ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita men's basketball team has been included in this week's NCAA Division II central region rankings, debuting at No. 10.
 
This is the first time for the Tigers to be included in the region rankings since 2015. Ouachita is seeking its first NCAA tournament appearance since the 2015-16 season and will likely need to win the Great American Conference Championship Tournament to earn a spot. The GAC tournament begins on Thursday.
 
Ouachita, the GAC regular season runner-up, earned the No. 2 seed for this year's tournament after posting a 21-6 overall record and a 16-6 record in conference play. The 21 wins are the most the 1986-87 season.
 
The Tigers will be taking on No. 7 seed Northwestern Oklahoma State Thursday at 2:15 p.m. at Southside Arena in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The game will be carried on the GAC Sports Network for free. Coverage links can be found at www.OBUtigers.com/coverage.
 
The Tigers are entering the conference tournament on a seven-game winning streak, their third streak of five or more wins this season, and recently racked up the awards at Wednesday night's pre-tournament banquet. Junior forward Hobert Grayson took home three superlative awards in the GAC Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Newcomer of the Year. Grayson alongside senior guard Shaun Williams earned First Team All-GAC honors.
 
It has been a remarkable turnaround from last year, which saw the Tigers finish last in the GAC. The league's head coaches voted the Tigers last in the preseason poll this year, but under Head Coach Dennis Nutt, Ouachita has turned things around and rocketed to the top of the conference. This is the second time in 10 years that Coach Nutt has taken a team from last place to finishing in the top two in back-to-back seasons.