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Southeastern Okla. (6-9, 2-7 GAC) at SWOSU (4-10, 1-7 GAC) Wednesday, Jan. 18, 7:30 pm Weatherford, Okla. (Pioneer Cellular Event Center) Stats  |  Audio  |  Video SWOSU Game Notes (pdf)

Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Men's Basketball returns to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center for the first time since New Year's Eve on Wednesday evening to host Southeastern Oklahoma State
- The Bulldogs enter the contest on a four-game slide, but they hope to break that and extend a three-game winning streak at home
- SWOSU fell to 1-7 in Great American Conference play on Monday evening but a victory on Wednesday could pull the Bulldogs even with Southeastern in terms of total conference victories
- Southeastern has won two of their last three contests, defeating Oklahoma Baptist and Northwestern before suffering a rivalry setback on Monday against East Central
- SWOSU has won five of the last six meetings against Southeastern, with the lone setback coming in 2015 at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center and the Dawgs lead the overall series 6-4 dating back to the formation of the Great American Conference
 
The Opponent
Southeastern Oklahoma State (6-9, 2-7 GAC)
- Had their two-game winning streak snapped on Monday by East Central, who dropped the Savage Storm to 2-7 in league play with an 86-77 victory
- Southeastern is ranked just ahead of SWOSU in scoring offense with 71.0 points per game, but the Storm are also limiting their opponents to 69.2 points per contest
- Three players average better than 10 points per game for the Storm, who are led by Anton Cook (14.1 ppg) and Kevin Buckingham (11.5 ppg)
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (54-45, 4th season; 463-341 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 463-341 (.582) and he is 5-1 against Southeastern Oklahoma State as the head coach at SWOSU
 
Southeastern Oklahoma State: Kelly Green (76-106, 6th season)
- Green is in his sixth season leading the Savage Storm and he's led Southeastern to two winning seasons and four GAC Tournament appearances
- Came to Southeastern following a 14-year stint as the head coach at Arizona Western, where he won 66% of his games and went to the region playoffs 13 straight times
 
Checking the Standings
- #16/11 Arkansas-Monticello maintains a two-game lead on the rest of the conference as they remained unbeaten in league play with a win over Southern Arkansas on Monday
- East Central is now alone in second place at 7-2 in league play and they are riding an 11-game winning streak
- Henderson State and Ouachita are now tied in third place at 6-3, one-half game ahead of Southern Nazarene
- Arkansas Tech and Harding are both 5-4 in league play while Southern Arkansas is 4-5, two games ahead of the final four teams in the race for the final GAC Tournament spot
 
The Series
Date                Location                     Score
*1/26/2012       Weatherford, Okla.     L 68-92
*2/23/2012       Durant, Okla.             L 57-64
*1/10/2013       Weatherford, Okla.     W 82-71
*2/16/2013       Durant, Okla.             L 51-70
*1/9/2014         Durant, Okla.             W 72-70
*2/15/2014       Weatherford, Okla.     W 82-76
*1/3/2015         Durant, Okla.             W 61-60
*2/28/2015       Weatherford, Okla.     L 73-83
*1/20/2016       Durant, Okla.             W 89-82
*2/18/2016       Weatherford, Okla.     W 79-68
 
GAC Era: SWOSU leads 6-4
In Weatherford: SWOSU leads 3-2
In Durant: SWOSU leads 3-2
 
SWOSU Notes
- Geoffery Hightower tied or set career highs with nine points and four assists on Monday and he has connected on 8-of-14 (57.1%) three-point attempts during the last four games
- Collin Jennings reached double figures in scoring for just the third time this season as he put up a season-high 16 points on the Rangers
- The Bulldogs had their fourth-best shooting night of the year at NWOSU, hitting 43.9% (25-of-57) from the field while knocking down 12 three-pointers, which is the team's third-most in a game this season
- Devin Pugh reached double figures in scoring for the eighth straight game on Monday and he's the Dawgs leading scorer at 14.1 points per game
- SWOSU tied a season-high with nine steals on Monday, getting a career-best three from Luke Lewallen and two each from Collin Jennings and Markeise Champion
- Since being named the GAC Player of the Week on December 12th after hitting 7-of-11 three-point attempts at Panhandle State, Nick Shoemaker is just 2-for-19 from long range in the past five games
- Northwestern limited the Bulldogs to a season-low 24 rebounds on Monday night, marking the 10th time this season that SWOSU has been outrebounded by their opponent
 
Looking Ahead
- On Saturday, the Bulldogs play another in-state rival when they head to Shawnee to face Oklahoma Baptist
- Next weekend includes home games against Harding (Jan. 26) and Arkansas Tech (Jan. 28), a game that is the NCAA Division II Showcase