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Arkansas-Monticello (4-0, 2-0 GAC) at SWOSU (0-5, 0-2 GAC) Thursday, Dec. 1, 7:30 pm Weatherford, Okla. (Pioneer Cellular Event Center) Live Stats  |  Watch Live  |  Live Audio SWOSU Game Notes (pdf)

Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Men's Basketball returns to the friendly confines of the Pioneer Cellular Event Center for their conference home opener against Arkansas-Monticello on Thursday evening
- The Bulldogs will be playing their first home contest since opening the season with the SWOSU Classic against Augustana and Washburn on November 11-12
- Arkansas-Monticello comes to town atop the GAC standings at 2-0 in league play and one of two teams in the league without a loss this season at 4-0 overall
- Having faced a tough schedule to open the year, the Bulldogs are still searching for their first victory of the season as they are 0-5 (0-2 GAC) to date
- SWOSU has won four straight meetings against the Boll Weevils and nine of the last ten in the series overall dating back to 2012
- UAM will be playing their first true road game of the season after opening the year with four straight games on their home court
 
The Opponent
Arkansas-Monticello (4-0, 2-0 GAC)
- The Boll Weevils are one of five teams that opened league play with a 2-0 mark and they join Arkansas Tech (3-0) as the only remaining undefeated teams in the GAC
- UAM is the second-highest scoring team in the conference with an average of 89.0 points per game and they're coming off a 77-67 upset victory over No. 23 Delta State last weekend
- The last two GAC Players of the Week have come from UAM in Derylton Hill and Karim Maqunyega, with each player averaging 17.5 points per game this season
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (50-40, 4th season; 459-336 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
 
Arkansas-Monticello: Kyle Tolin (19-38, 3rd season)
- In his third year leading the Boll Weevils after becoming the 15th head men's basketball coach at UAM in June of 2014
- Came to UAM after spending 10 years as an assistant coach at Oklahoma Baptist where he helped the Bison reach 14 straight NAIA national tournaments
 
- Arkansas-Monticello enters the weekend tied atop the GAC standings with Arkansas Tech, Harding, Henderson State and Southern Arkansas at 2-0
- Tied in sixth place with matching 1-1 records are Ouachita and Southern Nazarene, just ahead of a five-way tie for eighth place
- SWOSU is one of five GAC schools from Oklahoma that are still searching for their first GAC win, joined by Southeastern, Northwestern, East Central and Oklahoma Baptist
- Seven teams in the Great American Conference currently have a record at or above 500 for the season
 
The Series
Date                Location                     Score
*1/19/2012       Monticello, Ark.           L 82-86
*2/16/2012       Weatherford, Okla.     L 54-65
3/3/2012          Bartlesville, Okla.        W 79-76
*11/29/2012     Weatherford, Okla.     W 68-59
*2/2/2013         Monticello, Ark.           W 71-70
3/8/2013          Bartlesville, Okla.        W 77-69 (OT)
*11/21/2013     Monticello, Ark.           W 74-65
*2/1/2014         Weatherford, Okla.     L 52-68
*1/17/2015       Monticello, Ark.           W 70-63 (OT)
*2/19/2015       Weatherford, Okla.     W 83-81
*12/3/2015       Monticello, Ark.           W 71-66
*2/4/2016         Weatherford, Okla.     W 103-92
GAC Era: SWOSU leads 9-3
In Weatherford: SWOSU leads 3-2
In Monticello: SWOSU leads 4-1
 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU enters Thursday's contest ranked third in the Great American Conference in three-point field goals made with 42, an average of 8.4 per game
- The Bulldogs three-point percentage, however, is one of the lowest in the league at 30.9% (42-for-136) and they'll be matched up against the league's best three-point shooting team in UAM (44.9%) on Thursday
- Devin Pugh led the Bulldogs in scoring for the fourth time in five games by scoring 14 points in the Bulldogs defeat at Central Missouri last Saturday
- Pugh is SWOSU's leading scorer, averaging 14.4 points per game and he's put up at least eight points in each game this season
- Markeise Champion is second on the team in scoring with 8.6 points per game, with three games in which he's scored 13 points or better
- Altez Davis and Reshardd Harris are the Bulldogs leading rebounders, with Davis averaging 5.6 boards and Harris grabbing 5.4 rebounds per game to date
- Collin Jennings was held to a season-low three points on 1-for-4 shooting at UCM, but he remains the Dawgs fourth-leading scorer with 6.8 points per game
- Daniel Eibel logged a season-high 20 minutes and scored nine points at UCM
 
Looking Ahead
- The Bulldogs will be returning to Rankin Williams Fieldhouse for a game against Southern Arkansas on Saturday afternoon
- No admission will be charged for the game, instead fans are asked to bring Toy Drive donations that will be given to The Caring and Sharing Program of Weatherford