MBB-D2: Henderson State Reddies (8-10) at Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm (11-6)

Henderson State will aim for a split on its second Oklahoma road trip of the season when it heads to Durant, Oklahoma to battle the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm from Bloomer Sullivan Arena Saturday, Jan. 28 at 3 p.m.
 
REDDIES REPORT
Henderson struggled to generate much offense Thursday at East Central, tallying just four total assists as the Tigers snapped HSU’s five-game winning streak in the series, 73-53. Malik Riddle recorded his fifth consecutive double-digit outing with 15 points – his longest such scoring streak since his first year with HSU in the 2020-21 season when he posted seven straight 10-plus scoring contests.
 
Turnovers have plagued the Reddies recently with them losing the ball-control battle in each of their last five losses, including 19-13 against East Central. In addition to the turnover struggles, three-point shooting has been on the side of the competition. In all but one conference game this season, opponents have made more three-pointers than Henderson. The one outing that proved otherwise was against Harding when the red-and-gray made 12 treys compared to 7 for the Bisons as the Reddies won, 87-66.
 
Henderson is currently tied for seventh with East Central and Southwestern Oklahoma St. in the league standings at 5-7 in GAC play. HSU will face both ECU and SWOSU, both of whom beat HSU in the season’s first go-around, come mid-February for the season’s second matchup between both programs. The Reddies’ next three games are against teams in the Top-5 of the conference standings, including Saturday’s opponent in the Savage Storm.
 
Four of the last five games between Henderson and Southeastern have been decided by single digits, including the 2020 GAC Tournament Semifinal when the Reddies prevailed in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 76-73. Last season, HSU won in Arkadelphia, 84-73, before falling in Durant later in the year, 85-80. In non-neutral site games, the home team has won each of the last four meetings.    
 
SCOUTING SOUTHEASTERN OKLA. ST.
After posting a 24-6 overall record last year, winning the program’s first GAC regular season championship, the Savage Storm lost four of its five leading scorers, including Conference Player of the Year Adam Dworsky and Freshman of the Year Ante Brzovic. Head coach Kelly Green has simply responded by fielding what is currently the league’s fourth best team and the top scoring offense at 85.7 points per game.
 
Leading the offensive firepower is junior guard Jett Sternberger, who was a part of that SE team last season. Sternberger is third in the conference with 19.6 points per game and has scored in double digits in all 16 games he has appeared in this year. Newcomer Brennen Burns backs up Sternberger with 14.8 points while also leading the league with 4.7 assists per outing. Both double-digit scorers are shooting over 50.0 percent from the field.
 
The Savage Storm get a large part of their offensive production from behind the perimeter, averaging a league-high 10.4 made three-pointers a game, which is 17th in Division II. They are also third in the conference – 29th in DII – with a 38.8 three-point field-goal percentage. Individually, SE has five players among the GAC’s 20 most efficient three-point shooters.