Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Men's Basketball looks to avenge an earlier defeat on Saturday as they head to face Oklahoma Baptist at the Noble Complex in Shawnee
- OBU defeated the Bulldogs 87-74 on December 15th in Weatherford for their second consecutive victory over SWOSU
- The Dawgs won the first three meetings against OBU after their reclassification to NCAA Division II and SWOSU has won their first two meetings to Shawnee since the Bison became members of the Great American Conference
- Both teams enter the game following three straight losses, with SWOSU falling to East Central on Thursday night while OBU suffered an 80-64 loss at Southeastern Oklahoma State
 
About the Opponent
Oklahoma Baptist (11-10, 10-5 GAC)
- Following consecutive losses at Ouachita, Henderson State and Southeastern Oklahoma State, the Bison return home tied for third place in the GAC standings with East Central
- OBU ranks second in the conference in scoring, averaging 80.8 points per game while allowing an average of 75.6 points to their opponents
- Antonio Wade is OBU's leading scorer at 16.1 points per game, but the Bison also have four other players scoring better than 10 points per game
- In his first year leading the Bison is Jason Eaker, who has 15 years of coaching experience, most recently as an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Mercer
 
The Series

Date	Location	Score
*1/23/16	Weatherford	W, 82-70
*2/20/16	Shawnee	W, 78-67
*1/21/17	Shawnee	W, 83-73
*2/16/17	Weatherford	L, 82-95
*12/15/18	Weatherford	L, 74-87
NCAA Division II Era: SWOSU Leads 3-2
in Weatherford: OBU Leads 2-1
in Shawnee: SWOSU Leads 2-0

 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU dropped their third straight game on Thursday night, falling to East Central 99-74 after ECU for their third-largest margin of defeat in a game this season
- With 33 points against East Central, Tre Evans has now scored better than 30 points in three of the Bulldogs' last four games to up his average to 24.8 points per game for the year
- Evans also pulled down 11 rebounds against ECU for his sixth double-double of the season, but he played loose with the ball and committed six turnovers against just one assist
- Chris Braggs, Jr., was the second-leading scorer for SWOSU against East Central, scoring 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field
- Luke Lewallen came off the bench to score eight points on Thursday night, good for his third straight game with at least eight points
- Nick Shoemaker went 1-for-4 from downtown in the matchup with ECU, extending his streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer made to 12
- Shoemaker, who holds SWOSU's all-time record for made three-pointers, has now connected on 194 triples in his career
- SWOSU has the worst rebounding margin of the 12 GAC teams, with opponents outrebounding the Bulldogs by 4.9 per game on average
- In addition to leading SWOSU in scoring, Evans also leads the Bulldogs with 7.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game
- The Bulldogs find themselves five games out of a potential conference tournament position with seven games left in the season and on the verge of missing the postseason for the third straight season
 
Looking Ahead
- Rivalry action commences at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center next Thursday as the Dawgs welcome Northwestern Oklahoma State to town for a 7:30 pm tipoff
- Next Saturday, the Bulldogs head to Bethany to face league-leader and nationally-ranked Southern Nazarene at 3:00 pm