TIPPING OFF
Coming off a hard fought home win against Harding, Arkansas Tech looks ahead to their two games this week.
The Golden Suns will stay at home this week for two games. Arkansas Tech finds themselves going head- to-head against Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday night and Southern Nazarene on Saturday in Tucker Coliseum. The game against the visiting Bison will be Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. while the game against the Crimson Storm is set for a tip-off time of 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon in Tucker Coliseum.
The Golden Suns dropped their first game of the season against Oklahoma Baptist 80-90 on the road. In their first game against Southern Nazarene, Tech got an 80- 52 win on the road.
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 on the road, the Golden Suns found some hot shooting as the team hit 44.4% of their shots from long range to end the Tigers five game win streak.
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 week with a 11-8 overall record and an 8-7 record among conference opponents. Their last outing proved to be a well fought win at home against Harding as the Golden Suns came out on top with the 70-58 win.
Statistically, this year, the Golden Suns are averaging 76.2 ppg and rank fourth in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Golden Suns rank ninth in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 72.4 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 .431 (519-of-1203) and are limiting their opponents to a .406 mark (485-of-1195) to rank tenth.
From beyond-the-arc, the Golden Suns are shooting at a clip of .333 (109-of-327) to rank fifth in the GAC while their opponents are making three-pointers at a mark of .345 (131-of- 380) to rank last. From the free throw line, the Golden Suns are shooting .739 as a team (300-of-406) to rank fourth.
Individually, the Golden Suns have three players averaging double figures in scoring. Kaley Shipman leads the way at 17.9 ppg. Jayana Sanders is next at 14.9 ppg. Rounding out the list of the double figure scorers for Arkansas Tech is Ashlei Lopez who is averaging 14.7 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 323-103.
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 BISON
Oklahoma Baptist enters Thursday's conference game at 12-9 overall with an 8-7 record in conference play and are coming off a loss at home against Southwestern Oklahoma 68-71.
In their first matchup against the Golden Suns this season, the Bison pulled out a 90-80 win in Shawnee. During that game, Oklahoma Baptist held the Golden Suns scoreless for eight total Minutes in the fourth quarter to find the win.
Statistically this season, the Bison average 71.5 ppg on offense to rank eighth in the GAC and give up an average of 67.6 ppg to rank sixth in the GAC. In terms of field goal percentages, OKBU shoots at a .426 clip overall (515-of-1208) to rank fourth and is allowing opponents to shoot at a mark of .398 (519-of-1305) to rank sixth.
From three-point range, the Bison shoot at a .374 clip (142-of- 380) to rank first in the GAC and are allowing their opponents to shoot .302 (156-of-516) from range to rank fifth. At the charity stripe, the Bison shoot .764 (331-of-433) to rank second in the GAC.
Individually, the Bison have two players scoring in double figures and are led by Kalifa Ford who is averaging a near double-double this season with 17.5 ppg and 9.3 rpg. Hawley also shoots an impressive 40.7 % from long range. Mallory Lockhart closes out the list of double figure scorers for Oklahoma Baptist averaging a total of 12.0 ppg. Like Ford, Lockhart also shoots very well from behind the three point line as she leads the team hitting 42.4% of her three's this season.
The Bison are coached by Bo Overton, who is in his second season at the helm of Oklahoma Baptist. In his time as the Bison coach, Overton has amassed a 16-25 overall record.
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SCOUTING THE CRIMSON STORM
Southern Nazarene enters Saturday's conference game at 15-7 overall with a 10-5 record in conference play and are coming off a 69-45 win at home over Southeastern. The Crimson Storm are currently riding a seven game win streak and sit as the No. 3 team in the GAC.
In their first matchup against the Golden Suns this season, the Crimson Storm suffered their worst loss of the season at home. The Golden Suns dominated in the game winning by 28 points and took down Southern Nazarene 80-52 on their own home floor.
Statistically this season, the Crimson Storm average 66.5 ppg on offense to rank tenth in the GAC and give up an average of 57.0 ppg to rank first in the GAC. In terms of field goal percentages, SNU shoots at a .403 clip overall (533-of-1324) to rank ninth and is allowing opponents to shoot at a mark of .365 (432-of-1184) to rank first.
From three-point range, the Crimson Storm shoot at a .266 clip (96-of-361) to rank last in the GAC and are allowing their opponents to shoot .296 (100-of-338) from range to rank second. At the charity stripe, the Crimson Storm shoot .636 (302-of-475) to rank last in the GAC.
Individually, the Crimson Storm have two players scoring in double figures and are led by Cassandra Awatt who is averaging 13.5 ppg. Jaycee Soap closes out the double figure scorers for Southern Nazarene at 10.8 ppg.
The Crimson Storm are coached by Trent May, who is in his fourth season at the helm of Southern Nazarene's program. In his time as the Crimson Storm's coach, May has amassed a 61-37 overall record.
