Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Basketball starts a stretch of three straight road games on Thursday night with a visit to the W.T. Watson Athletic Center in Magnolia, Ark., for a contest against Southern Arkansas
- The Bulldogs will be looking for a season-sweep of the Muleriders for the second consecutive year after earning an 80-76 win over SAU in Weatherford on January 3rd
- In the Great American Conference era, SWOSU is 9-2 against Southern Arkansas during the regular season but the Bulldogs have lost both of their postseason contests against the Muleriders in the GAC Tournament
- SWOSU enters the contest on a two-game slide after suffering setbacks against Harding and Arkansas Tech last weekend while Southern Arkansas is coming off a loss to East Central that ended a two-game winning streak
 
The Opponent
Southern Arkansas (8-11, 6-7 GAC)
- The Muleriders went 3-6 during the month of January and they enter February tied for seventh in the GAC standings with Ouachita at 6-7 in league play
- SAU is 5-5 at home this season and they rank ninth in the conference in scoring at 72.6 points per game while giving up an average of 73.3 points per contest
- Leading the Muleriders in scoring is CJ Elkins with 17.5 points per game and Snyder Cenecharles with 10.4 ppg, while Keeton Tennison has led the team in the last two games
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (55-48, 4th season; 463-344 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 27 years as a head coach, Battisti has a career record of 464-344 (.582) and he is 6-3 against Southern Arkansas as the head coach at SWOSU
 
Southern Arkansas: Andy Sharpe (62-69, 5th season)
- Now in his fifth season at SAU, Sharpe has helped the Muleriders to increase their win total in each of his first four years with at the school
- SAU has finished in the top four in the GAC standings the last two years with a record of 32-25 over the span
 
Checking the Standings
- #23/17 Arkansas-Monticello is 11-2 and has a one-game lead in the conference standings over East Central heading into the weekend
- Arkansas Tech and Harding are tied for third in the standings at 9-4, two games clear of Southern Nazarene and Henderson State in the win column
- Ouachita and Southern Arkansas are currently tied for seventh and the final spots in the GAC Tournament with Northwestern and Southeastern Oklahoma State two games behind
- SWOSU holds down 11th place in the standings, one-half game ahead of Oklahoma Baptist, who is 12th at 2-11
 
The Series
Date                Location                     Score
*1/21/2012       Magnolia, Ark.             W 62-56
*2/18/2012       Weatherford, Okla.     W 74-65
*12/1/2012       Weatherford, Okla.     W 61-58
*1/31/2013       Magnolia, Ark.             L 66-69 (OT)
*11/23/2013     Magnolia, Ark.             W 76-68
*1/30/2014       Weatherford, Okla.     W 72-63
3/6/2014          Bartlesville, Okla.         L 59-63
*1/10/2015       Weatherford, Okla.      L 73-81
*2/14/2015       Magnolia, Ark.             W 76-70
*12/5/2015       Magnolia, Ark.             W 77-74
*2/6/2016         Weatherford, Okla.     W 71-69
3/3/2016          Bartlesville, Okla.         L 82-83
*12/3/2016       Weatherford, Okla.     W 80-76
 
GAC Era: SWOSU leads 9-4
In Weatherford: SWOSU leads 5-1
In Magnolia: SWOSU leads 4-1
In Bartlesville: SAU leads 2-0
 
SWOSU Notes
- Markeise Champion has scored 20 or more points in four straight games - including a career-high 35 against Harding - and he's now leading the Bulldogs in scoring with 14.2 points per game for the year
- Champion is averaging 23.6 points per game over the past five games while shooting 26-of-55 (47.2%) from three-point range in that stretch
- SWOSU has scored more than 75 points in three straight games, raising their season scoring average to 70.3 points per game
- Dominique Lubin has started the last two games and grabbed down 25 total rebounds, including a career-high 16 on Thursday against Harding
- Nick Shoemaker has returned to the starting lineup for the past three games and he's averaging 12.0 points per game while hitting 45.0% (9-20) from long range
- The Bulldogs have connected on 171 three-point attempts this season, averaging 9.5 per game, a mark that ranks third in the GAC
- Three different SWOSU players have hit 30 or more three-pointers this season: Markeise Champion (54), Devin Pugh (38) and Nick Shoemaker (32)
 
Looking Ahead
- Saturday the Bulldogs continue their Arkansas road trip with a visit to Monticello to face the league-leading Boll Weevils
- Next Thursday the Bulldogs head to Bethany to face Southern Nazarene before returning home on Saturday for Hall of Fame Weekend against East Central