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GAC Tournament Quarterfinals (8) SWOSU vs. (1) Ouachita Baptist Friday, March 6, 5:45 pm Bartlesville, Okla. (Bruin Fieldhouse) Live Stats  |  Watch Live  |  Listen Live SWOSU Game Notes (pdf)

Setting the Stage
- SWOSU Basketball enters the 2015 Great American Conference Tournament on Friday evening, facing the top-seeded Tigers of Ouachita Baptist at 5:45 pm in Bartlesville
- The Bulldogs claimed the No. 8 seed at the GAC Tournament after tying for seventh in the league standings with Southern Nazarene at 9-11
- Head-to-head tiebreakers allowed the Crimson Storm to grab the No. 7 seed and relegated the Bulldogs to No. 8, where they are matched with the conference-champion Tigers
- SWOSU has advanced to the GAC Tournament in all four years of its existence, but this is the first time the Bulldogs have entered as the No. 8 seed
- The Bulldogs are 3-3 all-time at the GAC Tournament, with two of their eliminations coming against Arkansas Tech before falling to Southern Arkansas 63-59 in the first round last season
- OBU swept the season series between the two teams, defeating SWOSU 66-58 on January 8 in Weatherford and 89-63 on February 12 in Arkadelphia
 
The Opponent
Ouachita Baptist (20-5)
- Ouachita Baptist finished the regular season 20-5 and won the GAC outright by three games with a 16-4 mark in league play
- Enter the game following a 91-71 loss at Harding, their largest of the season, that snapped a nine-game winning streak
- Third-highest scoring team in the GAC this season, averaging 78.4 points per game while allowing an average of 69.9 ppg, second only to SWOSU among league teams
- One of the top shooting teams in the GAC, ranking first in free throw percentage (73.2%), third in field goal percentage (46.6%) and fourth in 3-point percentage (37.9%)
- Led in scoring by Tirrell Brown, who is averaging 17.6 points per game while shooting 63.3% from the field to rank second in the GAC and top ten nationally in the category
- Three other scores rank in the top 30 among in the league for points per game, including: Colt Fason (13.8 ppg/13th), Micah Delph (11.7/24th) & Justin McCleary (10.8/29th)
- The Tigers are leading the league in steals with 214 (8.6/game) behind David Berete (37) and Micah Delph (38), who are both among the top five in the league
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (32-22, 2nd season; 441-318 career, 26th season)
- In his second season as the head coach of the Bulldogs, where he led SWOSU to a five-win improvement his first season and is 32-22 as head coach
- 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 441-318 (.581), including a 2-2 mark against Ouachita Baptist and a 1-1 record at the GAC Tournament as the Bulldogs head coach
 
Ouachita Baptist: Dennis Nutt (62-46, 4th season)
- Led the Tigers to their first regular season GAC Championship this season after being picked to finish seventh by the conference coaches
- Finishing his fourth season at OBU, where he led the Tigers to the 2013 GAC Tournament Championship behind tournament MVP Colt Fason, now a senior at OBU
- Served as the head coach at Texas State University from 2000-06, accumulating a record of 72-96
 
This Year Against the Opponent
- Ouachita Baptist swept the season series with wins of 66-58 in Weatherford and 89-63 in Arkadelphia for an average margin of victory of 17 points per game
- The 89 points scored by OBU is the most allowed by the Bulldogs this season and their 26-point defeat is the second-worst for SWOSU in 2014-15
- Emeche Wells average 14.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game against the Bulldogs to lead SWOSU while Trent Washington averaged 10.5 ppg in two meetings
- SWOSU shot just 33% (37-for-110) from the field and 22% (11-for-48) from 3-point range against the Tigers
- Martell Collins, the Bulldogs leading scorer and rebounder, was held to five points and zero rebounds in SWOSU's setback in Arkadelphia
- OBU had four players average double figures against the Bulldogs, led by Micah Delph with 20.5 points per game
- The Tigers outrebounded SWOSU 79-73 in the series and shot better than 41% from the field and 38% from 3-point range
 
SWOSU at the GAC Tournament
- This is SWOSU's fourth consecutive season advancing to postseason play in Bartlesville, where the Bulldogs have been a lower seed three times in the first round of the tournament
- The Bulldogs are 2-0 in GAC Tournament quarterfinals as the lower seed and 0-1 as the higher seed after suffering a 63-59 defeat to SAU as the No. 2 seed last season
- Overall the Bulldogs are 3-3 at the GAC Tournament, with a record 0-1 under the direction of Coach Bob Battisti
- No. 8 seeds are 0-3 all-time at the GAC Tournament
 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU had a season-best four-game win streak snapped in the season finale against Southeastern
- The Bulldogs committed just nine turnovers on Saturday, their second straight game of turning the ball over less than 10 times
- SWOSU has committed the fewest turnovers in the GAC with 270 (10.0/game), a mark that ranks in the top five in all of NCAA Division II
- Martell Collins finished the regular season as SWOSU's leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 15.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game to rank among the top ten in the GAC in both categories
- SWOSU's three seniors all played in the Bulldogs 63-59 defeat against Southern Arkansas in the first round of the 2014 GAC Tournament
- Kenyan Borders scored nine points and dished out a game-high six assists while Trent Washington was held to just two points on 1-12 shooting, including 0-10 shooting from 3-point range
- Jordan Franz scored three points as he was 1-for-3 from downtown against the Muleriders
- Ayo Ojo finished the regular season on a high mark, averaging a double-double of 14.5 points and 12.5 rebounds per game in two games last week