Setting the Scene
- Bulldog Basketball takes the momentum of their first conference victory of the season with them to Magnolia, Ark., where they will face Southern Arkansas on Thursday evening
- SWOSU is coming off an 89-82 victory over Harding on Saturday, while SAU dropped from the national rankings following a pair of conference road defeats at Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene last weekend
- The Muleriders won the first meeting of the season, 76-73 on January 5th in Weatherford, or their fourth consecutive victory in the series
- Great American Conference Co-Player of the Week Tre Evans led SWOSU with a career-high 45 points against Harding, the most by a player in the conference this season and three points off the school record for a single game
- SWOSU is 1-7 on the road this season, including 0-5 in conference road games, while Southern Arkansas is unblemished with an 8-0 record at the W.T. Watson Center
 
About the Opponent
Southern Arkansas (14-4, 9-3 GAC)
- The Muleriders dropped from the top spot in the GAC standings after suffering two road losses last week, but they remain one game out of first place
- SAU gets after their opponents defensively, limiting them to 67.3 points per game for the third-best scoring defense in the conference while scoring 75.1 points per contest
- The balanced offense of SAU is led by Jalen Brooks (10.6 ppg), Devante Brooks (10.2) and CJ Elkins (10.1), with two other players averaging better than nine points per
- Head Coach Andy Sharpe is in his seventh season leading Southern Arkansas, where he has guided the Muleriders to at least 11 conference victories in four straight seasons
 
The Series

1/21/12	*Magnolia	W, 62-56
2/8/12	*Weatherford	W, 74-65
12/1/12	*Weatherford	W, 61-58
1/31/13	*Magnolia	L, 66-69 (OT)
11/23/13	*Magnolia	W, 76-68
1/30/14	*Weatherford	W, 72-63
3/6/14	Bartlesville	L, 59-63
1/10/15	*Weatherford	L, 73-81
2/14/15	*Magnolia	W, 76-70
12/5/15	*Magnolia	W, 77-74
2/6/16	*Weatherford	W, 71-69
3/3/16	Bartlesville	L, 82-83
12/3/16	*Weatherford	W, 80-76
2/2/17	*Magnolia	L, 65-76
1/6/18	*Weatherford	L, 73-84
2/8/18	*Magnolia	L, 80-85
1/5/19	*Weatherford	L, 73-76
NCAA Division II Era: SWOSU leads 9-8
In Weatherford: SWOSU leads 5-3
In Magnolia: SWOSU leads 4-3
Neutral: SAU leads 2-0

 
SWOSU Notes
- Tre Evans recorded his fourth double-double as a Bulldog with 45 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Harding, which is the 12th-highest scoring game in NCAA Division II this season
- In the game, Evans finished 27-for-34 from the free throw line, which is the most attempts and the second-most made free throws by any player in Division II this season
- While Evans was the leading man, the unsung hero of Saturday's victory was freshman Phill Baker, who came off the bench to record career-highs of 12 points and six rebounds in 16 minutes of action
- After averaging 90.5 points per game last weekend at home, the Bulldogs upped their scoring average to 79.7 points per game for the year, which ranks fourth among Great American Conference teams
- Chris Braggs, Jr., snapped a four-game streak of less than 10 points scoring with 12 points and six rebounds against Harding before he fouled out for the fifth time this season
- Kamden Gipson dished out six assists for the third time in the past five games against Harding, giving him 56 assists (3.1 per game) for the season
- Nick Shoemaker added two made three-pointers against Harding, upping his school-record total to 190 for his career
- SWOSU ranks sixth in the conference in free throw shooting at 71.0% (336-for-473) while attempting 60 more free throws than any other team in the conference
 
Looking Ahead
- The Dawgs stay on the road on Saturday, heading over to face Arkansas-Monticello beginning at 3:00 pm
- The Bulldogs will be back at home on Thursday, February 7th, to host East Central before visiting Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday, February 9th