOSU Game Notes (pdf)

Setting the Stage
- After opening the season with four straight home games, the SWOSU Men's Basketball team heads to Edmond on Tuesday night to face Central Oklahoma in their first road game of the 2015-16 season
- SWOSU enters the game with three consecutive wins to their credit and a 3-1 record, while UCO has won their first three games of the season to enter at 3-0
- The Bulldogs split against MIAA foes during the SWOSU Classic, while UCO already has two victories against GAC teams to their credit
- Tuesday night's game is the first of three straight road games for the Bulldogs, who do not play at home again until December 10
 
The Opponent
Central Oklahoma (3-0)
- UCO has won each of their first three games by six points or less, including one win in overtime and another in double overtime
- The Bronchos already own two victories over Great American Conference foes, defeating Northwestern Oklahoma State & Southeastern Oklahoma State in the season-opening MIAA/GAC Basketball Challenge in Durant
- UCO averages 76.0 points per contest behind a balanced attack that has five players averaging between 10.0-13.5 points per game
- Cornell Neal leads UCO with a 13.5 points per game average while adding 5.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game
- The Bronchos have held opponents to 38.5% field goal shooting and teams are averaging 71.0 points per game against UCO
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (36-24, 3rd season; 445-320 career, 27th season)
- In his third season as the head coach of the Bulldogs, having led SWOSU to back-to-back winning seasons in his first two years at the helm
- Has coached three players at SWOSU that earned All-GAC distinction, including one GAC Player of the Year and one GAC Defensive Player of the Year
- Previously spent 25 years at Northwestern Oklahoma State, coaching the men's basketball team for 21 seasons before taking over as the school's athletic director
- In 26 years as a head coach, Battisti has a career record of 445-320 (.581) and he is 1-0 against Central Oklahoma while coaching the Bulldogs
 
Central Oklahoma: Tom Hankins (3-0, 1st season)
- Named the head coach at Central Oklahoma in May after spending the previous 18 seasons as an assistant coach in the NCAA Division I ranks
- Spent 15 seasons as an assistant coach at Oral Roberts before serving the last three seasons as the associate head coach at Southern Illinois
- Also has coaching stops at NEO, Frank Phillips College and Northwest Missouri State
 
Last Time Out
- Martell Collins and Emeche Wells combined for 45 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to an 81-76 victory over Harding on Saturday, improving the Bulldogs to 2-0 in GAC play
- Harding tied the game at 55-55 with 12:44 to play with a free throw, but SWOSU outscored the Bisons 16-5 over the next seven minutes to build their biggest lead of the day at 71-60 on a pair of free throws from Wells
- Harding got within two at 78-76 with free throws from Blake McNair, but Collins knocked down two free throws and SWOSU got a defensive stop to clinch the victory
- SWOSU's bench held a 23-2 advantage over Harding, with Markeise Champion providing most of the reserve points with 17 on 6-for-13 shooting from the field
 
Checking The Standings
- SWOSU is currently sitting atop the GAC standings at 2-0, tied with Southeastern Oklahoma State and Southern Nazarene as teams to win twice on the opening weekend of league play
- Six teams split wins and losses on the opening weekend while Arkansas-Monticello, Henderson State and Northwestern Oklahoma State went 0-2 on the weekend
 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU remains ranked third in the GAC in both scoring offense (79.0 points per game) and scoring defense (72.0 points per game)
- The Bulldogs scoring margin of +7.0 is the top mark among GAC schools
- Opponents have connected on 40.6% (97-239) of their field goal attempts against SWOSU, who has the top-ranked field goal percentage defense in the GAC
- The Bulldogs defense on the perimeter has also been stout as teams are shooting 28.4% (27-95) from three-point range against SWOSU
- With 17 blocked shots, SWOSU ranks second in the GAC with an average of 4.3 blocks per game
- Emeche Wells has grabbed three steals in each game, giving him a league-high 12 steals through four games
- SWOSU has four players averaging better than 10.0 points per game, led by Martell Collins, who ranks seventh in the league in scoring at 18.3 points per game
- Markeise Champion is SWOSU's second-leading scorer, averaging 14.5 points per game while coming off the bench to hit a team-leading 14 three-pointers
- Wells (14.3 ppg) and Collin Jennings (10.8 ppg) are the Bulldogs other top scoring threats early this season
- Juwan Newmen leads the Bulldogs and ranks fifth in the GAC with 29 rebounds (7.3 per game) to date
- Keyshawn Perkins has started all four games this season and finished with at least four assists in three of them, leading the team with 15 assists (2.5 per game)
 
Looking Ahead
- The Bulldogs are off until returning to league play on December 3rd and 5th against Arkansas-Monticello and Southern Arkansas
- SWOSU closes the fall semester with home games against Southwestern Christian (December 10th) and Panhandle State (December 12th)