COLUMBUS - As the final month of the season begins, the Ohio Dominican Panthers men's basketball team will head on their longest road trip this weekend.

The Panthers will face the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers on Thursday (Feb. 2) at 8:30 PM Eastern before heading to Nashville on Saturday (Feb. 4) to play the Trevecca Nazarene Trojans at 4:00 PM Eastern. 

GAME NOTES (Games 20-21) (PDF)

OPENING TIPOFF

• Ohio Dominican defeated the Findlay Oilers 88-85 for the fourth win over the Oilers in 25 tries in the D2 era. ODU trailed by as many as 12 to beat Findlay last Saturday.
• They currently have a 7-12 overall record and are 3-9 in the conference with four weeks left in the regular season, three games out of the eighth seed.
• Zach Szul (Waterville, Ohio) tallied 29 points for his 14th game in double figures, and seventh game of 20 or more points. Szul made seven field goals and was 13-of-15 at the free throw line (the most in the G-MAC this season).  For the season, Szul leads the team with 16.1 points (7th in the G-MAC) and 2.9 assists per game. In 12 conference games, Szul is scoring 18.2 points per game (2nd in the G-MAC) and has made 55-of-61 free throws (90.2% - best in the league).
  • Szul currently has 935 career points, putting him 65 short of the 1,000 point plateau. He is the current active G-MAC leader in free throw % (.836), is 3rd in points per game (14.2) and 5th in field goal % (.429).
• Jarius Jones (Gahanna, Ohio) scored 13 points in the game - his 10th game of 10+ points. For the season, Jones has scored 12.1 points per game with a team-high 5.6 rebounds.
• Kevin James (Massillon, Ohio) returned from an 11-game absence and put up 11 points, five rebounds, two assists, three steals and one block off the bench in 20 minutes. He tied career-bests in all categories but steals.
• Sean Marks (Delaware, Ohio) made three triples in an 11-point effort. He leads the Panthers in 29 three pointers.
• In the month of January, Zach Szul was second and Jarius Jones was fourth in the G-MAC with 20.2 and 17.2 points per game, respectively. Szul ended 37-of-40 at the free throw line (92.5%).
• Ohio Dominican held teams to a G-MAC best 28.8% from beyond the arc in January, limiting teams to a 38-of-132 stat line in six games.
• ODU has scored 48.9% of their 1,265 points inside the arc, with 36.5% coming from three-point land and 14.6% at the free throw line.
• At Findlay, the Black and Gold scored 44 points in the first half and shot 59.3% from the floor - both season-highs in the first 20 minutes.
• For the third time this season, the Panthers shot over 50% for the game, listing a 56.4% field goal clip, the 2nd best mark of the 2022-23 campaign. When shooting over 50% this season, ODU is 3-0.
• The Panthers snapped a 12-game road skid at Findlay - the first road win in 390 days, dating back to January 3rd, 2022 at Trevecca Nazarene (W, 56-51). ODU won back-to-back games at Findlay for the first time in the D2 era.
• The battle of the Panthers has taken place eight times in the D2 era, all within the G-MAC period. Kentucky Wesleyan holds a 7-1 lead in the series, including the last five overall and four road games.
• Ohio Dominican leads the D2 series with Trevecca Nazarene 7-3 in nine matchups in the G-MAC era (since 2017-18). The Panthers have won three straight contests in the series. 

ABOUT THE PANTHERS

• Kentucky Wesleyan begins February with a 10-11 record and 6-7 in the G-MAC.
• The Panthers defeated Trevecca Nazarene 65-57 on Tuesday, snapping a two-game losing streak.
• KWC holds an 8-1 home record at the Owensboro Sportscenter, including 4-1 in conference play. The Panthers have defeated #7 Hillsdale, Northwood, Lake Erie all at home. Walsh was the only home setback for the Purple Panthers in the G-MAC play.
• Three players have scored in double figures for the Panthers.
• Markel Aune averages 12.6 points per game (in 16 games after missing the last five games). He leads the team in the following categories: three pointers (35), free throw % (.909). Within the G-MAC, he is fourth in three point % (.398) and tied for eighth in threes (35).
• Jordan Roland scores 11.3 points per game with 3.0 assists and 0.9 steals. He is 7th in the conference in assists and tied for fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.9).
• Ben Sisson has a stat line of 10.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game with a .579 field goal %. He leads the G-MAC in January with 8.67 rebounds while sitting in a 2nd place tie in G-MAC games (8.31) and fourth overall in rebounds (7.2). He has four double-doubles and five games with at least ten rebounds.
• Kentucky Wesleyan averages 72.0 points scored, 37.8 rebounds on offense and is shooting .449 overall (.329 from deep). The opposition is scoring 70.5 points per game, grabbing 33.8 rebounds and holding a .431 clip shooting (.363 from three). 

ABOUT THE TROJANS

• Trevecca Nazarene enters play with an 1-19 overall record and sits 0-14 in G-MAC action. Kentucky Wesleyan downed the Trojans 65-57 on Tuesday evening in Nashville. 
• The Trojans have lost 19 straight games, dating back to the season opener - a 70-69 win over Ferris State. 
• The current 19-game losing streak is the 2nd longest in D2 and tied for 2nd longest across the NCAA. Trevecca has a 22 game G-MAC streak (T-4th in D2) and have lost seven home games. 
• Elon Smallwood averages 25.0 points per game in two contests, including 32 vs. Lake Erie in Jan. 
• Jose Waring, a freshman, is 2nd in scoring with 9.9 points per game, playing in 15 games. Waring has nine games of double-digit scoring. He also has 5.3 rebounds per game (2nd on team) while shooting a best .631 clip. 
• Caleb Terry is fourth in scoring with 8.3 points but leads the Trojans in rebounding with 6.3 per game. He was 8th in January among the G-MAC in rebounds (6.22 RPG).
• Lawrence Brazil III leads the assists and steals category with 2.4 assists and 0.8 steals per game. 
• Trevecca Nazarene averages 55.2 points scored, 32.3 rebounds, and is shooting .385 overall (.264 from deep). The opposition is scoring 72.7 points per game, grabbing 36.2 rebounds and holding a .448 clip shooting (.328 from three). 
• Trevecca ranks last in D2 (of 290 teams) for scoring offense, steals per game and turnover margin. They are 286th in field goal percentage and 287th in three point percentage. 
• Alex Huisman takes over as interim head coach after previous head coach Omar Mance and Trevecca Nazarene parted ways on Monday. 

UP NEXT

The Panthers will play three of the final five games of the 2022-23 season at home, beginning a three-game homestand on Feb. 9 against Malone. 

Contact: Tyler Stotsky
stotskyt@ohiodominican.edu