TIPPING OFF
Coming off a home stand series splitting both games, Arkansas Tech looks ahead to their Oklahoma road trip for the upcoming week.
The Golden Suns will hit the road once again for a pair of games. Arkansas Tech finds themselves going head-to-head against East Central on Thursday night in Ada, Okla. and Southeastern on Saturday in Durant, Okla.. The game against East Central is scheduled for a tip-off time of 5:30 p.m. on Thursday night and tip-off against Southeastern is 1 p.m. on Saturday as both sides prepare to face each other for the second time this season.
The Golden Suns won their first game of the season against East Central 70-59 and dropped their first game against Southeastern 69- 75.
With a 9-7 start to the year, the Golden Suns have shown that they are a team with a lot of resilience. Their 94-84 win against Southern Arkansas at home showed how elite the Golden Suns can be when scoring the ball with two players scoring over 20 points.
Against East Central, they were down by 7 at the half, but Tech went on to score 34 points in the third quarter for the second time this season to give them the edge.
The Golden Suns had their best performance of the season against Southern Nazarene on the road where they controlled the entire game and won 80-52. Three members of the Golden Suns hit double figures in scoring, all above 15 points or more. The team also shot a season high 60.0% (6-of-10) from three.
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TECH TIDBITS
Arkansas Tech enters this weekend with an 9-7 overall record and an even 6-6 record among conference opponents. Their last outing proved to be a good win at home against Northwestern Oklahoma State as the Golden Suns held the Rangers to just 58 total points in the game .
Statistically, this year, the Golden Suns are averaging 77.2 ppg and rank fourth in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Golden Suns rank tenth in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 73.7 ppg. In terms of field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense, the Golden Suns are third in the conference as they shoot at an overall clip of .434 (447-of-1029) and are limiting their opponents to a .404 mark (412-of-1020) to rank tenth.
From beyond-the-arc, the Golden Suns are shooting at a clip of .332 (92-of-277) to rank sixth in the GAC while their opponents are making three-pointers at a mark of .345 (115-of- 333) to rank last. From the free throw line, the Golden Suns are shooting .728 as a team (249-of-342) to rank fifth.
Individually, the Golden Suns have three players averaging double figures in scoring. Kaley Shipman leads the way at 18.1 ppg. Jayana Sanders is next at 15.4 ppg. Rounding out the list of the double figure scorers for Arkansas Tech is Ashlei Lopez who is averageing 14.5 ppg .
The Golden Suns are coached by Dave Wilbers, who is in his 15th season on the sidelines at Tech. A member of the 300-career win club, Wilbers has a career record of 321-102.Â
Overall in his time at Tech, Wilbers has kept the Golden Suns as perennial contenders in the GAC, the region and the nation, winning 20 or more games nine times, capturing seven conference regular championships, five conference tournament championships and advancing to nine NCAA Regional Tournaments.
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SCOUTING THE TIGERS
East Central enters Thursday's conference game at 10-5 overall with an 7-4 record in conference play and are coming off a win on the road against Ouachita Baptist 70-59. Prior to that win, East Central took down Henderson State on the road 76-71.
In their first matchup against the Golden Suns this season, the Tigers left with a 59-70 loss. During that game, Arkansas Tech had a 34 point third quarter.
Statistically this season, the Tigers average 70.4 ppg on offense to rank eighth in the GAC and give up an average of 63.07 ppg to rank second in the GAC. In terms of field goal percentages, ECU shoots at a .408 clip overall (357-of-875) to rank ninth and is allowing opponents to shoot at a mark of .390 (324-of-830) to rank fifth.
From three-point range, the Tigers shoot at a .345 clip (107-of- 310) to rank fourth in the GAC and are allowing their opponents to shoot .321 (104-of-324) from range to rank eighth. At the charity stripe, the Tigers shoot .786 (235-of-299) to rank first in the GAC.
Individually, the Tigers have two players scoring in double figures and are led by Madison Rehl with 14.5 ppg and Mackenzie Crusoe averaging 13.5 ppg. The pair of Rehl and Crusoe are shooting well from long range both hitting their three's at 40% or above with Rehl leading at 44.0%. Rehl is also shooting 83.8% from the free throw line for East Central.
The Tigers are coached by Matt Cole, who is in his eighth season at East Central. In his time as the Tigers coach, Cole has a 101-98 overall record.
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SCOUTING THE SAVAGE STORM
Southeastern enters Saturday's conference game at 7-9 overall with a 5-5 record in conference play and are coming off a 57-76 loss at Henderson State . Their last win was at home against Southern Arkansas on January 8.
In their first matchup against the Golden Suns this season, Southeastern picked up a 75-69 win in Tucker Coliseum thanks to a trio of double figure scorers and their hot 47.1% shooting from beyond the arc.
Statistically this season, the Savage Storm average 66.5 ppg on offense to rank tenth in the GAC and give up an average of 65.5 ppg to rank fourth in the GAC. In terms of field goal percentages, SE shoots at a .426 clip overall (397-of-931) to rank fourth and is allowing opponents to shoot at a mark of .391 (377- of-964) to rank sixth.
From three-point range, the Savage Storm shoot at a .332 clip (100-of-301) to rank fifth in the GAC and are allowing their opponents to shoot .286 (92-of-322) from range to rank first. At the charity stripe, the Savage Storm shoot .714 (170-of-238) to rank eighth in the GAC.
Individually, the Savage Storm have two players scoring in double figures and are led by Kamryn Cantwell with 15.7 ppg and Briley Moon averaging 15.1 ppg. Both players average a steal a game and shoot at least 80.0% from the charity stripe. Moon leads the team in three point shooting hitting 41.8% of her shots from long range.
The Savage Storm are coached by Darin Grover, who is in his 17th season at Southeastern Oklahoma. In his time as a head coach at Southeastern, Collins has amassed a 255-202 record and has won more than 300 games in his coaching career.
