Setting the Scene
• Great American Conference play opens on Thursday night for the Bulldog Men's Basketball team, who will host East Central at 7:30 pm inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center
• It's the first of two conference matchups for the Bulldogs this week, with a trip to Durant up ahead on Saturday for a meeting with Southeastern Oklahoma State
• SWOSU is off to a 2-2 start on the year following a 61-64 defeat on Monday to Oklahoma Christian, the second time in four games that the Bulldogs have needed overtime to decide a winner
• The Bulldogs already own victories over Emporia State and Cameron, but they'll now look to carry over that success against GAC opponents
• SWOSU is in their second year under head coach Terry Evans, who took over the program following successful stints at Central Oklahoma and as an Oklahoma high school coach
 
About the Opponents
East Central (3-0, 0-0 GAC)
• After being picked sixth in the GAC preseason poll, ECU has opened the season with non-conference victories over Wayne State, Nebraska-Kearney and McKendree
• ECU guard Camron Talley is currently the third-leading scorer in the conference, averaging 24.7 points per game, while forward Josh Apple leads the GAC with 14.0 rebounds per game
• The Tigers are putting up 85.3 points per game, tied for second best in the conference, but their opponents are averaging a league-high 75.7 points per game
• Head Coach Ja Havens is now in his seventh season at ECU and he's guided the Tigers to three 20-win seasons and one NCAA Tournament appearance
 
Southeastern Okla. (2-0, 0-0 GAC)
• Southeastern was the preseason pick to win the GAC and they've opened the season with wins over #15 Northern State and Minnesota-Duluth
• SE point guard Adam Dworsky was named the GAC Player of the Week to open the season after averaging 16.5 points and 12.5 assists per game in their first two wins
• The Savage Storm are tied for fourth in the league with a scoring average of 85.0 points per game while their opponents put up 75.0 points per in the first two games
• Veteran head coach Kelly Green is in his eighth season at Southeastern and his team is coming off their first NCAA Tournament appearance last season
 
SWOSU Notes
• Through four games, the Bulldogs lead the Great American Conference in turnover margin as they force 22.0 turnovers per game while giving up just 13.8, good for a margin of +8.2
• The Bulldogs are second in the league with 36 steals, 9.0 per game, which has helped them limit their opponents to 66.2 points per game
• Damion Thornton has led the Bulldogs in scoring during each of the first four games and he's averaging 17.0 points per game for the year
• SWOSU's second leading scorer is Jaylan Williams, the only other double-digit scorer with exactly 10.0 points per through four games
• Williams has knocked down a team-leading 12 three-point field goals in four games, which is twice as many as the next person on SWOSU's roster
• Point guard Marquis Johnson had a season-high eight assists in the season opener against Emporia State and he's currently fifth in the league with 4.5 assists per game for the year
• Johnson has the third-best assist:turnover ratio in the league at 4.5:1
• The Bulldogs got strong contributions off the bench against Oklahoma Christian with a season-best 28 points from reserves, led by nine from Livingston Cleare and seven apiece from Kamden Gipson and Dominique Primer
• Opponents are shooting just 38.4% against the Bulldogs, which is the best mark in the conference by a wide margin
• So far this season, SWOSU is one of the top free throw shooting teams in the league, having made 60-of-77 (77.9%) attempts from the stripe 
 
Looking Ahead
• SWOSU will be in Topeka, Kan., next weekend to compete at the Washburn Classic, which begins the day after Thanksgiving
• The Bulldogs will meet tournament host Washburn on Friday (Nov. 29) before taking on Newman in a neutral site contest on Saturday (Nov. 30)
• SWOSU then returns to conference play twice in December, hosting Southern Nazarene (Dec. 7) before heading to Oklahoma Baptist (Dec. 14) for their final game before the holiday break