Harding Game Notes

Harding Men's Basketball

Harding (11-9, 8-6) vs. Ouachita Baptist (7-14, 4-11)

Location: Rhodes Field House, Searcy, Ark.

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Series: OBU leads 69-53

Coaches: Harding – Jeff Morgan (360-231, 21st season at HU; 377-241, 22nd season overall); Ouachita Baptist - Dennis Nutt (40-38, 3rd season at OBU)

Live Stats/Audio/Video: Available through a link on HardingSports.com - www.hardingsports.com/coverage.aspx

Radio: KVHU-95.3 FM (Billy Morgan and Scott Goode)

• Harding will play its fourth straight home game Saturday when it hosts Ouachita Baptist at 7:30 p.m. at the Rhodes Field House. OBU won the first meeting between the teams, 77-69 in Arkadelphia on Jan. 11.

• Harding enters the game 11-9 overall and 8-6 in the GAC. The Bisons are in fourth place in the GAC standings among tournament-eligible teams. Ouachita Baptist is 7-14 overall and 4-11 in conference play. The Tigers are tied for eighth place in the GAC.

• In a strange turn of events, Harding's game with Henderson State in Arkadelphia on Thursday was postponed because the scoreboard in the Duke Wells Center did not work. The teams will make up the game at a later date.

• Ouachita Baptist is coming off an 86-80 home loss to Arkansas Tech on Thursday. Micah Delph had 20 points and Colt Fason and Allen Buchanan had 19 each. The Wonder Boys led the Tigers 47-24 at halftime, but OBU scored 56 points in the second half.

• Harding guard Weston Jameson leads the Great American Conference in both assists per game (5.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.8). Jameson leads Division II in assist-to-turnover ratio and ranks 29th in assists.

Inside the Series:
•    Harding and Ouachita Baptist are meeting for the 123rd time with the Tigers leading the series 69-53. Harding leads the series 31-27 in Searcy and have won seven of the last eight meetings at the Rhodes Field House.

•    Ouachita Baptist won the first meeting between the teams 77-69 in Arkadelphia on Jan. 11. Colt Fason led the Tigers with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Harding led 41-32 at halftime but was outscored 45-28 in the second half.

•    Will Francis made six 3-pointers and led Harding with 27 points. He also added 10 rebounds. Hayden Johnson made 12-of-16 free throws and finished with 20 points. Harding shot only 27 percent in the second half and made just 2-of-18 from 3-point range.

Additional Harding Notes:
•    Upcoming milestones: Weston Jameson needs two assists to move past Aaron Farley (416, 1998-2003) into fifth on Harding's career assist list ... Hayden Johnson needs six blocked shots to pass Zach Roddenberry for third place on Harding's career list ... Johnson is 23rd on HU's career scoring list (1,146 points) and needs 11 points to pass Morris Williams (1989-93, 1,156 points) for 22nd ... Jacob Gibson needs eight 3-pointers to move into HU's single season top 10.

•    In its third season in the GAC, Harding is 15-10 vs. Oklahoma opponents and 14-11 vs. Arkansas opponents.

•    Sophomore Jacob Gibson needs only eight 3s to move into Harding's single-season top 10. He has 56 3-pointers this season with 43 of those coming in the last 10 games, and average of 4.30 per game. He averaged 9.0 points in the season's first 10 games and 20.4 points in the last 10.

Opponent Notes:
•    Ouachita Baptist is a charter member of the Great American Conference and is located in Arkadelphia, Ark. OBU's present location is the former campus of the Arkansas School for the Blind, which relocated to Little Rock.

•    The Reddies are 10-12 overall and 6-8 in conference play. Henderson State has a 4-5 home record and has won three of its last four at the Duke Wells Center.

•    Dennis Nutt, a 1986 graduate of TCU, is in his third season at Ouachita Baptist. He was also the head coach at Texas State from 2000-06.

•    Ouachita Baptist's Micah Delph is third in the GAC with 2.7 3-pointers made per game, but his 148 3-point attempts is the most by any player in the conference. Delph also leads the GAC in free throw percentage at 91.5 percent.

•    Colt Fason is sixth in the GAC in scoring at 16.7 points per game and ranks second in rebounds at 9.2 per game. Fason is the conference's leader in double-doubles with eight.