2025-26 Men's Basketball Game Notes


ARKADELPHIA, Ark. -- Henderson State men's basketball continues its first of three Oklahoma road trips with a visit to Alva for a Saturday afternoon matchup with Northwestern Oklahoma State. Tip-off from Percefull Fieldhouse is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

Henderson State enters Saturday's game after losing its first game of the calendar year with Thursday's 76-63 loss at Southwestern Oklahoma. The game featured three ties and
five lead changes, but SWOSU led for more than 35 of the game's 40 minutes.

Thursday's loss was another game where the Reddies struggled from three-point range. Henderson shot just 3-of-13 from long range while allowing Southwestern to convert
on 13 of its long-range opportunities. The Reddies dominated the battle down low with 40 points in the paint to SWOSU's 16, but managed to shoot just 11 free throws while allowing the Bulldogs 27 opportunities at the charity stripe.

Jabari West started the game strong for the Reddies, scoring the team's first six points on the way to a nine-point, four-rebound game limited by foul trouble. Zaveion Okoh rebounded from last week's slow performance with a 23-point outing with four rebounds and four steals.

HSU allowed four different Bulldog players to score in double figures, none of whom included leading scorer Ty Frierson. Of those four players, each of them either had at least three three-point field goals or five or more made free throws, with two of the four accomplishing both of those feats. 

Scouting Northwestern Oklahoma

Northwestern Oklahoma State enters Saturday's matchup with a record equivalent to that of their rivals from SWOSU; the Rangers are 5-8 overall and 2-5 in GAC play. NWOSU
ranks ninth in the league in scoring offense (72.8 ppg) and tenth in scoring defense (78.1 ppg).

Max Alexander returns as Northwestern's biggest threat. The redshirt junior leads the Great American Conference in scoring after finishing third last season. Alexander averages 21.6 points per game while playing over 35 minutes per game; he also leads the league with 91 made free throws.

Northwestern will attempt to use Percefull Fieldhouse as a natural advantage. The Rangers are 4-2 in home games this season, marked by a 63-60 home win over then third-ranked Southern Nazarene.

Rangers head coach Robbie Harman is in his fourth season at the helm. Northwestern is his first head coaching position after tenures as an assistant at Davenport, Oklahoma City University, Central Michigan, and Minnesota-Crookston. Harman was a 1,000-point scorer as a player at Central Michigan.