GAME DAY INFORMATION

When: Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015 | 6 p.m. (CST)

Where: Abilene, Texas | Kimbrell Arena

Series: Texans lead 9-3 since 1988 | Streak: TSU, Won 7

Last Meeting: TSU 89, MCM 42 on January 28, 2015 in Stephenville

FOLLOW THE ACTION

Radio: Tarleton Sports Network on KTRL 90.5 FM | Listen Live

Pregame Coverage: Pregame Show begins 15 minutes before tip off

Web Stream: McMurrySports.com

Social Media: Facebook | Twitter

Live Stats | Game Notes

THE GAME
Tarleton State will take a one-game break from Lone Star Conference action Wednesday night as the No. 7 Texans make their final road trip of the regular season to square off in Abilene against McMurry at 6 p.m.
 
TIME CHANGE
The game was originally scheduled to be played at 8 p.m. but inclement weather Wednesday night forced an earlier tip off.
 
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 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 OPPONENT
McMurry has just a 6-16 record entering Wednesday's game, but it's not from a lack of quality competition. The Warhawks have played five games against top teams from the LSC - Tarleton State, Midwestern State, Texas A&M-Commerce and two against Angelo State, one of which was an exhibition for McMurry. The Warhawks have lost their five LSC games by a margin of 42.6 points per game, including a 47-point loss to Tarleton in Stephenville last month. Since losing to Tarleton, McMurry lost six straight before winning their last game over Southwestern Adventist University 81-57.
 
THE SERIES
Prior to Lonn Reisman's arrival in 1988, the series weighed heavily in the Warhawks' favor - 36-7 since Tarleton became a senior college in 1961. When Reisman came to town, however, things turned around. Tarleton held a 4-3 advantage over the Warhawks in Reisman's first seven games against McMurry but a 61-52 win for Tarleton on Feb. 29, 1992 started a run of six straight wins for Tarleton in the series leading up to Wednesday. The teams took a break from the series after 1996 before picking up the rivalry again in 2013. Tarleton continued its dominance of the series last month with an 89-42 win last month.
 
LOCKDOWN DEFENSE
Tarleton has made it a habit of limiting the leading scorer of each team that they face. Over the last eight games, the Texans have held the teams leading scorer coming into that game to a combined 7.3 points per game, including the LSC's second-leading scorer John Gilliam from Eastern New Mexico to over nine points below his average. McMurry's top scorer, Connor Robinson, enters Wednesday's game with 25.3 points per game and scored just 10 in the last game against Tarleton.
 
TARLETON IN NATIONAL POLLS
After starting the season ranked No. 12 in the nation, Tarleton State has spent the entire season moving between the No. 3 and No. 15 spots in the national poll and are back in the top 10 in the latest ranking at No. 7. This now marks the 32nd consecutive week in which Tarleton has appeared in the national rankings since joining the polls on Nov. 19, 2013.
 
NABC HISTORY
Of the 100 weeks in the NABC rankings, Tarleton has spent 60 of those weeks in the top 10, 39 in the top 5 and eight weeks at No. 1.
 
SOUTH CENTRAL POWER
The South Central regional polls were released on Tuesday with Tarleton leading the way followed by LSC rival Angelo State in fourth, Midwestern State in fifth and Texas A&M-Commerce at No. 7.  Five teams in the South Central Rankings are nationally ranked in the NABC top-25.
 
GETTIN' IT DONE AT THE LINE
Mo Lee and Michael Hardge have been getting to the charity stripe at a record pace of late. Over the last 11 games, Lee is 84-103 while Hardge is 45-61. For their respective careers, the tandem is No. 5 and 6, respectively, over the last 10 years in free throws made with 210 and 209. The school's all-time leader in made free throws is Chris Givens with 397.
 
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 the top-10 scorers over the past decade with 630 career points. With 20 more points, he'll pass Fabian Wilson (649) for ninth most in the last 10 years.
• Hardge has passed Coleman Furst for fifth most assists over the last decade with 168 and is 38 dimes shy of passing Effrin Bryant (205) for fourth most over that span.
• With 445 career rebounds, Carter has the third most boards for Tarleton in the past decade. Only John Davis (599) and Eric Williams (519) have more.
 
TOPS IN THE NATION
Tarleton State ranks among the nations best in multiple statistical categories, including:
• No. 6 in Won-Lost Percentage (91.3)
• No. 8 in Scoring Defense (61.6 ppg)
• No. 9 in 3-pt Defense (.302)
• No. 12 in Scoring Margin (14.9)
• No. 20 in FG Defense (.402)
• No. 21 in Total Blocks (108)
• No. 21 in Free Throws Made (434)
• No. 22 in 3-Pt Field-Goal Percentage (.400)
 
REISMAN MOVES UP ALL-TIME WINS LIST
After starting the season No. 26 on the all-time wins list for Division II Head Coaches, Lonn Reisman is now No. 21 on the all-time victory list with 582 all-time NCAA wins. He is one win shy of tying Brian Beaury for No. 20.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
No. 7 Tarleton State will come home for the season finale Saturday against Texas A&M-Commerce at 7 p.m. with the LSC title on the line.