ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State will look to cap off a tremendous season of play in its home venue on Saturday when it hosts Northwestern Oklahoma State at 3 p.m. in the final game of the year at the Duke Wells Center.
REDDIES REPORT
- The Reddies (18-7, 13-6) picked up their third-straight win and 13th conference victory of the year on Thursday night against SWOSU, 84-73. Henderson trailed by 16 in the first 10 minutes of the game but came roaring back with a 32-8 run to end the opening half. HSU is just one game back of first-place in the GAC with three league games to go in the regular season.
- With the win on Thursday, Henderson officially secured a berth in the GAC Tournament in Bartlesville, Oklahoma on March 2-6. HSU controls its own destiny for a Top-2 seed and can lock up at minimum the No. 2 seed if it were to win its final three games. The Reddies will need some help to claim its first GAC title in men's basketball, however. A loss from Southern Nazarene in any of its final three contests, combined with three-straight victories from Henderson, would clinch at least a share of the regular season crown for the Reddies.
- HSU's 13 GAC wins this season matches the program record which was set last year when the Reddies finished 13-9 in conference play. A win on Saturday would give Henderson a final home record of 13-1 which would match the 2002-03 team for the best record at the Duke Wells Center in the last 20 years.
- Henderson has been excellent on both ends of the court this year. The Reddies are No. 2 in the GAC in scoring offense against league opponents (82.6 points per game) and have led the conference in field goal percentage defense for virtually the entire season (40.4% shooting for GAC teams). HSU has a scoring margin of +8.7 against GAC opposition, which ranks third in the league behind SNU and Southeastern Oklahoma.
- The Reddies are 6-2 against NWOSU in the last eight meetings between the teams and have not lost to the Rangers at home since falling 78-77 on Feb. 14, 2015. In the first matchup this season, HSU out-scored Northwestern by 16 points in the second half to defeat NWOSU 84-69 in Alva, Oklahoma.
SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA
- NWOSU comes into Saturday's contest 8-17 overall and 5-14 in GAC play. The Rangers have lost their last three games after picking up a big win on Feb. at East Central. Northwestern Oklahoma is led by first-year head coach Vinay Patel.
- The Rangers' top scorer is junior guard Parrish Hewitt, who averages 15.4 points per game this season. Hewitt is followed closely by senior forward Jaedon Whitfield, who averages 14.4 points per game on 56.8% shooting from the floor. Hewitt had his worst game of the year in the first matchup with Henderson State when he was held to no points on 0-for-7 shooting in 31 minutes.
- As a team, Northwestern Oklahoma is 10th in the GAC in scoring offense (72.8 points per game) and eighth in scoring defense (79.6 points allowed per game). NWOSU has hit the second-fewest 3-pointers of any team in the conference (137) and is 11th in the league in 3-point field goal percentage this season (32%).
