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Setting the Scene
- Great American Conference play resumes on Thursday evening as the Bulldog Men's Basketball team heads to Russellville, Ark., to face Arkansas Tech
- SWOSU enters the game on a five-game slide and the Dawgs are 0-2 on the road after opening the season with an 80-78 victory over Lincoln
- Arkansas Tech has won two straight after dropping their conference opener at East Central and the Wonder Boys enter Thursday's game 4-1 on the year
- Arkansas Tech has won three straight against SWOSU and seven of the last eight games in the series, part of an 11-2 advantage that ATU holds over the Dawgs in the GAC era
- Both of SWOSU's victories against the Wonder Boys have come in Weatherford, leaving the Bulldogs winless in six prior trips to Tucker Coliseum
 
The Opponent
Arkansas Tech (4-1, 1-1 GAC)
- ATU is 1-1 in Great American Conference play after splitting a road trip to East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma State in games that were decided by an average of 3.0 points per game
- The Wonder Boys lead the GAC in scoring, averaging 91.6 points per game while allowing a league-high average of 84.0 points to their opponents
- Leading ATU in scoring is RJ Glasper with an average of 16.8 points per game
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (57-62, 5th season; 466-358 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 466-358 (.582) and he is 2-7 against Arkansas Tech as the head coach at SWOSU
 
Arkansas Tech: Chad Kline (60-37, 4th season)
- Now in his fourth season leading the Wonder Boy basketball program, where he led ATU to a 33-28 record and one GAC Tournament Championship in his first two years
- Spent three years as an assistant to former Arkansas Tech head coach Doug Karleskint before taking over the program
 
Checking the Standings
- After one week of GAC play, three times remain unbeaten in league play with 2-0 records: East Central, Northwestern, and Southern Nazarene
- Six teams sport even 1-1 slates: Arkansas Tech, Arkansas-Monticello, Ouachita, Henderson State, Oklahoma Baptist, and Southeastern
- SWOSU, along with Harding and Southern Arkansas, remain winless at 0-2
- Northwestern has collected the most wins overall, sitting at a perfect 5-0 overall record with four wins coming in Alva
- Ouachita has the most impressive win, coming against Division I University of Arkansas Little Rock in an exhibition 
 
The Series (GAC Era)
Date                Location                     Score
*1/12/2012       Weatherford, Okla.      L 72-78
*2/9/2012         Russellville, Ark.          L 73-80
¾/2012            Bartlesville, Okla.         L 58-69
*1/5/2013         Russellville, Ark.          L 52-69
*2/7/2013         Weatherford, Okla.      L 57-60
3/9/2013          Bartlesville, Okla.         L 51-56
*1/4/2014         Weatherford, Okla.      W 63-38
*2/6/2014         Russellville, Ark.          L 77-85
*12/17/2014     Russellville, Ark.          L 65-69
*2/5/2014         Weatherford, Okla.      L 65-69
3/7/2015          Bartlesville, Okla.         L 74-85
*11/19/2015     Weatherford, Okla.      W 88-63
*1/28/2016       Russellville, Ark.          L 78-82
*11/17/2016     Russellville, Ark.          L 67-84
*1/28/2017       Weatherford, Okla.      L 87-98
 
GAC Era: Arkansas Tech leads 11-2
In Weatherford: Arkansas Tech leads 4-2
In Russellville: Arkansas Tech leads 6-0
In Bartlesville: Arkansas Tech leads 3-0
 
SWOSU Notes
- Charles Beauregard, Jr. led the Bulldogs in scoring for the third straight game with 18 points against Cameron on Saturday
- Beauregard now leads SWOSU in scoring with 16.2 points per game and he's also the team leader in rebounds (5.0/game) and steals (1.6/game)
- SWOSU's offense is ranked 10th in the conference, averaging 69.3 points per game, while the defense is allowing 76.5 points per contest to sit eighth among GAC teams
- The Bulldogs are ranked fifth in the league in both free throw percentage (72.2%) and three-point field goal percentage (39.8%) and their 53 made three-pointers is the fourth-most among league schools
- Jerry Hurt has scored 12 or more points in five of six games to open the season, ranking him second on the team with an average of 14.0 points per game
- Nick Shoemaker and Daniel Eibel are tied for the team lead with 12 made three-pointers through six games
- SWOSU's opponents are outrebounding the Bulldogs by an average of 4.7 rebounds per game, with the Dawgs grabbing an average of 33.0 boards in each contest
- Justin King grabbed eight rebounds at Cameron, his highest rebounding output since he had a double of 17 points and 10 rebounds against Southwest Baptist
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU concludes their two-game GAC road trip on Saturday with a visit to Searcy to face Harding
- The Bulldogs then play their final two non-conference games in December at home against Panhandle State (Dec. 8) and Randall (Dec. 30)