GAMEDAY INFORMATION

When: Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015 | 7:30 p.m. (CST)

Where: Stephenville, Texas | Wisdom Gym

Series: Texans trail 22-23 | Streak: TSU, Won 4

Last Meeting: TSU 89, WT 70 on March 5, 2014 in Allen

Radio: Tarleton Sports Network on KTRL 90.5 FM | Listen Live | Pregame begins at 7:15 p.m.

Web Stream: TarletonSports.com/ListenLive

Social Media: Facebook | Twitter

Live Stats | Game Notes

THE GAME
No. 15 Tarleton State will return to the friendly confines of Wisdom Gym Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. contest with West Texas A&M.
 
THE BROADCAST
The game will have a live radio broadcast presented by the Tarleton Sports Network presented by North Texas Ford Dealers. The Voice of the Texans, Casey Hogan, will be back calling the play-by-play for Tarleton basketball this season. The radio broadcast can be heard on KTRL 90.5 FM in Stephenville and surrounding areas or online at TarletonSports.com/ListenLive. The pregame show will begin 15 minutes prior to tip-off.
 
THE SERIES
In the 46th all-time meeting between the Buffs and Texans, Tarleton State will look to even up the series at 23 wins each. Currently, the Buffs hold a slim lead in series 23-22 but it has been a one-sided series since 2009. A 64-58 win over the Buffs in Canyon was the first of 12 Tarleton wins over the next 15 meetings heading into Wednesday. Tarleton has won 13 of 20 all-time meetings in Stephenville.
 
NEW FACE ON THE WT BENCH
After Rick Cooper stepped away from the bench with 543 wins, Tom Brown replaced interim head coach Vinay Patel last offseason and is the third coach for WT in two seasons.
 
THE OPPONENT
After starting the season 0-3 including a 91-99 loss to Wayland Baptist, the Buffs delivered Tom Brown his first win as the head coach on Nov. 22 with an 82-66 win over Colorado State-Pueblo. That win propelled the Buffs to win nine of the next 10 games heading to Wichita Falls. Since the run of wins, WT has gone 2-2 since its trip to Midwestern State with losses to MSU and Angelo and wins over Cameron and Texas A&M-Kingsville.
 
GUARD-PALOOZA
West Texas A&M enters Wednesday's game with an unusual roster filled entirely of guards. There is not a single player on the team with a forward or center position label and the tallest player is 6' 6''.
 
3-POINT GAME
West Texas A&M is currently the LSC leader in 3-pointers made this season with 168 in 17 games while Tarleton State is second in the conference in 3-point defense at .305.
 
TARLETON IN THE LSC
Tarleton State has developed into one of the premier basketball programs in the nation, as well as within the Lone Star Conference. Lonn Reisman is the only Texan coach to lead Tarleton through the LSC as an NCAA coach. He has amassed a record of 181-93 in Tarleton's 20 years as an NCAA conference member. Reisman and the Texans have won three LSC regular season championships, three LSC championship tournament title - including the last two - and has also won at least 10 conference games in four straight seasons.
 
TARLETON IN NATIONAL POLLS
After starting the season ranked No. 12 in the nation, Tarleton State moved up nine total spots to No. 3 over the first 12 games of the season. They have since slipped down to No. 15 in the latest poll. This now marks the 26th consecutive week in which Tarleton has appeared in the national rankings since joining the polls on Nov. 19 last season.
 
NABC HISTORY
Of the 94 weeks in the NABC rankings, Tarleton has spent 59 of those weeks in the top 10, 39 in the top 5 and eight weeks at No. 1.
 
REISMAN IN JANUARY
Since his debut season as the head coach of Tarleton State in 1988, Lonn Reisman and the Texans have played 236 January games and amassed a record of 168-68 for a Janaury winning percentage of .720. He is 69-29 (.701) against teams who are not current LSC teams in January and 99-39 (.722) against current LSC rivals in the month of January under Reisman, including 10-9 when playing West Texas A&M in the year's first month.
 
REISMAN MOVES UP ALL-TIME LIST
After starting the season No. 26 on the all-time wins list for Division II Head Coaches, Lonn Reisman's latest win moves him past Fred Hobdy (Grambling; 1957-86) for 23rd all-time with 572. He is currently behind Rich Glas (573), the active head coach of Concordia (MN).
 
AMONG THE BEST OF THE DECADE
Tarleton State's Davene Carter and Michael Hardge are putting up numbers that have them among the best Texans to play for the Purple and White since the 2005-06 season:
• Carter is one of 10 players to top the 600-point marker over the past decade. With 20 more points, he'll pass Devon Hills (628) for ninth most in the last 10 years.
• Hardge has the seventh most assists over the last decade with 131 and is 17 dimes shy of passing LaShon Sheffield (147) for sixth over that span.
• Carter's 76 blocked shots are the third most since 2005. He is 14 away from passing Terrence Gamble (89) for second most over that span and 19 from topping Jon Cathey-Macklin (94) with the most blocks of the decade.
 
TOPS IN THE NATION
Tarleton State ranks among the nations best in multiple statistical categories, including:
• No. 3 in scoring defense (58.6 ppg)
• No. 12 in Scoring Margin (17.0)
• No. 13 in FG Defense (.390)
• No. 19 in Total Blocks (69)
• No. 20 in Blocked Shots per game (4.9)
• No. 22 in turnover margin (4.4; 195-257)
• No. 22 in 3-pt Defense (.311)
• No. 46 in FT attempts (368)
 
MILESTONE WATCH
• Mo Lee is three (3) points away from reaching 400 in his career.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
The Texans will hit the road this Saturday when Tarleton State heads to Portales, New Mexico for a 5 p.m. affair against the Greyhounds.