SHAWNEE – Three weeks remain in the regular season and on February 13 at 7:30 p.m., Oklahoma Baptist (14-8, 11-5 GAC) will have a chance to inch closer to a postseason berth when it hosts Southern Nazarene at the Noble Complex.
OBU will then close the week with a visit to Northwestern Oklahoma State on Feb. 15 at 3.
Earlier this season, the first-place Crimson Storm raced out to a 15-5 lead over the green and gold within the first media timeout at the Sawyer Center. SNU later won 88-62. As for the matchup with Northwestern, OBU won 74-52 on Jan. 4.
Todd Miller and Scott Wanish will be on the call of the games on the Bison Sports Network. Thursday's matchup with SNU will be the team's annual White Out game as well. The first 200 OBU students will receive a free white out t-shirt.
Bison Notes
- The Bison won 69-59 over Arkansas Tech on Feb. 8. In that game, OBU outscored ATU 40-24 in the second half.
- Terry Coner Jr. scored 16 points and tied his career-high with six assists.
- This season, Coner Jr. is tenth in the GAC in scoring (15.1) and seventh in assists (3.4).
- Also of note versus the Wonder Boys, all five starters – Coner Jr., Nathan Wilson, Ricky Brown, JC Curry and Daniel Ransom - reached double figure scoring.
- Brown, who is playing his last season at OBU, has scored 918 points in Shawnee. If he reaches 1,000, he'd be the 50th Bison to tally that mark.
- Wilson has 29 blocks which lead the GAC. He's one away from becoming the first OBU player since the 2020-21 season to record 30.
- The 6-foot-8 senior from New Zealand is also No. 2 in the league in rebounding (7.9).
- OBU is 8-2 at home this season and historically, have a 9-7 series advantage over SNU in the Noble Complex.
Crimson Storm Notes
- Southern Nazarene is riding a nine-game winning streak coming to Shawnee. They have also won six of its last seven on the road.
- SNU gives up 65 points per game, No. 2 in the GAC and 15th nationally. The Storm also has the No. 1 scoring margin in the league (9.6).
- Plus, Southern Nazarene is 26th nationally in effective field goal percentage (56.1) and have a top-50 mark in field goal percentage defense (42.0)
- In the previous matchup with the Bison, SNU held OBU to 35.7 percent shooting, its fourth-lowest mark of the season.
- Individually, Stevie Strong, who scored a game-high 18 with 10 assists in the contest on Jan. 23, ranks 20th in the nation with a 5.4 assists average.
- Strong also boasts top-50 NCAA marks in three-point percentage (39.0).
Rangers Notes
- Northwestern lost by a point, 79-78, to Ouachita in Alva on Feb. 8. The Rangers have won six of its last eight games though.
- NWOSU is No. 1 in the GAC and 39th in D2 with 16.4 free throw makes per game.
- They also are slotted 11th in the nation with a 79.0 percent mark from the foul line.
- The Rangers also lead the GAC with 15.68 forced turnovers per game.
- Maybe the biggest change to this coming Saturday's game is the return of Cam McDowell.
- He did not play against OBU previously. This season, McDowell leads the GAC and ranks third in the country with a 25.9 scoring average.
- McDowell also is slotted 12th with 178 field goal makes.
- Teammate Max Alexander is legit too. He checks in at No. 30 nationally in scoring (20.6) and 47th in assists (101).
