MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas will welcome Southwestern Oklahoma and Northwestern Oklahoma to Magnolia later this week as the Muleriders resume play inside the W.T. Watson Center. SAU will look to serve wins to both Oklahoma teams for the second time this season. The Bulldogs (10-9, 6-7 GAC) will come to town on Thursday, February 2 for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. The Rangers will make a stop in Monticello on Thursday for action against UAM before they travel West for a 3 p.m. tipoff in Magnolia on Saturday, February 4. Live coverage links for both games are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
SWOSU's Chris Braggs Jr. will bring the most recent GAC Basketball Player of the Week accolade to Magnolia on Thursday. Per the GAC POW Announcement: Braggs led the Bulldogs in three home victories that pushed them back above .500. He scored 18 points in a three-point win against rival Northwestern Oklahoma State. He followed up with a career-high 30 points in an overtime win against Arkansas Tech. He finished his week with 21 points on 6-for-9 shooting against Harding.
After recording a week of losses, the Bulldogs bounced back to win all three of their games last week against Northwestern Oklahoma (74-71), Arkansas Tech (79-71 (OT)) and Harding (96-87).
The Bulldogs and Muleriders last met in Weatherford in January where SAU won 85-80 over SWOSU. Five Muleriders produced double digit scoring efforts including senior LaTreavin Black who recorded a double-double with 13 points and ten rebounds. Four Bulldogs also scored double digits with Ben Smith leading the pack with 18. Smith leads team scoring, averaging 14.3 points per game to rank top-10 in the conference, and leads two other Bulldogs who are averaging double digits.
Southern Arkansas looks to repeat their fate from the last time the Bulldogs came to town in January 2022 when the Muleriders dominated in a 70-41 win. The Riders are 4-1 at home against SWOSU since the 2016-17 season and 8-3 overall during that span.
The Bulldogs (76.5 ppg) are averaging just 1.2 points fewer per game than the Muleriders (77.7 ppg), but while the Muleriders are recording a positive scoring margin at +7.5, the Bulldogs are posting a -0.5 scoring margin. Southwestern is recording a conference-low shooting clip of 41.6% and are allowing opponents to shoot 45.1%. They are averaging 8.3 threes per game at a 31.7 three-point percentage.
SWOSU leads the conference with 37.2 combined rebounds per game, averaging 11.2 offensive and 26.1 defensive, but are posting the worst rebound margin in the conference at -2.7. They lead the conference with a 3.58 turnover margin, as they average 12.6 a game while forcing 16.2. SWOSU's Nate Goodlow is averaging the second most steals per game at 2.2 white teammate Deangelo Adkins ranks third with 1.5 blocked shots per game.
The Muleriders are 2-1 in their previous three matchups against Northwestern in Magnolia. Their solo loss came as an 84-88 overtime loss in January 2020.
Southern Arkansas beat the Rangers by a single point in January of this year. Both junior Gregory Hammond Jr, and sophomore Carel Ray Jr. posted 20+ points in the matchup while two Rangers recorded double digit scoring figures as well. Malik Parsons led Ranger scoring with 23 points in the matchup and continues to lead the team with an average 22.1 points per game, a figure that ranks second in the conference.
Northwestern's scoring offense ranks just below the Muleriders' at 76.7 points per game and they stand just above SWOSU with a +0.8 scoring margin. When it comes to team field goal percentage, the Rangers rank just above SAU at 47.0%. Northwestern is allowing opponents to shoot 35.1% from three and is recording an average 32.6% field goal percentage from three themselves. Northwestern's Larry White and Shavaul Butters rank one and two in the conference with an average 1.5 blocked shots per game while Parsons is averaging 1.8 steals per game.
Three Riders are averaging double digit scoring figures with Hammond leading the clan at 12.7. All three athletes have recorded 200 or more points on the season as Hammond is just eight points shy of 250. Three other Muleriders are recording more than 7.5 points per game. Black ranks third in the conference with his average 7.0 rebounds per game while Ray ranks 8th with 6.3.
