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Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Men's Basketball (0-3) seeks its first win of the season, as they travel to Searcy, Arkansas to face another conference foe in Harding at 6 pm on Saturday
- In the opening night of GAC play on Thursday, the Dawgs fell to Arkansas Tech 84-67 to begin the conference slate with a loss
- The Bulldogs split the regular season series with the Bisons last year, winning 81-76 in Weatherford back on November 21, and losing 84-59 on January 20    

The Opponent
Harding (2-1)
- The Bisons won a share of the GAC regular-season title last in the 2015-16 season, finishing (22-8, 17-5 GAC) and tying atop the standings with ECU
- This season, HU was picked to finish third in the league, voted on in the preseason poll by the conference's 12 coaches
- After dropping their opening game of the season to Minnesota State-Morehead, HU has won its previous two games heading into Saturday's contest
- The Bisons bring back a pair of double-figure scorers from last year in Will Francis and Stefan Andelkovic
- Currently, Tim Wagner leads the Harding offensively by averaging 23.7 points per game in the early going of the season

The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (50-38, 4th season, 459-334 career, 28th season)
- In his fourth season as the head coach of the Bulldogs, having led SWOSU to at least 16 wins in each of his first three years at the helm
- Has coached five players at SWOSU that earned All-GAC distinction, including one GAC Player of the Year (Rod Camphor) and one GAC Defensive Player of the Year (Michael Bradley)
- 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 459-330 (.582) and he is 1-2 at the conference tournament as the head coach at SWOSU

Harding: Jeff Morgan (398-262, 24th season)
- Coach Morgan has led his teams to 19 postseason tournament appearances, including nine Gulf South Conference Tournament appearances and five Great American Conference Tournament appearances, six NCAA Division II national tournaments and to one NAIA national tournament
- Morgan led Harding to regular-season championships in 2008, 2013 and 2016, and his 2014 team won the GAC Tournament championship as the No. 5 seed
- Morgan has coached more games (663) and has more wins (400) than any other Harding men's basketball coach
- As a player, Morgan began his career at York College where he set the school record for assists, and went on to transfer to West Texas A&M for his last two years of eligibility
 
The Series
SWOSU vs. Harding (Division II era)
Harding leads series 7-3 since 2012
*1/14/2012    Weatherford, Okla.                   W 85-67
 *2/11/2012   Searcy, Ark.                             L 76-79
 *1/3/2013     Searcy, Ark.                            L 54-76
 *2/9/2013     Weatherford, Okla.                  W 71-60
 *1/2/2014     Weatherford, Okla.                   L 65-89
 *2/8/2014     Searcy, Ark.                            L 71-89
 *11/22/2014 Searcy, Ark.                             L 52-64
 *2/7/2015     Weatherford, Okla.                   L 52-79
 *11/21/2015 Weatherford, Okla.                   W 81-76
*1/30/2016    Searcy, Ark.                            L 59-84
 
*GAC Conference Meeting

SWOSU Notes
- After scoring 21 points against Arkansas Tech, Devin Pugh upped his team-leading scoring average to 16.7 points per game and shooting an impressive 50 percent from the field
- Pugh also leads the Dawgs from deep, shooting at a 50 percent mark from the three-point line on 9-18 attempts
- Nick Shoemaker is also helping stretch the floor for the Bulldogs, shooting nearly 43 percent from three on 6-14  
- Markeise Champion ranks second on the team in overall scoring by averaging nine points a contest
- Altez Davis is the leading rebounder, grabbing an average of 7.7 boards per game while also adding a team-high four blocked shots
- Luke Lewallen and Pugh each have gotten to the charity stripe 10 times this season, shooting 70 percent from the foul line (7-10)

Looking Ahead
- Next Saturday, November 26 the Bulldogs will take on Central Missouri for a non-conference game in Warrensburg, Missouri at 2 pm that will wrap up a three-game stretch of away contests for SWOSU
- December 1 will mark the first game of a three-game home stand inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center first against GAC opponent Arkansas-Monticello, followed by Southern Arkansas (Dec 3) and Cameron (Dec. 7)