SHAWNEE – The top seed and 6th-ranked Oklahoma Baptist (26-2) men's basketball team plays eight seed Henderson State (11-17) in the quarterfinal round of the GAC Tournament on March 5.
Tip-off is slated for 5:45 p.m. inside Northside Arena in Fort Smith, Ark. This will be the third time the two schools have met in the GAC Tournament. HSU has won the previous two with last year's result favoring the Reddies 76-70.
Whoever wins this contest will move on to play either fourth seed Southern Nazarene or fifth seed East Central in the semifinals on Saturday, March 7 at noon.
Todd Miller and Dave Myrick will be on site for the call of the game on KGFF. Below are notes and tidbits on both squads.
For the Bison:
OBU has won 17 straight, the third-longest streak in the nation and longest at OBU since 2009-10.
Terry Coner Jr., the frontrunner for GAC Player of the Year, averages 20.2 points per game. That's the second-best mark in the league and highest by an OBU player in the D2 era.
Coner Jr., also ranks fifth in assists (3.5) and steals (1.7).
Seniors
Jackson Greene and
Joshua Udoumoh have been key pieces to this Bison team as well. They are both top-16 in scoring at 13.0 and 12.6 points, respectively. Udoumoh is also 17th in rebounding (5.3) and field-goal percentage (47.3).
Erik Madrid, the reigning GAC Defensive Player of the Week, has been a consistent factor for OBU too. The 7-foot-2 center is seventh in rebounding (6.1) and second in blocks (1.3). He's also scored in double figures in five of the last seven with a pair of double-doubles.
The Bison are one of the deepest teams in the nation. Take for example the season finale against East Central. Five different players scored at least 11 with Greene (18) and
Austin Coner (16) leading the way.
Among other key notes, the Bison are 18th in D2 in field goal percentage defense (40.4), 24th in three-point percentage defense (30.0) and 32nd in scoring defense (67.7).
Lastly, OBU will try to get this monkey off its back: earning a postseason win. OBU's last postseason victory was March 3, 2021 when it beat Ouachita in a GAC Tournament Quarterfinal, 97-78, in Shawnee.
Coach Eaker's thoughts: "Henderson State and OBU have had so many tough, competitive, high stakes games the last eight seasons and tomorrow's matchup will be no different. There's nobody I respect more as a tactician and practice coach than Jimmy Elgas (HSU's head coach). He's a phenomenal mentor and man.
This is what the postseason is all about…playing and competing against the best. We are excited to continue our pursuit with our young men, and we are so incredibly proud of them to this point. Go Bison."
For the Reddies:
Despite losing three of its last four, HSU enters the GAC Tournament. As mentioned before, the Reddies have had success against OBU, winning two previous conference tourney matchups in 2020 and 2025.
HSU's bench is one to contend with. It ranks first in the GAC averaging 22.61 points per game. Also of note, the Reddies score 12.71 fastbreak points per contest. That's third in the league.
Zaveion Okoh is the top scorer for Henderson. His 14.3 points per game average is seventh in the GAC. In two previous matchups this year vs. OBU, he's scored 10.5 points but shot just 32 percent (9-of-28).
Tyson Whybrew is a solid frontcourt player, averaging 5.3 rebounds and 23 blocks this season. During the regular season games vs. the Bison, he averaged 8.5 points, 4.5 boards and shot a team-high 66.7 percent.
As a team, HSU was seventh in scoring per game (71.2) during the regular season. However, they averaged 61 against the Bison and shot a mere 24 percent from downtown.
During the regular season, HSU was 5-9 away from Arkadelphia.
