SOUTHERN ARKANSAS MULERIDERS 11-8 (7-6 GAC)	SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA SAVAGE STORM 9-9 (8-5 GAC)	EAST CENTRAL TIGERS 10-7 (8-5 GAC)
Thursday, February 1 | 7:30 p.m. Bloomer Sullivan Arena - Durant, Okla. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | SAU RADIO  Saturday, February 3  | 3 p.m. Kerr Activities Center - Ada, Okla. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | SAU RADIO

 

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After starting the year 0-5 in Great American Conference play, the Southern Arkansas men's basketball team rode out a seven-game GAC winning streak that recently came to an end after last week's loss to Nationally ranked GAC opponent, Southern Nazarene. 
    
That game came down to the wire as SAU turned a 19-point deficit into a one-point game with just 11 seconds left to play, but SNU came away with the win, 62-60.
  
The Muleriders now shift their focus to a pair of GAC road games in Oklahoma starting with Southeastern on Thursday followed by East Central on Saturday.
    
Both SOSU and ECU are currently tied for third in GAC rankings with an 8-5 conference record. At home, SOSU has posted a 4-3 record this season while ECU currently owns a 7-1 record at home. Both teams have lost their last most-recent game to a conference opponent on the road as SOSU lost to Harding last week, 67-73, and ECU lost to ATU, 68-83. 
    
To this point in the season, the Muleriders are 3-4 on the road and under head coach Andy Sharpe they are 21-44 over the past six seasons.

MULERIDER NEWS & NOTES   
The Southern Arkansas men's basketball team enters play this weekend with a 10-7 overall record and a 6-5 record in GAC play. The Muleriders have won their last six games, all in conference play, and are averaging 80.0 points per game with a +11.3 scoring margin as well during this stretch.
    
On the season, the Muleriders are averaging 81.0 points per game, which ranks sixth in the GAC. Defensively, the Muleriders rank second in scoring defense in the GAC at 70.9 points per game, and their +10.1 scoring margin ranks third in the league.
    
As a team, the Muleriders are shooting .458 (453-of-989) overall from the floor which includes a shooting mark of .384 (148-of-385) from long range. From the free throw line, the Muleriders are shooting .678 (242-of-357). Their overall field goal percentage ranks sixth while their 3-point field goal percentage ranks fourth. Their free throw percentage ranks tenth in the GAC.
     
Individually, the Muleriders have three players who are averaging double figures in scoring with CJ Elkins leading the team at 13.2 points per game and Draylan Perkins following at 12.6 points per game each. Keeton Tennison rounds out double figure scoring with an 12.1 ppg average. 
    
The leading rebounder on the team is DeVante Brooks with 7.1 rpg, while the top assist man on the team is Elkins with an average of 3.0 assists per game.

COACH    
The Muleriders are coached by Andy Sharpe, who is in his sixth season at Southern Arkansas. In his five previous seasons at SAU, Sharpe is 67-74.
    
Since the 2014-15 season, Sharpe has turned the Muleriders into serious contenders in the Great American Conference as SAU has won 35 conference games and have finished in the top half of the standings each year as well. The first two seasons in this recent stretch saw the Muleriders post consecutive winning seasons for the first time since the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons. 
    
As far as post-season play is concerned, Sharpe has led the Muleriders to the GAC Tournament all five years at the helm and has advanced the team to the semi-finals twice with opening round wins in 2014 and 2016. Under Sharpe, SAU is one of only three schools that have made the GAC Tournament in five-consecutive seasons; joining Arkansas Tech and Harding.
 

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SCOUTING SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA    
The Southeastern Oklahoma men's basketball team enters play this weekend with a 9-9 overall record and are 8-5 in the Great American Conference. The Savage Storm will be at home for the first time since January 13 and since then have accumulated a 1-3 record on the road in their last four most recent league matchups.
    
As a team, the Savage Storm are shooting .433 (462-of-1066) overall from the floor which includes a shooting mark of .332 (147-of-443) from long range. From the free throw line, the Bison are shooting .746 (249-of-334). Their overall field goal percentage ranks 10th in the GAC while their 3-point field goal percentage ranks 11th. At the charity stripe the Storm's percentage ranks fourth.
     
So far this season, the Savage Storm are averaging 73.3 points per game offensively, and are allowing 76.3 points per game defensively. Their points per game scoring ranks 11th in the GAC while their scoring defense per game ranks sixth in the league and their -3.0 scoring margin ranks ninth.
    
Currently four Southeasten players are averaging double-figures in scoring with Markell Henderson leading the team with 15.4 points per game. Kevin Buckingham is next at 14.4 points per game, followed by A'Torey Everett at 10.7 ppg, and Jett Jobe rounds out double figure scoring with 10.3 ppg. Buckingham is also the team's leading rebounder at 6.3 rebounds per game. Jett Jobe is the team's top assist man at 4.3 assists per game.

COACH    
The Bison are coached by Kelly Green, who is in his seventh year at Southeastern Oklahoma. In his previous six seasons, Wooldridge has compiled a 74-94 overall record and 53-67 record in the league. Prior to his time at Southeastern Oklahoma, Green was the head coach at Arizona Western Community College for 14 seasons where he posted a 342-107 overall record.

LAST YEAR/LAST TIME OUT  
Last time out, the Muleriders grabbed the lead in the second half after trailing at the intermission and maintained a slim lead until the final three minutes of action when the Storm rallied on a 11-0 run to secure the win over SAU, 72-63. 

THE SERIES  
This is the 31st meeting since 1999-2000 between SAU and SEOSU and the Muleriders hold a 17-14 advantage. On the road, the Muleriders are 7-5 against Southeastern.
 

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SCOUTING EAST CENTRAL    
The East Central men's basketball team enters play this weekend with a 10-7 overall record and an 8-5 mark in the Great American Conference. The Tigers have played their last four games on the road where they posted a 1-3 record in that time span. Their most recent game was a GAC matchup with Arkansas Tech on January 27, in which they lost, 68-83. 
    
On the season, the Tigers own the league's second-best scoring average at 86.2 points per game. Defensively, the Tigers are allowing 78.5 points per game, ranking their scoring defense eighth in the GAC along with a league fourth-best +7.8 scoring margin. 
    
As a team, the Tigers are shooting .499 (526-of-1054) overall from the floor which includes a shooting mark of .399 (184-of-461) from long range. From the free throw line, the Tigers are shooting .637 (230-of-361). Their overall field goal percentage ranks second in the GAC, just .001 off of SNU's league-best .500, while their 3-point field goal percentage ranks third. At the charity stripe the Tigers' percentage ranks 11th. 
    
Nearly half of the Tigers' roster are averaging double figures as six players average 10.5 or more points per game. Of those six players, two rank in the GAC's top-25 scorers with ECU's leading scorer, Cameron Talley, checking in the eighth spot at 16.4 points per game. Da'Rion King is the Tigers' second leading scorer at 13.0 ppg and is also the team's leading rebounder at 7.5 boards per game, which ranks his rebounding average second in the GAC. Brett Cannon is the top assist man on the team at 5.7 assists per game which ranks him third in the league in that category.

COACH  
The Tigers are coached by Ja Havens, who is in his fifth season at East Central. In his four complete seasons at ECU, Havens is 83-38 and led ECU to a pair of GAC regular-season titles, and a GAC tournament title last season. 

LAST YEAR/LAST TIME OUT  
Last time out, SAU hosted ECU in a conference matchup that resulted in a 69-84 loss on November 30. 
 
THE SERIES 
This is the 18th meeting since 1997-98 between SAU and East Central with the two teams meeting at least twice a year since 2012 as conference opponents. This portion of the all-time series is controlled by the Tigers, 8-10, and 6-7 in conference play.