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Arkansas Tech (9-12, 5-8 GAC) at SWOSU (11-8, 5-7 GAC) Thursday, February 5, 7:30 pm Weatherford, Okla. (Pioneer Cellular Event Center) Live Stats | Listen Live | Live Video SWOSU Game Notes (pdf)

Setting the Stage
- SWOSU hosts Arkansas Tech on Thursday night for the middle game of a three-game homestand, tipping off against the Wonder Boys at 7:30 pm in the Pioneer Cellular Event Center
- The Bulldogs are coming off a 78-66 victory over East Central, earning a season-sweep of the Tigers to move to 5-3 in home games
- Arkansas Tech defeated SWOSU 69-65 in the team's previous meeting this season on December 17 in Russellville
- SWOSU plays six of their eight games in the month of February at home after going 4-4 in January with five games on the road
- This game will be Arkansas Tech's first visit to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center. Last year's meeting between the two teams in Weatherford was a 63-38 SWOSU victory at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse
 
The Opponent
Arkansas Tech (9-12, 5-8 GAC)
- Completing a three-game road stand on Thursday and they enter the game losing six of their previous seven games
- Just 1-7 in true road games this season, with their lone road win coming at Arkansas-Monticello on January 3
- Ranked eighth in the GAC in scoring, putting up an average of 69.5 points per game while opponents are scoring 71.5 points against the Wonder Boys
- Lead the GAC in 3-point field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to just 32.4% (159-490) shooting from long range
- Leading scorer is Mike Balogun, who averages 13.9 points per game, while four other players average better than 8.3 points per game
- Clarence Willard ranks second on the team with an average of 9.3 ppg while leading ATU with 62 assists (3.4/game)
- Arkansas Tech is 8-1 against SWOSU since the team's began play as members of the Great American Conference
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (28-18, 2nd season; 437-314 career, 26th season)
- Bob Battisti was named the 14th head men's basketball coach in SWOSU history prior to last season after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma Christian University
- Led the Bulldogs to a 17-10 record in his first season, marking a five-win improvement from the previous season
- Three players earned All-GAC distinction in Battisti's first season at SWOSU
- SWOSU committed the fewest turnovers in NCAA Division II in Battisti's first season with 243, an average of just 9.0 per game
- 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 25 years as a head coach, Battisti has a career record of 437-314 (.583), including a 1-2 record against Arkansas Tech as SWOSU's head coach
 
Arkansas Tech: Chad Kline (9-12, 1st season)
- Named the 22nd head coach in Arkansas Tech history on June 2, 2014 after spending three seasons as an assistant at ATU
- Helped the Wonder Boys to three conference championships while having seven All-GAC players and three specialty award winners
- Has previous head coaching experience with seven years on staff at Frank Phillips College in Texas, including the last five years as the head coach
 
Last Time Out
- The Bulldogs finished their showdown with East Central on a 19-2 run, not allowing the Tigers a basket over the final 5:54 of the game, to earn a 78-66 win last Saturday
- The victory gave the Bulldogs a season sweep of ECU for the second consecutive season
- Emeche Wells and Martell Collins tied for team-high scoring honors with 17 apiece while combining for 17 rebounds
- Trent Washington hit four big three-pointers and totaled 14 points while Richard McCalop had several highlight dunks as part of his 13-point scoring effort
 
Checking the Standings
- Saturday's victory got SWOSU to within two games of .500 in league play heading into the final two games of their current homestand
- The Bulldogs are 5-7 in league play, currently alone in eighth place in the standings, one-half game behind Southern Nazarene and Henderson State
- Arkansas Tech is directly below the Bulldogs in ninth place with a 5-8 conference record
- Ouachita Baptist is alone atop the standings, sitting 10-3 against conference foes with seven games remaining
- Southern Arkansas and Harding are tied for second, just above East Central and Southeastern, the only other teams with a GAC mark that's .500 or better
 
SWOSU Notes
- Emeche Wells had his second-highest scoring game as a Bulldog on Saturday, totaling 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting while coming off the bench for the second straight game
- Wells also tied a season-high with eight rebounds, including four offensive boards, against ECU, upping his average to 5.7 for the year
- After scoring 7 points on 2-13 shooting at East Central in December, Martell Collins responded with 17 points and nine rebounds against the Tigers on Saturday
- Collins upped his scoring average to 17.4 ppg and his league-leading rebounding mark is steady at 9.4 per game
- Making his second consecutive start for SWOSU, Richard McCalop scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting against ECU for his fourth double-digit scoring performance of the year
- Kenyan Borders has been held to nine or fewer points in three consecutive games, his longest streak this season without a double-digit scoring game
- Borders remains the Bulldogs third-leading scorer at 10.3 ppg
- Trent Washington has returned to the starting lineup the past two games and he's averaging 17.0 ppg on 46.4% (13-28) field goal shooting and 36.8% (7-19) shooting from 3-point range
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU welcomes Harding to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center on Saturday for the third and final game of their current homestand
- The Bulldogs then hit the road one last time to face Ouachita Baptist & Southern Arkansas