RETURNING TO ACTION
The Tarleton Texans will return to action on the road and will open Lone Star Conference South Division play at Abilene Christian on Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Moody Coliseum.

ON THE AIR
The Texans' game at ACU will be on Hard Country 89.7 FM. 

Fans can also watch the live stats via the ACU web site.

ON THE ROAD
However, the Texans have struggled in their four road games thus far, losing at Cameron on Nov. 27 (49-44) and at Southwestern Oklahoma on Dec. 7 (76-63).

In the two losses, the Texans averaged  their first two lowest shooting percentages of the season – .306 at Cameron and .314 at SWOSU.

The Texans trailed UCO by 15 with 14:27 left in the contest and fought back to a two-point deficit, but Tarleton couldn't claim the victory.

The first road win came on Saturday at Northeastern State as the Texans won 75-49 in Tahlequah, Okla.

DIVISION OPENERS
Tarleton has now won seven of their last nine division openers with the win over Angelo State last season.

PLAYING IN THE SOUTH
The Texans are 82-44 in the South Division since the LSC split into divisions in 1997-98.  Tarleton played in the North Division in 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05.  In division play, the Texans are 113-49 in that span.

Since the 2001-02 season, Tarleton is 82-25 in division play, including a 52-20 mark in the South Division.

PLAYING THE SOUTH
The Texans are 90-51 against LSC South teams since the 2001-02 season, a .638 winning percentage.  That includes the three years Tarleton competed in the North Division, but still played the South teams in crossover or tournament action.

Since joining the LSC, Tarleton is 149-118 against current LSC teams since the 1994-95 season.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tarleton's Wes Dipprey was named the Lone Star Conference South Division Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in the last four games since the Christmas Break.

Dipprey led the Texans in rebounding with 6.0 rebounds per game during the 3-1 stretch for Tarleton. He led the team with eight rebounds against Texas A&M-Commerce and nine at Central Oklahoma. He also averaged 8.3 points per game for the Texans. Out of his 24 rebounds, Dipprey had 16 defensive boards for the Texans, including eight at Central Oklahoma and was a big part of the Texan comeback that fell just short. Tarleton is the No. 1 ranked defense in the country, and Dipprey helped the Texans hold the opponents to a .380 shooting percentage and a 56.5 points per game average.

DEFENSE, DEFENSE
The Tarleton defense is ranked No. 1 in the nation scoring defense, allowing opponents to score an average of 49.7 points per game heading into this week.  Tarleton is also No. 1 in the nation in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 34.4 points per game.

FORCING TURNOVERS
Tarleton is forcing lots of turnovers this season, but giving away less.  The Texans are No. 2 in the nation in turnover margin with a 10.3 margin in favor of the purple and white.

Part of turnovers is taking the ball away, and the Texans are No. 5 in the country in doing so, averaging 12.0 steals per game.

REBOUND THAT BALL
Heading into this week, the Texans are No. 7 in the nation in rebound margin (11.6).  The Texans have outrebounded every foe this season except Cameron and Texas A&M-Commerce.

Tarleton is outrebounding opponents by an average of 38.8 to 29.9.

LEADING THE TEXANS
The Texans are led by Corin Henry with 12.3 points per game and 50 assists.  Also averaging in double digits is Devon Hills with 10.8 points per game.  Wes Dipprey's 6.3 rebounds per game leads the team with Donta Smith second with 4.4 boards per outing.  Fabian Wilson leads the team with nine blocks while Henry tops the squad with 23 steals.

OUTSCORING FOES
The Texans are outscoring foes 79.0 to 51.8.  The Texans'  biggest win of the season came against Arlington Baptist – 108-30 (78 points).  The smallest margin of victory is four at home against Texas A&M-Commerce (70-66).

SHOOTING TEXANS
The Texans are averaging .460 from the floor, .376 from the arc and .679 from the charity stripe while opponents are shooting .363 from the field, .335 from the arc and .661 from the line. 

NOW ON SPECIAL
Tarleton is outscoring opponents in points off turnovers (26.4 to 9.0) and points in the paint (35.6 to 15.8). 

OFF THE BENCH
Tarleton is averaging 36.3 points per game off of the bench this season as the Texans are outscoring opponents from the bench by 18.9 points per game (14.7 for opponents).

IN THE CONFERENCE
The Texans are first in the LSC in scoring defense, scoring margin, field goal percentage defense, turnover margin (+8.83), offensive rebounds (14.8), rebounding offense, rebounding defense and rebounding margin (5.2).  Tarleton is also first in defensive rebounding percentage (.745) and in offensive rebounding percentage (.389) and second in three-point field goal percentage (.376) and in assist/turnover ratio (1.1).

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Abilene Christian enters the contest 8-4 on the season after claiming a 67-55 victory at Cameron on Saturday.  The Wildcats have won four of their last five contests, the loss coming at Southwestern Oklahoma on Thursday (102-74).

ACU is led by Zach Williams with 11.8 points per game and Desmond Woodberry with 10.8 points per outing.  Giordan Cole and Ben Warton are tied for the team lead with 5.3 rebounds per outing while Dosh Simms is second with 5.2 boards per contest.

The Wildcats are averaging .457 from the field, .314 from the arc and .658 from the line while opponents are shooting .467 from the floor, .382 from the arc and .700 from the charity stripe.  ACU is outscoring foes 74.2 to 74.1 and outrebounding them 35.1 to 32.2.

ALL-TIME SERIES
ACU leads the all-time series, 30-29. Tarleton claimed last year's victory in Abilene at McMurry,70-60, on Feb. 16.  Tarleton has won the last three meetings with the Wildcats last win on Jan. 28, 2009 in Abilene (73-70).  Tarleton is 13-6 in Abilene against ACU under the direction of head coach Lonn Reisman.