Setting the Scene
- Longtime rival Northwestern Oklahoma State visits the Pioneer Cellular Event Center on Thursday evening for a showdown with the Bulldog Men's Basketball team
- Both teams enter the game in desperate need of a victory, with SWOSU having dropped four straight games while the Rangers have lost their last five contests
- The first meeting between the teams this season went to Northwestern as the Rangers defeated SWOSU 77-61 on January 17th in Alva
- SWOSU has won three of the last four meetings against the Rangers in Weatherford, with Northwestern taking the matchup at the PCEC by a score of 84-82 last January
- The Bulldogs are 3-7 at home this season - 1-7 in conference home games - while Northwestern has a record of 1-10 in true road games this year
 
About the Opponent
Northwestern Okla. (5-17, 3-13 GAC)
- The Rangers have dropped their last five games and six-of-seven since the last meeting against SWOSU
- Northwestern is tied with Harding as the lowest-scoring team in the league, scoring just 69.8 points per game while opponents average 77.5 points against them
- Three different Rangers are averaging better than 10 points per game, led by Treyvon Andres, who is the team's leading scorer (15.5 ppg) and rebounder (8.5 rpg)
- Head coach Shawn Dirden is in his third season leading the Rangers, who he led to a record of 22-7 last season
 
The Series

1/26/13	*Alva	L, 75-90
2/28/13	*Weatherford	W, 67-66
1/25/14	*Weatherford	L, 66-67
2/27/14	*Alva	L, 90-89 (OT)
1/22/15	*Alva	L, 56-61
2/26/15	*Weatherford	W, 77-46
1/18/16	*Weatherford	W, 90-72
2/15/16	*Alva	L, 55-85
1/16/17	*Alva	L, 75-86
2/13/17	*Weatherford	W, 73-67
1/15/18	*Weatherford	L, 82-84
2/19/18	*Alva	L, 77-86
1/17/19	*Alva	L, 61-77
All-Time: SWOSU Leads 111-72
NCAA Division II Era: NWOSU Leads 9-5
In Weatherford: SWOSU Leads 5-2
In Alva: NWOSU Leads 7-0

 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU has fallen to sixth in the GAC in scoring, with their average down to 78.2 points per game after being held to less than 80 points in four straight games
- With 17 points added to his total on Saturday, SWOSU's Tre Evans enters Thursday game ranked ninth in NCAA Division II with an average of 24.4 points per game
- Evans has scored in double figures in all but one game this season, with 13 20-point games, six 30-point games and two 40-point games to his credit
- Cheikh Fall matched Evans with a team-high seven rebounds at OBU as he helped lead the team in rebounding for the first time in the last six games
- SWOSU had four different players score in double figures on Saturday at OBU, marking the ninth such occurrence this season and the first in the past five games
- Fall had 12 points in addition to his seven rebounds while Kamden Gipson had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists and Daniel Eibel had 10 points off the bench against the Bison
- Luke Lewallen made his second start of the season at Oklahoma Baptist, scoring two points while pulling down four rebounds to go along with two steals
- Nick Shoemaker knocked down 1-of-5 three-point attempts against OBU, which extends his school-record total to 195 triples for his career
- Chris Braggs, Jr., dished out a career-best three assists on Saturday to go along with seven points and two rebounds
 
Looking Ahead
- A tough test awaits the Bulldogs on Saturday as they head to Bethany to face #20/17-ranked Southern Nazarene, the current leader in the GAC standings
- SWOSU is back at home twice next weekend, hosting Henderson State on Thursday before Senior Day against Ouachita next Saturday