Thursday, Jan. 30 – SWOSU at Arkansas Tech – 7:30 pm

Russellville, Ark. (Tucker Coliseum)

Saturday, Feb. 1 – SWOSU at Harding – 3:00 pm

Searcy, Ark. (Rhodes-Reaves Field House)

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The SWOSU Men's Basketball team (8-9, 5-7 GAC) is seventh in the GAC entering this week. They will travel to play Arkansas Tech, who has an identical conference record as the Dawgs, and round out the current four-game road trip with Harding two days later. SWOSU picked up wins against both opponents this week in the first round of GAC matchups earlier in the year.

The Dawgs dropped two close games last week, missing potential game-tying three-pointers in the final seconds of each, to fall 0-2 on the week with two six-point losses. They'll be looking to get back in the win column having suffered defeats in five of their last six games. 

Arkansas Tech (8-10, 5-7 GAC) will try to avoid the season sweep against the Dawgs after the first game, in which they shot just 3-21 (14.3%) from beyond the arc—the lowest mark for any Bulldog opponent this year. The Wonder Boys have only one double-digit scorer, Cassius Brooks, who averages 18.3 points per game (6th in the GAC); he also averages 1.5 steals per game, a team high and 10th in the conference. As a team, they rank 11th in total offense with 66.6 points per game but boast the third-best defense at 66.3 points per game. Tech's opponents average the fewest rebounds per game for any team inside the GAC.

Tech leads the all-time matchups 25-13, dating back to 2001. Inside Tucker Coliseum, the Dawgs have struggled to win, going just 2-14 in 16 matchups in Russellville.

Harding (11-7, 6-5 GAC) will host Northwestern on Thursday before playing SWOSU for the second time this year. In the first matchup, SWOSU took home a 14-point victory in a game where the Dawgs shot an impressive 25-of-26 (96%) from the free-throw line—the most makes in any conference game for SWOSU. They are the only team in the GAC with a trio of 15+ points-per-game scorers: Rylie Marshall (15.6), Keyln McBride (15.2), and Sam Smith (15.1). They bring in the second-best offense in the league, averaging 79.2 points per game and 9.7 three-pointers per game. However, they have the second-worst defense, allowing 78.2 points per game, where opponents average a GAC-high 48.1% from the field, and they grab the fewest rebounds of any team in the GAC.

The Bisons hold a slight edge, 16-15, over the Bulldogs all-time, but SWOSU has won back-to-back games against Harding. In Searcy, the home team has a 9-6 record.

SWOSU has lost five of its last six games and faces critical games this week to stay afloat in the GAC standings. Tobias Roland (14.5), MJ Warrior (12.5), and Eli Al-Debaran (12.1) all average 12+ points per game for the Bulldogs. Warrior's 4.9 assists per game rank third in the conference, while his 1.8 steals per game rank him fifth in the league. Denali Alexander will enter this week after scoring a career-high 23 points in a loss to Oklahoma Baptist; he has scored 10+ points in four consecutive games.