Setting the Scene
- Bulldog Basketball is back at home on Thursday evening for an in-state rivalry matchup with East Central, set for 7:30 pm inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center
- SWOSU won their last home game, defeating Harding 89-82 on January 26th before going on the road and dropping a pair of conference games at Southern Arkansas and Arkansas-Monticello
- The Bulldogs are 3-6 at home this season, including a 1-6 record in conference home games, while East Central is under .500 on the road with a 3-5 record
- SWOSU leads the series against East Central 24-19 during the NCAA Division II era and they're clinging to a slight edge of 8-7 since the formation of the Great American Conference despite ECU winning six of the last seven meetings between the teams
 
About the Opponent
East Central (12-7, 9-5 GAC)
- The Tigers have won three of their last four games, which has them along in fourth place in the GAC standings at 9-5 with eight games remaining in the regular season
- ECU ranks fifth in the GAC in scoring, sitting just behind the Dawgs with 78.6 points per game while limiting their opponents to an average of 74.9 points
- The two highest-scoring players in the GAC will be on the floor together on Thursday with Tre Evans (24.4 ppg) and ECU's Camron Talley (20.9 ppg) facing off
- Leading the Tigers is sixth-year coach Ja Havens, who has guided ECU to three 20-win seasons and earlier this season won his 100th career game as a head coach
 
The Series

*1/23/12	Weatherford	W, 73-50
*2/20/12	Ada	W, 82-81 (OT)
*1/12/13	Weatherford	W, 64-61 (OT)
*2/14/13	Ada	L, 61-72
*1/11/14	Ada	W, 55-43
*2/13/14	Weatherford	W, 80-65
*12/4/14	Ada	W, 58-57
*1/31/15	Weatherford	W, 78-66
*1/14/16	Weatherford	L, 65-77
*2/11/16	Ada	L, 64-89
*1/12/17	Ada	L, 54-77
*2/11/17	Weatherford	L, 62-75
*1/11/18	Weatherford	L, 88-89
*2/17/18	Ada	W, 83-77
*11/29/18	Ada	L, 74-101
NCAA Era: SWOSU Leads 24-19
in Weatherford: SWOSU Leads 13-8
in Ada: Series Tied 11-11
GAC Era: SWOSU Leads 8-7

 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU guard Tre Evans has scored 25 points or more in four straight games, upping his average to 24.4 points per game for the year, which ranks him eighth among all players in NCAA Division II
- Evans continued his high-scoring stretch with 33 points in the Bulldogs loss at Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday, marking his fifth 30-point game of the season
- No other Bulldog scored in double figures points at UAM, with Nick Shoemaker and Luke Lewallen chipping in eight points apiece
- Shoemaker hit 2-of-4 three-point attempts against the Boll Weevils, extending his school-record total to 193 made threes in his career
- Lewallen averaged 8.5 points per game during last week's road trip, hitting 3-of-4 three-point attempts while converting all six of his chances at the charity stripe
- Chris Braggs, Jr., scored six points in each game last weekend to give him an average of 7.7 points per game for the season
- The Bulldogs have made 189 three-pointers this season, good for an average of 9.5 per game which ranks third in the conference
- SWOSU has attempted more free throws than any other team in the conference, converting on 367-of-512 (71.7%) opportunities at the line this season
- Cheikh Fall has pulled down at least five rebounds in four straight games, upping his average to 5.5 rebounds per game
- In addition to leading SWOSU in scoring, Evans also leads the Bulldogs with 7.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game
 
Looking Ahead
- The Bulldogs head to Shawnee on Saturday to conclude the season series with Oklahoma Baptist, who currently sits third in the conference standings
- Next week sees more in-state rivalry action as the Dawgs host Northwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday before   visiting Bethany to face nationally-ranked Southern Nazarene on Saturday