ALVA, OKLA- The Rangers' basketball team is set to travel to Weatherford Oklahoma to complete the season series against the Bulldogs. Northwestern will look for revenge and try to even the season series against Southwestern after falling in the first meeting of the season. Northwestern enters Tuesday 6-4 on the road this season.
Northwestern (16-7 overall and 11-6 GAC) enters play winners of seven of the last eight games after their seven game win streak before it was snapped against Henderson State. The Rangers are coming off a split week this past week after a win over Ouachita Baptist.
The Rangers enter Tuesday second in the conference in field goal percentage at 48.1 and second in the conference in scoring offense at 76.8 points per game. Larry White leads the team at 13.3 points per game as one of four double figure scorers for the Rangers joined by Bubba Furlong, Brian Free, and Malik Parsons. Chance Love and Bubba Furlong lead the team in FG% with Love at 64.7% and Furlong at 57.8%. Brian Free leads the team knocking down 63 three pointers this season at 43% shooting from behind the arc. He is an even 90% from the foul line this year.
Defensively the Rangers rank sixth in scoring defense allowing 68 points per game and first in field-goal percentage defense which ranks first in the conference in that category. Larry White leads the team in steals with 41 on the season which ranks third in the conference this season. As a team the Rangers rank second in steals per game and force the third most turnovers per game. Furlong leads the team in blocked shots with 2.74 a game which ranks first in the conference. Overall he has 63 blocks ranking second in the nation.
Scouting the Bulldogs:
Southwestern (9-12 overall and 8-8 GAC) come into Tuesday winners of two straight games with wins over Henderson State and Ouachita on the road this past week. The Bulldogs are 3-5 at home and lost their last game in Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
The Bulldogs rank eighth in scoring per game at 69.8 total points per game and are 12th in field goal percentage at 39.4. Damion Thornton leads the Bulldogs in scoring at 18.1 points per game as one of three double figure scorers along with Kamden Gipson and Chris Braggs. Thornton shoots 42.9% second on the team behind Ben Smith at 44.3%
Southwestern's defense ranks fourth in field-goal percentage against at 42.8% and is 10th in points allowed at 74.4 points each game. They force the sixth most turnovers in the conference at 12.8 per game. Thornton and Gipson lead the team with 23 steals each on the season and Mark Berry leads the team with 14 blocks on the year.
History:
Southwestern won the first meeting between the two teams 83-73 in Percefull Fieldhouse. The Rangers will look to even the season series against the Bulldogs. Larry White led the Rangers with 20 points that evening as one of three players in double figures. Anthony Jones had 12 and Free finished with 11.
The Rangers will look to snap a five game losing streak against the Bulldogs as the last win came in 2019 in double overtime.
