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Setting the Scene
- Senior Night at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center will be on Wednesday evening as the Dawgs host Oklahoma Baptist
- Prior to tipoff, SWOSU will honor a pair of seniors -- Collin Jennings and Devin Pugh -- who will be playing their final home game for the Bulldogs
- Jennings is in his third year with the Bulldogs after starting his career at UMKC while Pugh is in his second year at SWOSU after transferring from Southern Union CC
- SWOSU enters their home finale with a record of 1-12 at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center this season while Oklahoma Baptist is just 3-9 on the road this season
- The Bulldogs won the first three games they played against OBU as GAC foes, but the Bison have won the last two and could tie the series with a victory on Wednesday night
 
The Opponent
Oklahoma Baptist (9-17, 6-14 GAC)
- The Bison have faltered down the stretch, dropping six straight games and they're just 1-8 since defeating the Bulldogs in Shawnee
- OBU features the seventh-best scoring offense in the league, averaging 77.0 points per game while allowing 81.9 points per contest to their opponents
- Chandler Rickey leads the Bison and ranks fifth in the GAC in scoring (18.5 points per game) and third in rebounding (7.0 rebounds per game)
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Kris Johnson (2-15, 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
 
Oklahoma Baptist: Quinn Wooldridge (23-55, 3rd season)
- Now in his third season as the head coach at Oklahoma Baptist, where he became the Bison's first head coach as an NCAA institution
- A former player at OBU, Wooldridge previously served as the head coach at Southwestern Christian and the University of the Southwest
 
Checking the Standings
- Southern Nazarene has clinched the 2017-18 Great American Conference regular season championship and No. 1 seed in the upcoming GAC Tournament
- Northwestern Oklahoma State and Southeastern Oklahoma State have also clinched positions in the tournament and they currently hold down the second and third spots, respectively, in the league standings
- East Central currently sits fourth in the standings at 11-8, one game ahead of Arkansas-Monticello  and Arkansas Tech
- Henderson State sits one game out of the GAC Tournament with three games to play, with Oklahoma Baptist two games behind them
 
The Series (GAC Era)
Date                Location                     Score
*1/23/2016       Weatherford, Okla.     W 82-70
*2/20/2016       Shawnee, Okla.          W 78-67
*1/21/2017       Shawnee, Okla.          W 83-73
*2/16/2017       Weatherford, Okla.     L 82-95
*1/20/2018       Shawnee, Okla.          L 96-104
 
GAC Era: SWOSU leads 3-2
In Weatherford: Series Tied 1-1
In Shawnee: SWOSU leads 2-1
 
SWOSU Notes
- Devin Pugh led the Bulldogs with 20 points in his return to the lineup at Northwestern after missing the previous three games due to injury
- Pugh is SWOSU's second-leading scorer, averaging 13.9 points per game to go along with 4.6 rebounds per game during his senior season
- SWOSU's other senior, Collin Jennings, averages 4.8 points per game and a team-best 5.2 rebounds per game in 17 games since returning from injury
- Charles Beauregard, Jr., enters the final two games of the season in the pole position of the race for the GAC's scoring title, averaging 20.6 points per game for the year
- Beauregard has scored 536 points this season, a mark that ranks second at SWOSU in the NCAA Division II era to Kenneth White (568, 2008-09)
- Nick Shoemaker has emerged as the Bulldogs third-leading scorer this season, averaging 9.4 points per game while shooting 41.8% (66-of-158) from long range
- Cooper Battisti set a new career-high with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the Bulldogs contest at Northwestern on Monday night
- Jefkins Agyeman-Budu scored nine points to go along with seven rebounds at NWOSU, upping his season averages to 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU will close out the 2017-18 season on Saturday with a trip to Bethany to face the Great American Conference Champions from Southern Nazarene