OUAZ MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTES
• The OUAZ men's basketball team begins a stretch where they will play six of their final eight games of the season at home with a pair of games at Faith Arena this week.

• The four-game homestand begins on Thursday, February 6 when the Spirit look for the season sweep of San Diego Christian when they host the Hawks at 7 p.m. OUAZ will then welcome Vanguard to Surprise on Saturday, February 8 at 2 p.m.

• OUAZ will then step out of Golden State Athletic Conference action on Monday, February 10, when they welcome Park Gilbert to town for the second meeting of the season against the first-year Buccaneers.

• OUAZ returns to Faith Arena with a 7-13 overall record and 4-4 at home this season. The Spirit are tied for seventh in the GSAC with a 3-8 record and are two games outs of the final spot in the conference tournament with seven league games remaining.

• San Diego Christian heads to Surprise at 6-11 overall and 3-3 on the road. The Hawks are ninth in the conference with their 2-8 league record with both wins coming in their past three games.

• Vanguard starts the week at 11-11 on the season with a 3-3 record on the road. The Lions are sixth in the GSAC standings at 4-6 having lost five of their past six outings.

• Park Gilbert is currently 7-15 in their inaugural season heading into a pair of games at Northern New Mexico before facing the Spirit on Monday. The Buccaneers have lost six straight and are winless since the calendar turned to 2020.

HOW TO FOLLOW
• All three games this week will be broadcast live on the OUAZ Digital Network and be available on the NAIA Network OTT app that is available on Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku devices. The OUAZ Digital Network is available on game day at OUAZSpirit.com/digital.

• Live stats will also be available during both games with links available at OUAZSpirit.com/live.

SPIRIT TIDBITS
• OUAZ is coming off a road trip that saw them split a pair of games against nationally ranked opponents. The win was a special one as Karriem Simmons hit a jumper at the buzzer that gave the Spirit a 78-76 win over then-No. 7 The Master's to snap the Mustangs 47-game home court winning streak.

• The Spirit continue to be one of the top scoring team's in the NAIA this season where they rank 18th by averaging 85.50 points per game. The team has scored 80-plus points in a game 11 times.

• OUAZ is 12th in the NAIA by making 48.9 percent from the floor. They have shot 50 percent or better in a game seven times this season and have been 45 percent or better in all but three games.

• The foul line has also been a strength of the Spirit this season as they convert 72.9 percent on free throws. That has the team 19th in the nation. OUAZ has made at least 75 percent at the stripe in eight games.

• OUAZ will return home 44th in the NAIA by averaging 14.80 assists per game. They are also 44th with a 0.990 assist-to-turnover ratio.

• OUAZ opponents are scoring 86.1 points per game and shooting 45.7 percent from the field. The Spirit force 15.7 turnovers per game and rank 31st in the NAIA by getting 7.90 steals per outing.

TRIPLE THREAT
• OUAZ features the top two leading scorers in the GSAC entering the week and three of the top six. Dimetres Moore (21.4) leads the conference with Brian Carey (20.5) second and Shazier Lawson (17.1) sixth. Moore and Carey are the only teammates in the NAIA to both average at least 20 points per game.

• All three of those players are ranked in the top-50 in scoring in the NAIA this season and OUAZ is one of eight teams with at least two players in the top-50 and the only with three.

• The Spirit trio are the highest scoring trio in the NAIA by combining to score 58.91 points per game. Moore, Carey, and Lawson are accounting for nearly 69 percent of the team's total points this season.

LEANING ON MOORE
• Dimetres Moore is the leader of that trio by scoring 21.40 points per game. That is good for tops in the GSAC and seventh in the NAIA. Moore has scored 20-plus points in a game 13 times this season and had 30-plus points in a game three times.

• Moore isn't just a scoring threat for the Spirit as he is second on the team by grabbing 6.0 rebounds per game while adding 1.5 assists per outing. 

• Moore is also active at the defensive end where his 2.65 steals per game are tops in the conference and fifth in the nation. He has recorded at least one steal in all but one game of the season and has 13 games with multiple steals.

• Moore narrowly missed the first triple-double in program history against Embry-Riddle when he recorded 24 points, 10 rebounds, and a school record nine steals. Those nine steals are the most by a player in the Golden State Athletic Conference since the 2010-11 season.

FIRST TO 1,000
• Moore became the all-time leading scorer at OUAZ when he scored his 777th career point at San Diego Christian on January 11. He is trending towards becoming the program's first-ever 1,000-point scorer.

• He enters the week with 882 points at OUAZ and needing to average 14.75 points per game over the final eight regular season games to reach the milestone.

ASSIST FROM CAREY
• Brian Carey became more of a scoring threat for the Spirit in December when he posted seven straight games of at least 20 points and he hasn't slowed down since. Carey is now ninth in the nation in scoring 20.45 points per game with 12 games with at least 20 points.

• Along with being the team's No. 2 scoring option, Carey is the new single season assist leader with his 118 dimes. That total is eighth-most in the NAIA and he ranks seventh nationally by averaging 5.90 assists per game.

BOARDS FROM LAWSON
• Shazier Lawson is scoring 17.06 points per game where he ranks 41st in the NAIA. Lawson has scored in double figures in 16 of the 18 games he has played this season with seven 20-point outings, including six of the past nine contests.

• Lawson also collects 8.72 rebounds per game to rank him 15th in the NAIA and second in the GSAC. He has at least six rebounds in all but two games this season with five games in double figures.

• He ranks 12th in the NAIA by getting 6.61 defensive rebounds per night and his five double-doubles lead the team and rank third in the GSAC.

ABOUT SAN DIEGO CHRISTIAN
• San Diego Christian enters the week scoring 69.18 points per game and having scored 80 points in a game just three times this season. The are giving up 76.56 points per game at the defensive end.

• The Hawks are 13th in the NAIA by getting 9.29 steals per game and they rank 27th by holding their opponents to 32.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

• Jared Nyivih scores a team-high 11.59 points per game and he is eighth in the country by blocking 1.82 shots per game.

ABOUT VANGUARD
• Vanguard makes the Arizona trip averaging 75.55 points per game and shooting 43.6 percent from the field. They are allowing 72.96 points per game at the defensive end.

• The Lions rank second nationally at 11.14 steals per game and with a 5.82 turnover margin. Their 8.23 made threes per game is 46th in the NAIA.

• Isaiah Gentry leads the team in scoring at 12.48 points per game and he is 29th in the nation by averaging 1.95 steals per night.

LOOKING AHEAD
• After hosting Park Gilbert on Monday, OUAZ will close this four-game homestand with crosstown rival Arizona Christian on Saturday, February 15 at 7 p.m.