COVERAGE LINKS | GAME NOTES

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - After delivering a much-needed victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State Thursday night, Henderson State will look to string a couple of wins together when Southwestern Oklahoma State comes to the Duke Wells Center Saturday, Feb. 10 at 3 p.m.

REDDIES REPORT (7-13, 6-9 GAC)
Clarence King matched his season-high with 26 points in helping HSU to a huge 96-88 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma, avenging the loss to the Rangers in Alva last month. 96 points is the highest scoring GAC game for the Reddies this season and their second highest point total in conference play at home in the last two seasons.

Henderson shot a staggering 60 percent (33-of-55) from the floor, second only to shooting 65.2 percent (43-of-66) against Lyon earlier this season. In GAC play, it was HSU's best shooting performance since an 89-80 victory against Arkansas Tech on Jan. 21, 2016, which saw the Reddies make 30-of-50 (60.0%) field-goal attempts. As a team, the red-and-gray are now shooting a GAC-third best 47.0 percent from the floor.

Henderson State's victory against the Rangers moved it up to tenth in the GAC standings, while closing the gap between fourth and tenth to a single game. At 6-9 in league play, the Reddies sit just one game back of six other teams at 7-8. One of those teams is Saturday's opponent, the Bulldogs of Southwestern Oklahoma State.

In the season's first meeting, HSU missed four free-throws in the final minute and a half of regulation before missing an additional three freebies in overtime to hand Southwestern Oklahoma State the 84-82 overtime victory. Now both teams will head to Arkadelphia, where HSU has not beaten the Bulldogs since the 2019-20 season.

SCOUTING SOUTHWESTERN OKLA. ST. (7-13, 7-8 GAC)
Southwestern Oklahoma enters the latter half of its Arkadelphia road trip losers of three of its last four games, including a Thursday loss across the street to Ouachita Baptist, 77-66. After holding an eight-point lead at halftime, SWOSU was outscored by 19 in the second half for the 11-point defeat.

The Bulldogs allowed the Tigers to shoot 68.0 percent (17-of-25) from the floor in the second half, including going 6-for-7 (85.7%) from three-point range. On the season, Southwestern has typically been formidable against three-point shooters as it is holding opponents to just 30.9 percent from beyond the arc, which is second in the GAC.

Like Henderson State, the Bulldogs are in win-now mode with them being in the midst of a four-game road trip, with SWOSU being 1-9 away from Pioneer Cellular Event Center. At 7-8, three of the Bulldogs' next four opponents are among the Top-3 in the current league standings.