Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Basketball plays their final contest of the season in Arkansas on Saturday when they visit current league-leader and nationally-ranked Arkansas-Monticello
- The Boll Weevils have a two-game lead in the GAC standings and they're currently ranked No. 23 in the NABC Coaches poll and No. 17 in the D2SIDA Media poll
- SWOSU came within seconds of defeating the Weevils on December 1st at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center, but UAM sank a deep three-pointer with five seconds left to earn the 79-78 victory
- The Bulldogs have come away from Steelman Field House victorious in their last four visits and they're 4-1 in Monticello during the GAC era
- SWOSU enters the game on a three-game slide after suffering a 76-65 setback at Southern Arkansas on Thursday evening
The Opponent
#23/17 Arkansas-Monticello (16-2, 12-2 GAC)
- UAM has won their last two outings after suffering their first defeats of the season back-to-back against Arkansas Tech and East Central
- The Weevils started the season with 14 straight wins and they lead the conference in scoring with 86.1 points per game and a scoring margin of +12.3
- Led by Derylton Hill, the GAC's third-leading scorer (18.8 ppg) but four other players also average better than 10 points per game
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (55-49, 4th season; 463-345 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 464-345 (.582) and he is 5-2 against Arkansas-Monticello as the head coach at SWOSU
Arkansas-Monticello: Kyle Tolin (31-40, 3rd season)
- In his third year leading the Boll Weevils after becoming the 15th head men's basketball coach at UAM in June of 2014
- Came to UAM after spending 10 years as an assistant coach at Oklahoma Baptist where he helped the Bison reach 14 straight NAIA national tournaments
Checking the Standings
- #23/17 Arkansas-Monticello once again has a two-game lead on the field after East Central suffered a defeat at Ouachita on Thursday
- ECU is tied for second place in the standings at 10-4 along with Harding and Arkansas Tech, both teams with a current winning streak of at least five games
- Henderson State is in fifth at 8-6 while Southern Nazarene, Ouachita and Southern Arkansas all have seven conference wins
- Northwestern and Southeastern Oklahoma State are tied for ninth at 4-10, two games ahead of SWOSU and Oklahoma Baptist with two GAC wins apiece
The Series
Date Location Score
*1/19/2012 Monticello, Ark. L 82-86
*2/16/2012 Weatherford, Okla. L 54-65
3/3/2012 Bartlesville, Okla. W 79-76
*11/29/2012 Weatherford, Okla. W 68-59
*2/2/2013 Monticello, Ark. W 71-70
3/8/2013 Bartlesville, Okla. W 77-69 (OT)
*11/21/2013 Monticello, Ark. W 74-65
*2/1/2014 Weatherford, Okla. L 52-68
*1/17/2015 Monticello, Ark. W 70-63 (OT)
*2/19/2015 Weatherford, Okla. W 83-81
*12/3/2015 Monticello, Ark. W 71-66
*2/4/2016 Weatherford, Okla. W 103-92
*12/1/2016 Weatherford, Okla. L 78-79
GAC Era: SWOSU leads 9-4
In Weatherford: Series Tied 3-3
In Monticello: SWOSU leads 4-1
In Bartlesville: SWOSU leads 2-0
SWOSU Notes
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Markeise Champion has led SWOSU in scoring in five straight games, scoring 20 points or more in each game after adding 21 to his season total at Southern Arkansas
- Champion is ranked 13th in the GAC in scoring at 14.5 points per game and he's third in the league in three-pointers made with 59, an average of 3.1 per game
- In his two-year career at SWOSU, Champion has made 149 three-pointers and he's now fourth in the NCAA Division II era list for career triples
- SWOSU is averaging exactly 70.0 points per game for the year after being held to 65 points at SAU, the first time in three games the Dawgs failed to reach the 75-point mark
- This season, the Bulldogs have connected on 180 three-point attempts, the fourth-most in the league but they're shooting just 32.0% (180-of-563) from deep
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Devin Pugh was held to five points on 1-for-10 shooting at Southern Arkansas, marking just the fourth time this year he was limited to less than 10 points in a game
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Reshardd Harris chipped in 11 points off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting at SAU and he's made 8-of-12 field goal attempts over the last two games
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Collin Jennings hauled in nine rebounds at SAU, his third time with nine or more rebounds in the last four games, and he's second on the team with 4.7 rebounds per game
Looking Ahead
- On Thursday, the Bulldogs head to Bethany for their first meeting of the year against Route 66 Rival Southern Nazarene
- SWOSU finishes the season with six of their final seven games at home, beginning on Hall of Fame Weekend next Saturday against East Central
