STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton Texan men's basketball team will open the 2009-10 season Tuesday at home against Dallas Baptist at 8 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.

It is Greek Night in Wisdom Gym, and the Texans and TexAnns are looking to break the school record for a season opener of 1,839 – set two seasons ago in 2007.

The Texans are coming off an 18-10 season that saw Tarleton advance to the Lone Star Conference Championships for the eighth straight year.  Dallas Baptist is coming off a 24-7 season that saw the Patriots lose in the second round of the South Central Regional.

“There is always a lot of tension to start the season,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman.  “We are a young team with just three seniors, we have players coming back from injury, and we have several new faces that will help to shape what our team will become in 2009-10.

“There is a lot of unknown,” Reisman continued.  “Who will be our scorers, what are we going to get off the bench, and so on.  The unknown of where we are right now is what is on the coaching staff's mind.”

The Texans are playing possibly the toughest opponent to start the season since Reisman started coaching the purple and white.  DBU has four starters returning from last year's Heartland Conference title team, and Reisman does not take that lightly.

“We couldn't have picked a tougher opponent to open up the season with,” Reisman said.  “This is going to be a tough week.  Following the opener with DBU, we host the Texan Tip-Off Classic and have Texas A&M-International and Southeastern Oklahoma on Friday and Saturday.   This week will tell us a lot about where we are and what we need to do to get better.”

The Texans are 19-2 in season openers and they have won the last the last seven.  In home openers, Tarleton is 20-1 under Reisman.  The only loss was to St. Edward's in 1992 (54-50).  Tarleton has won 16 straight home openers heading into Tuesday's game against the Patriots.

“The kids are playing well together, and we have a strong team chemistry already,” Reisman said.  “This team reminds me a lot of the 2004-05 team that started off 8-3 and then won 14 of the next 15 games.  The team started off looking for their identity, and once they found it, they were a strong basketball team.  I think this team will find its identity, and I know they will continue to get better each day.  Playing tough games like Tuesday's opener will help us get better and build us as the season goes on.”

The game will be carried on KSTV 93.1 FM with live video on the All Access portion of TarletonSports.com.