ALVA, Okla.- The Red-and-Black will return home for rivalry night against Southwestern following two straight road games last week. The Rangers will be coming off of a 76-70 loss against Oklahoma Baptist this past Saturday. The Bulldogs of Southwestern will be coming off an 84-82 loss in overtime. 
 

The rivalry matchup creates two opposite-style teams. The Bulldogs come into the game as the highest-scoring offense in the Great American Conference this season with 82.2 points, which also sits for 26th in Division II. The Rangers come into the game with one of the better defenses as their defense is in the top half of the Great American Conference, allowing 71 points per game. In the last five games, the Ranger defense is allowing 67 points per game. Northwestern is the number one defense against the three, allowing opponents to shoot 30 percent from behind the arc, which is also 15th in Division II. The Rangers are second in the nation in blocks per game and number one in the GAC.
 

Rangers head coach is Vinay Patel as he continues his second season with the program with a record of 12-27 and 100-83 overall at the collegiate level.
 

Parrish Hewitt leads the Rangers in scoring with 14.4 on the year, tied for 12th in the Great American Conference.He has now scored double figures in eight striaght games and in 10 of 11 games this seasona for the Rangers. He is one of three Rangers scoring in double figures. Hewitt, joined by Deon Barrett at 11.4 and Bubba Furlong at 10.0 points, is averaging double digits per game. Furlong is averaging a double-double on the season with 10 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. The rebounds are the most in the GAC and tied for 15th on the national level. Furlong is fifth on a national level in blocks per game with 2.6 also for the GAC lead. Barrett leads the Rangers in assists with 5.1 per game is third in the Conference and 26th on the national level.
 

Southwestern Oklahoma State:
 

The Bulldogs come into Monday night's game 6-8 in conference games and on the season, which has them in fifth place in the Great American Conference. Southwestern is coming off of an 84-82 loss in overtime to Southeastern Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs have now lost four of their last five games. 
 

Southwestern, led by head coach Terry Evans is in the middle of his third season coaching the Bulldogs after taking over in Spring of 2018. Evans is 24- 46 with the Bulldogs and 287-170 overall in his collegiate career. 

The Bulldogs of Southwestern are led by Damion Thornton, averaging 16.9 points per game as one of five Bulldog players in double figures. Tauriawn Knight is averaging 14.8 points a night, Kamden Gipson averaging 11.7 points, Brylan James 11.3 points, and Chris Braggs at 10.4 points per game. The Southwestern offense is averaging 82 points per game which is the best in the Great American Conference. Thornton leads the Bulldogs in rebounding 9.1, for second in the league only behind Furlong. Gipson is the team's leader in assists with 43 on the season for 3.1 per game.  
 

History: 

The Red-and-Black will enter Monday night looking for their first win over Southwestern since February of 2019 after losing the last four. The Rangers have the opportunity to even the season series against their rival with a win on Monday night.
 

Northwestern lost the first game against the Bulldogs back in January, with the score at 99-66. Thornton led the Bulldogs with 20 points and eight rebounds in the win earlier this season. He was one of five double-figure scorers for Southwestern that night. Rangers would finish with four players in double figures as Hewitt and Furlong tied with 13, as Furlong added 17 rebounds.
 

The Rangers are 4-3 over Southwestern in the last seven meetings between the two teams as after NWOSU took four straight against SWOSU before they countered with their current three-game win streak. In the lastest seven meetings between these two teams, the series has been as close as it gets. Five of the seven games were within single digits, which includes three games by just two points. The Red-and-Black are currently winning the all-time series history 28-18 and 19-5 overall in Percefull Fieldhouse.

Team Comparisons:

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