Setting the Scene
• Bulldog Basketball is headed to Arkansas this weekend for a pair of Great American Conference road matchups
• SWOSU will be in Russellville on Thursday night to face Arkansas Tech before heading on to Searcy for a Saturday showdown against Harding
• SWOSU enters the weekend after splitting a four-game home stand with victories over Ouachita and Northwestern Oklahoma State to improve to 8-8 on the year and 4-6 in conference play
• On Thursday night, SWOSU will be searching for their first victory at Tucker Coliseum since the formation of the Great American Conference
• SWOSU will then look for their third straight victory over Harding, who the Dawgs swept last season in conference play
 
About the Opponent
Arkansas Tech (10-6, 6-4 GAC)
• ATU picked up two conference wins last weekend, including a 126-122 victory over then-conference leading Henderson State in triple overtime on Saturday
• The Wonder Boys feature the fifth-best scoring offense in the conference (83.0 ppg) but they are also allowing a league-high 81.9 points per game to their opponents
• Chad Kline is in his ninth season at Arkansas Tech and sixth as the head coach after taking over prior to the 2014-15 season
 
Harding (6-10, 1-9 GAC)
• The Bisons are winless in 2020 and they've dropped seven straight games overall since picking up their lone conference win over Henderson State on December 7th
• Romio Harvey leads Harding and ranks third in the conference with 21.9 points per game, anchoring an offense which totals 72.8 points a night on average
• Jeff Morgan is the longest-tenured head coach in the GAC, now in his 27th season at Harding, where he's also been the Athletic Director since 2018
 
SWOSU Notes
• Jaylan Williams led the Bulldogs in scoring for the first time this season, scoring 24 points on 8-14 shooting (7-13, 3FG) against Southeastern on Saturday
• Williams has scored in double figures in three straight games and he's now the Dawgs second-leading scorer with 10.5 points per game for the year
• SWOSU ranks second in the conference with 143 steals this season, an average of 8.9 per game, and they have a league-leading turnover margin of +4.4
• After scoring 23 points in the game against Southeastern, Damion Thornton now has eight 20-point games to his credit and he's the fifth-leading scorer in the GAC with 19.8 points per game
• Thornton is also the Bulldogs leading rebounder with 7.3 boards per game and he's totaled two double-doubles this season
• Marquis Johnson matched a season-high with eight assists against Southeastern and he's sixth in the league with 3.8 assists per game for the year
• Thornton leads the GAC in steals (35) while Johnson ranks fifth (25) and four other players have recorded at least 10
• Kamden Gipson ranks third in the conference by hitting 86.8% (33-38) of his free throw attempts and he's adding 8.5 points and 2.3 assists per game for the Bulldogs
• Phill Baker has started the last five games for the Dawgs and he had season-highs in points (8), rebounds (7) and assists (3) in Thursday's rivalry win over Northwestern
 
Looking Ahead
• SWOSU will play three of their next four games at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center, beginning next weekend with home games against Southern Arkansas (Jan. 30) and Arkansas-Monticello (Feb. 1)
• The Bulldogs then head to Ada on February 6th to open a four-game run against in-state foes before coming back home to host Oklahoma Baptist on February 8th