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Setting the Scene
- Bulldog Basketball concludes a five-game home stand on Thursday evening an in-state rivalry contest against East Central beginning at 7:30 pm from the Pioneer Cellular Event Center
- SWOSU played two close Great American Conference contests last week, but dropped to 1-5 in league play with the setbacks
- The Bulldogs are now 3-9 on the year, with a record of 1-5 in conference play and 1-6 in home contests
- East Central has won back-to-back games to stay near the top of the league standings at 5-1 while sporting an overall record of 7-3
- ECU has won four straight games in the series after SWOSU swept the season series against the Tigers in 2013-14 and 2014-15
 
The Opponent
East Central (7-3, 5-1 GAC)
- Improved to 5-1 in league play with a home sweep of Henderson State and Ouachita last weekend
- Second-highest scoring team in the Great American Conference, averaging 85.6 points per game while holding opponents to 73.9 ppg
- ECU features a very balanced offensive attack with six players averaging between 10.8 and 15.3 points per game, led by Camron Talley
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Kris Johnson (1-2, 1st season) * Interim
- Named the interim head coach at SWOSU for the remainder of the 2017-18 season on December 13 following the retirement of head coach Bob Battisti
- Now in his seventh season as an assistant coach at SWOSU, including the last four-plus years as the lead assistant to Battisti
- A native of Kansas City, Mo., Johnson came to SWOSU following a four-year playing career at Northwestern Oklahoma State
 
East Central: Ja Havens (90-41, 5th season)
- Now in his fifth season at ECU, where he has led the Tigers to three straight 20-win seasons, back-to-back GAC regular season titles and an NCAA Central Regional appearance
- Havens previously spent eight years as an assistant coach at Drury, helping the Panthers claim the 2013 NCAA Division II National Championship
 
Checking the Standings
- Southern Nazarene continues to sit atop the GAC standings with an unblemished mark of 7-0 after defeating Arkansas Tech on Saturday
- Northwestern Oklahoma State and East Central are the lone teams in the GAC with just one conference loss and they sit tied for second at 5-1
- Southeastern (5-2) and Arkansas Tech (4-2) are both one game behind in the loss column while Arkansas-Monticello and Oklahoma Baptist are both .500 at 3-3
- SWOSU is in a three-way tie for ninth place in the standings at 1-5 with Henderson State and Southern Arkansas, one game behind Ouachita for eighth
 
The Series (GAC Era)
Date                Location                     Score
*1/23/2012       Weatherford, Okla.     W 73-50
*2/20/2012       Ada, Okla.                   W 82-81 (OT)
*1/12/2013       Weatherford, Okla.     W 64-61
*2/14/2013       Ada, Okla.                   L 61-72
*1/11/2014       Ada, Okla.                   W 55-43
*2/13/2014       Weatherford, Okla.     W 80-65
*12/4/2014       Ada, Okla.                   W 58-57
*1/31/2015       Weatherford, Okla.     W 78-66
*1/14/2016       Weatherford, Okla.     L 65-77
*2/11/2016       Ada, Okla.                   L 64-89
*1/12/2017       Ada, Okla.                   L 54-77
*2/11/2017       Weatherford, Okla.     L 62-75
 
GAC Era: SWOSU leads 7-5
In Weatherford: SWOSU leads 4-2
In Ada: Series Tied 3-3
 
SWOSU Notes
- Nick Shoemaker scored 16 points in a career-high 40 minutes against Southern Arkansas, including 4-for-10 shooting from three-point range to extend his streak with a three-pointer made to 27 consecutive games
- Charles Beauregard, Jr., led the Bulldogs with 25 points against SAU, the most points scored by a SWOSU player in a game this season
- Beauregard is the Bulldogs leading scorer and he ranks seventh in the Great American Conference with an average of 16.6 points per game
- SWOSU has shot the second-most free throws among conference teams and the Bulldogs are fourth in the GAC with a 72.5% (224-309) free throw percentage
- The Bulldogs have scored 70 or more points in six straight games, raising their scoring average to 73.9 points per game for the year
- Devin Pugh reached double figures in scoring for the fourth consecutive game with 17 points on 4-for-14 shooting against SAU, upping his scoring average to 11.4 points per game
- Collin Jennings has led the Bulldogs in rebounding during each of the last three games, averaging 8.7 boards per game over that span
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU takes to the road on Saturday for an in-state showdown with Southeastern Oklahoma State in Durant
- The Bulldogs return to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center on Monday evening for a rivalry matchup against Northwestern Oklahoma State