Setting the Scene
• Bulldog Basketball is back at home for the first time in 2020, with four straight games at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center beginning this weekend
• SWOSU will host Ouachita on Thursday evening before Henderson State comes to town on Saturday afternoon for a GAC contest
• With a 72-67 victory at Southern Arkansas on Saturday, the Bulldogs eclipsed their record from last season while snapping a three-game slide to improve to 2-4 in league play
• The Bulldogs have played just three home games to date and they are 1-2 in those contests, which includes a 1-1 mark in conference home games
• SWOSU will be looking to snap multi-year losing streaks against each of their opponents, having lost six consecutive matchups against Ouachita and eight straight to Henderson State
 
About the Opponent
Ouachita (6-5, 3-3 GAC)
• The Tigers had a five-game winning streak snapped their last time out, which ended with an 80-62 loss to Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday
• Ouachita has the second-best scoring defense in the conference, holding opponents to 69.0 points per game while scoring an average of 70.6 points per night
• Veteran coach Dennis Nutt is in his ninth season at Ouachita, where he's led the Tigers to two GAC Tournament Championships
 
Henderson State (9-3, 4-2 GAC)
• The Reddies have won three straight games after sweeping Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene in Arkadelphia last weekend
• HSU features the second-best scoring margin (+14.1) in the league with an offense putting up 83.5 points per game while holding opponents to 69.4
• Jimmy Elgas is in his fifth season leading the Reddies and he's won each of his first eight meetings against SWOSU
 
SWOSU Notes
• Damion Thornton recorded a double-double in each of SWOSU's games last weekend, going for 27 points and 13 rebounds at UAM before totaling 25 points and 13 boards in the win over Southern Arkansas
• Thornton extended his lead as both SWOSU's leading scorer (19.4 ppg) and rebounder (7.3 rpg) this season and he's also the Dawgs team leader with 24 steals
• Jaylan Williams set a new season-high with 16 points at UAM while also pulling down five rebounds in 32 minutes of action
• SWOSU's 72 points against Southern Arkansas marked their lowest scoring output in a victory this season and the Dawgs are currently eighth in the GAC with a scoring average of 80.1 points per game
• Saturday's win also snapped a four-game stretch where teams scored at least 80 points against the Bulldogs, who rank 12th in the GAC by allowing 81.1 points per game for the season
• The Bulldogs are ranked second in the league with an average of 9.1 steals per game and they have the top turnover margin in the conference at +5.3
• Since returning to the starting lineup at Oklahoma Baptist, Marquis Johnson has scored at least 11 points in three straight games and he's the Bulldogs second-leading scorer with 11.8 points per game for the year
• Dominique Primer came off the bench to average 9.5 points per game during SWOSU's road trip last weekend, which increases his scoring average to 6.8 points per game this season
 
Looking Ahead
• Next week brings rivalry matchups to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center as SWOSU hosts Northwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday and Southeastern Oklahoma State next Saturday
• SWOSU then heads to Arkansas for the vaunted road trip at Arkansas Tech (Jan. 23) and Harding (Jan. 25)