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Setting the Scene
- The Great American Conference season begins on Thursday evening at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center when the SWOSU Men's Basketball team hosts Ouachita
- SWOSU enters the game - which doubles as the Bulldogs home opener - with a 1-1 record after splitting at the SBU Classic last weekend with a victory over Lincoln and a setback against Southwest Baptist
- Ouachita opened the regular season with an 81-79 upset victory at NCAA Division I Little Rock last Saturday and the Tigers have been victorious in each of their last three trips to Weatherford
- SWOSU and Ouachita were picked back-to-back in the GAC Preseason Poll with conference coaches predicting an eighth-place finish for the Tigers with SWOSU directly behind in ninth
 
The Opponent
Ouachita (1-0, 0-0 GAC)
- The Tigers enter the game 1-0 with an NCAA Division I victory to their credit along with a 67-56 exhibition win over Philander Smith
- Ouachita put four players in double figures against Little Rock, led by Jontavis Willis with 18 and Matt Stanley with 17
- A pair of players scored 11 points for the Tigers - Mahlon Martin and Wesley Franklin, who played for the Bulldogs during the 2015-16 season
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (57-58, 5th season; 466-354 career, 29th season)
- In his fifth season as the head coach of the Bulldogs, having led SWOSU to at least 16 wins in three of his first four years at the helm
- Has coached five players at SWOSU that earned All-GAC distinction, including one GAC Player of the Year and one GAC Defensive Player of the Year
- In 28 years as a head coach, Battisti has a career record of 466-354 (.582) and he is 4-5 against Ouachita as the head coach at SWOSU
 
Ouachita: Dennis Nutt (96-74, 7th)
- Now in his sixth season at Ouachita, Nutt has led the Tigers to two GAC Tournament Championships (2013, 2016) and the NCAA Division II National Tournament in 2016
- A former NBA player with the Dallas Mavericks, Nutt was the head coach at Texas State from 2000-06 and an assistant at Coastal Carolina, Arkansas State and Westark CC
 
Checking the Standings
- Three GAC teams came through the opening weekend of the season 2-0, including Arkansas Tech, Arkansas-Monticello and Northwestern Oklahoma State
- Ouachita and Southern Nazarene also remain unblemished with matching records of 1-0 after season-opening victories
- SWOSU is joined by Henderson State, Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Arkansas as teams that split during a first-weekend tournament and enter conference play 1-1 overall
- East Central and Harding will be playing their regular season openers this weekend while Southeastern Oklahoma State has started the season 0-2
 
The Series (NCAA Era)
Date                Location                     Score
*1/7/2012         Arkadelphia, Ark.        L 56-68
*2/5/2012         Weatherford, Okla.     W 79-53
*1/19/2013       Arkadelphia, Ark.        L 52-58
*2/23/2013       Weatherford, Okla.     W 75-63
*1/18/2014       Weatherford, Okla.     W 72-68
*2/22/2014       Arkadelphia, Ark.        W 67-63
*1/8/2015         Weatherford, Okla.     L 58-66
*2/12/2015       Arkadelphia, Ark.        L 63-89
3/6/2015          Bartlesville, Okla.        W 71-67 (OT)
*1/9/2016         Weatherford, Okla.     L 62-73
*2/27/2016       Arkadelphia, Ark.        W 81-74
*1/7/2017         Arkadelphia, Ark.        L 62-80
*2/23/2017       Weatherford, Okla.     L 85-88
 
NCAA Division II Era: Ouachita leads 7-6
In Weatherford: Series leads 3-3
In Arkadelphia: Ouachita leads 4-2
 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU got balanced offensive production during the opening weekend with three players averaging better than 13.5 points per game at the SBU Classic
- Justin King and Jerry Hurt came away from the weekend as the top scorers for SWOSU with each player averaging 14.0 points per game
- King scored in double figures during both games, capping the weekend with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds against Southwest Baptist
- Hurt scored a team-high 16 points in SWOSU's victory over Lincoln and followed that performance with 12 points in the defeat to SBU
- Charles Beauregard, Jr. is SWOSU's third-leading scorer and he hit a game-winning three pointer with three seconds left to lift the Bulldogs over Lincoln on Friday
- Devin Pugh was limited to two minutes of action against SBU after scoring 14 points on 4-for-6 shooting against Lincoln on Friday
- After not appearing in the season opener, Luke Luna scored eight points with one blocked shot in 11 minutes at Southwest Baptist
- Nick Shoemaker remained in the starting lineup during both games at SBU, hitting 2-of-8 three-pointers and averaging 4.5 rebounds per game
 
Looking Ahead
- The conference home stand for SWOSU continues on Saturday with Henderson State coming to town for a 3:00 pm tipoff
- SWOSU then concludes a three-game home stand on Tuesday against Rogers State, with tipoff slated for 7:00 pm