Feb. 1 - vs  Arkansas-Monticello (8-9, 6-6 GAC)

7:30 pm tipoff || Weatherford, Okla. (PCEC)

Feb. 3 - vs Southern Arkansas (8-10, 6-6 GAC)

1:00 pm tipoff || Weatherford, Okla. (PCEC)

Click here for GAME NOTES (pdf)

Men's Hoops closes out a two-week, four game conference homestand this Thursday and Saturday against Arkansas-Monticello and Southern Arkansas. The Bulldogs will be searching to avenge a previous 56-54 loss to UAM, while trying for a season sweep of SAU after beating them 84-72 on the road back on Jan. 4.

With SWOSU, Monticello, and Southern Ark. all 6-6 in conference play entering the week, the pair of games could prove to have future league positioning implications on the line.

Both the Weevils and Muleriders have shown to struggle on the road. UAM is 1-4 in road contests this season while SAU is 2-5. Both opponents have, however, been playing good ball as of late.

Monticello is winners of three of their last four and five of their last seven. Worth noting: only one of those five wins has come on the road.

Southern Ark. is coming off a strong win at Henderson State last Saturday and have won four of their last five. They'll face Northwestern in Alva on Thursday night before trekking to Weatherford for Saturday's matchup.

The Dawgs will try to get offense going against a Weevil defense allowing 66.6 points per game. That's second best in the league. SWOSU managed just 12 points at halftime of the first matchup earlier this season but did put together a strong second half of 42 points on 50% shooting.

Boxing out the Muleriders will be one area to watch on Saturday against SAU. In the first matchup between teams, they grabbed 23 offensive rebounds against the Dawgs which still is an opponent season high a month later. SAU is ranked second in the GAC in both combined rebounding and offensive rebounding.

SWOSU finally suffered the first home conference loss of the season last weekend in a 74-65 setback against Oklahoma Baptist. The Dawgs moved to 5-2 at home overall and 5-1 in league games. Of the 10 remaining games on the regular season schedule, five remain to be played in Weatherford including this weekend's slate.

Last week's 75-72 victory over Northwestern continued a season correlation between points scored and the game's result. SWOSU eclipsed the 75-point scoring threshold for the fifth time this year and picked up their fifth win when doing so. The Dawgs only other win this season came when they scored one point less -- a 74-63 win over Southern Nazarene in December.

Ben Smith scored his 1,000th career point against Oklahoma Baptist last week. He scored 73 points at Emporia State as a freshman before transferring to the Blue/Grey where he has accumulated most of his points. To become SWOSU's fifth 1,000-point scorer in D2 history, he needs 62 more points. (*meaning he will have scored 1,000 points while playing exclusively for SWOSU) Smith is fifth in the GAC in scoring at 17.9 ppg and ninth in rebounding at 6.6 rpg.

Mark Berry is averaging 11.7 points and 9.7 rebounds over the past six games as SWOSU's leading rebounder. He is fifth in the league with 7.3 boards per game and fourth with a 55.8% shooting percentage.

Jacore Williams has now scored in double figures in six straight games and leads the team in field goal percentage shooting nearly 59% from the field. That's a mark that would rank second in the GAC if his games played qualified him for the list.  

Jalen Johnson has knocked down at least two three-point shots in four of his last five games. Johnson, SWOSU's second leading scorer (11.4 ppg), was 9-of-21 from beyond the arc last week.