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Arkansas-Monticello (7-12, 5-8 GAC) at SWOSU (11-8, 7-6 GAC) Thursday, February 4, 7:30 pm Weatherford, Okla. (Pioneer Cellular Event Center) Live Stats  |  Watch Live  |  Listen Live SWOSU Game Notes (pdf)

Setting the Stage
- Two tough road losses has the Bulldog basketball team ready to return home to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center, where they will host Arkansas-Monticello on Thursday evening
- SWOSU goes for the season sweep of the Boll Weevils, who they defeated 71-66 back in December in Monticello
- The Bulldogs are currently tied for fourth in the GAC standings at 7-7, while Arkansas-Monticello is just two games behind in a share of eighth place at 5-8 in league play
- Overall, SWOSU has a record of 11-8 which includes a 7-5 mark at home and a 4-3 record on the road
- In conference matchups between the teams, SWOSU has won eight of the last nine contests, including three straight, and the Bulldogs are 8-3 against UAM in GAC history
- The two teams have played two overtime games in the past six meetings with six of the past seven meetings being determined by less than 10 points
 
The Opponent
Arkansas-Monticello (7-12, 5-8 GAC)
- Coming off a 90-79 setback against East Central and UAM has alternated wins-and-losses over their past nine games
- A team that has struggled on the road, entering their weekend road trip with a 2-7 road but they've won two of thair last three road contests
- Led in scoring by Richard Benedyth, who has reached double figures in scoring 12 straight games and averages 14.4 points per game for the year
- Andre Brown leads the GAC with eight double-doubles and he is the top rebounder in the GAC with an average of 8.2 boards per game
- UAM is one of the lowest scoring teams in the conference, averaging 73.5 points per game while allowing 73.8 points per game for a -0.3 scoring margin
- One of the top shooting teams in the league, hitting 39.0% of their three-point attempts and averaging 8.2 made three's per game
- Jamal Peterson ranks third in the league with 58 made three-pointers this season, an average of 3.1 per game
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (44-31, 3rd season; 453-327 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 453-327 (.581) and he is 4-1 against Arkansas-Monticello as the head coach at SWOSU
 
Arkansas-Monticello: Kyle Tolin (14-30, 2nd season)
- Became the 15th head men's basketball coach in Arkansas-Monticello history prior to last season
- Has already matched the program's win total from his first season, when they finished 7-18 and missed the conference tournament
- Spent the previous ten years as an assistant coach at Oklahoma Baptist, where he helped the Bison reach 14 straight NAIA national tournaments and win the 2010 NAIA National Championships
 
The Series
GAC History Only
      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
*GAC Conference Meeting
 
Last Time Out
- SWOSU's difficult road trip came to a close on Saturday with an 84-59 defeat to Harding at Rhodes-Reaves Fieldhouse
- Harding shot 48% from the field and canned 15 three-pointers, blitzing SWOSU from the outset with a 15-2 run to open the game
- Martell Collins led SWOSU with 17 points while Markeise Champion added 15 while Ayo Ojo grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds in the defeat
 
SWOSU Notes
- Martell Collins had his streak of 20-point games snapped at six on Saturday, but he has scored at least 12 points in each game this season for an average of 17.9 ppg
- Markeise Champion bounced back from his lowest-scoring game of the season with 15 points on Saturday at Harding, right at his season average of 14.9 ppg
- Ayo Ojo scored six points for the second straight game, but set a new season high with 10 rebounds to up his average to 5.4 rebounds per game
- Emeche Wells is averaging 5.0 points per game over the past five games since returning from injury after putting up 12.1 points per contest prior to missing three games
- Nick Shoemaker is 2-for-14 from three-point range over the past three games after making multiple three's in the prior five games
- Collin Jennings was 6-for-10 from long range in SWOSU's road trip to Arkansas last week and he's hit at least one three in eight straight games
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU stays at home on Saturday afternoon as they host Southern Arkansas, a team currently tied with the Bulldogs in the GAC standings
- Following those games, the Bulldogs close out the season with five of their final seven games away from home