ALVA, OKLA- The Northwestern Men's basketball team is set to take on Arkansas-Monticello Monday evening as the two teams make up the postponed game from January 1st. The Rangers took the first meeting between the two teams 74-61 coming this past week on Thursday. Furlong led the game with 32 points in the Northwestern win.
The Rangers (13-6 overall and 8-5 GAC) will enter Monday's game on a four game win streak in conference and overall. Northwestern has won two straight games on the road and have a 4-3 record overall on the season.
Northwestern has mixed a great balance of offense and defense this season including this past week leading to their four game win streak.
The Rangers are second in the conference averaging 78.1 points per game and first in the conference in field goal percentage at 48%. This has been in part of the ability to share the basketball as the Rangers are third in the conference in assists per game at 14.4. Northwestern has been able to take advantage of the offensive glass ranking third in the conference in offensive rebounds per game.
The Red-and-Black are led in these categories first in points per game by Larry White as one of four Ranger's averaging double figures. White scores 14.1 points per game followed by Bubba Furlong at 12.9, Brian Free 11.6, and Malik Parsons at 11.2 on the year. Free leads the team with 54 assists on the season followed by Parsons at 48. Furlong leads the team in offensive rebounds at 59 on the year which is third in the conference at 3.06 per game. Overall Furlong is fourth in the conference in rebounds per game at 7.9 leading the Rangers in this statistic.
Northwestern's defense is right there with their offense though as the team is third in field-goal percentage defense and sixth in the points allowed at 69.4 per game. The Rangers have been aggressive as they are second in the conference in total steals and first in the conference in blocks. White leads the team with 34 steals on the year which also ranks first in the GAC. Furlong leads the team in blocks and blocked shots per game which ranks 11th and fifth in Division II. White joins Furlong in the top 10 in blocks in the conference as White sits sixth in the conference.
Scouting the Weevils:
Arkansas-Monticello (9-8 overall, and 5-6 GAC) will enter Monday night on winning their last game on Saturday over Southwestern 71-51. The Weevils are 1-4 in their last five games including a 13 point loss to the Rangers. Overall Monticello is 4-3 at home currently on a three game losing streak in Monticello.
Monticello is a strong defensive team as they rank first in the conference in field goal percentage defense and first in the conference in points allowed per game at 62.1. They sit ninth in the conference in blocks and steals overall while forcing the fourth most turnovers per game. Ray Price leads the team with 33 steals followed by Richard Feagin at 22. Wesley Booker and Jabari Sweet are tied with 7 blocks each on the season.
Offensively the Weevils are led by Richard Feagin at 13.5 points per game as one of three double figure scorers for Monticello. Josh Williams and Ray Price are second and third with 12.1 and 10.3 points per game. Price is the team leader in assists with 53 on the season.
The Weevils sit in the middle of the pack offensively with the fifth best field goal percentage per game at 45.8% The team is 12th in scoring offense averaging 64.9 points a game.
The matchup to watch is Monticello's defense which has been able to control their opponent against Northwestern's offense which has been one of the best in the conference to date.
History:
Overall the Weevils lead the series history between the two teams 10-8 and are 4-1 in their last five against the Rangers. In Monticello the Rangers sit at 3-5 in the series history. Northwestern will look for their first road victory of the series since the 2017-2018 season.
The Rangers took to the first meeting this season between the two teams 74-61 behind a 32 point effort from Furlong. Joined in double figures was Parsons with 10 points in the game. Northwestern was able to knock down 25 foul shots as well in the win.
Follow the Game:
Watch: https://youtube.com/uamsports
stats: https://uamsports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
listen:https://mixlr.com/classic-hits-1057-krdr/
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