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SWOSU (6-18, 3-15 GAC) at Southeastern Oklahoma State (9-16, 5-14 GAC) Saturday, Feb. 18, 3:00 pm Durant, Okla. (Bloomer Sullivan Arena) Stats | Video | Audio SWOSU Game Notes (pdf)

Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Basketball goes on the road for the final time this season on Saturday, heading to Durant to face Southeastern Oklahoma State
- The Bulldogs are looking to salvage a season split against the Savage Storm, who last swept the Bulldogs in 2011-12, which was the first season of Great American Conference play
- Southeastern enters the game on a two-game slide with road defeats at East Central on Monday and Southern Nazarene on Thursday
- SWOSU had the momentum gained by Monday's victory over Northwestern halted on Thursday with a home loss to Oklahoma Baptist
- This season, the Bulldogs are 2-10 in true road games while Southeastern has a record of 4-5 inside their home facility, Bloomer Sullivan Arena
 
The Opponent
Southeastern Oklahoma State (9-16, 5-14 GAC)
- Currently sitting 10th in the GAC standings at 5-14 after losses in seven of their last eight games dating back to late January
- Saturday's matchup features the two lowest-scoring teams in the GAC, with Southeastern ranked 11th in the league with an average of 70.7 points per game
- Southeastern is led in scoring by Anton Cook, who averages 18.3 points per game and scored 34 points on Thursday against SNU
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (56-53, 4th season; 465-349 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 465-349 (.582) and he is 5-2 against Southeastern Oklahoma State as the head coach at SWOSU
 
Southeastern Oklahoma State: Kelly Green (79-113, 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
- A victory by Arkansas Tech over #16/12 Arkansas-Monticello on Thursday created a three-way tie atop the standings between ATU, UAM and East Central as all three teams are 15-4 with three games remaining
- Southern Nazarene and Harding have also clinched their spots in the GAC Tournament with 11 conference victories
- Ouachita is holding down sixth place in the standings, needing one more victory to lock up a spot in the tournament while Henderson State and Southern Arkansas are tied for seventh and the final qualifying positions for postseason play
 
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
*1/18/2017       Weatherford, Okla.     L 62-75
 
GAC Era: SWOSU leads 6-5
In Weatherford: Series tied 3-3
In Durant: SWOSU leads 3-2
 
SWOSU Notes
- Markeise Champion continued his scoring spree with 27 points on Thursday against Oklahoma Baptist, his second-highest scoring output of the season
- Champion leads the Bulldogs and ranks ninth in GAC with an average of 15.3 points per game and his 74 made three-pointers rank him third in the league
- Oklahoma Baptist hit 28-of-53 (52.8%) field goal attempts on Thursday, marking just the fourth time this season a team hit better than 50% from the field against the Bulldogs
- The Bison also knocked down 13 three-point attempts, making it the eighth time in the last nine games that SWOSU's opponent hit 10 or more three pointers
- Champion has led the Bulldogs in scoring nine times in the last 10 games after only doing so twice in the first 14 games of the season
- Reshardd Harris had 13 points and eight rebounds against OBU while shooting a season-best 5-for-5 from the free throw line
- Devin Pugh scored 10 points on Thursday, his third game in the past four with 10 or more points, but he was just 3-of-13 from the field and 1-of-9 from distance in the game
- Daniel Eibel scored eight points on 3-for-3 shooting against OBU, his highest-scoring output for the Bulldogs in the past 16 contests
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU finishes the regular season with three home games next week, beginning on Monday evening against Southern Nazarene
- The Bulldogs then conclude the regular season by hosting Ouachita on Thursday and Henderson State for Senior Day next Saturday