GAME DAY INFORMATION

When: Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016 | 6 p.m.

Where: Commerce, Texas | The Field House

Records: Tarleton 19-7, 8-5 LSC | Texas A&M-Commerce 17-9, 6-9 LSC

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Tarleton Sports Network: Pregame Show at 5:45 p.m. CT | Listen Online

Watch Online: TarletonSports.com/ListenLive

THE GAME
Tarleton travels to Texas A&M-Commerce to take on the Lions on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. in the regular season finale.
 
THE BROADCAST
Each 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.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Tarleton defeated West Texas A&M 87-82 on senior night to improve to 19-7 overall and 8-5 in the LSC.
 
THE OPPONENT: TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE
Texas A&M-Commerce comes in with a 17-9 record overall and in sixth in the Lone Star Conference with a 6-7 mark. Win or lose, the Lions have secured the sixth spot in the LSC. TAMUC snapped a 3-game skid with an 81-73 win against Eastern New Mexico on Feb. 20. TAMUC is 10-3 at home this season and won 3 out of 4 at The Field House. The Lions come in averaging 83.8 points per game but its defense ranks in the top 15 nationally in three categories: 4th in rebounds per game (30.8); 5th in blocks per game (5.3); and 11th opponents FG % (30.8). TAMUC is led by Bryant Crowder's 16 points per game.
 
THE SERIES: TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE
Tarleton is 28-18 in the Lonn Reisman era (1988) against TAMUC and 32-31 all time since the series began in 1962. Tarleton has lost the last two matchups vs. TAMUC, but has won 15 of 18. Tarleton is 10-10 all time at The Field House but has won 4 of the last 5 on the road.
 
ANOTHER MILESTONE
Lonn Reisman enters the game against TAMUC with 199 career wins in the Lone Star Conference. Reisman has a career record of 199-98 (.670) in the LSC. Reisman's 608 career wins in 28 seasons also tops the entire win total from all of the LSC men's basketball coaches combined at 507 in 31 seasons.
 
CLIMBING UP THE RECORD CHART
4-year Texan Michael Hardge, who has 318 career assists, passed Chuck Guy for 4th all time. Mark Smith is third with 458 assists. Hardge's 114 steals rank 8th all time and needs 6 steals to pass Freddie Pierce for 7th all time.
 
SINGLE SEASON SWATS
Xavier Smith has 58 blocks in his first season with Tarleton. The junior forward is tied with Roderick Brown for 9th all time. Smith's 58 blocks also rank 15th all time in a career. Vincent Bridgewater holds the record with 81 in a season.
 
RO'S ON A ROLE
During Tarleton's 3-game win streak, Romond Jenkins has been the low-post presence the Texans needed. Jenkins is averaging 11.3 points, a team-high 9.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 70 percent from the floor.
 
MILESTONE WATCH
- Michael Hardge needs 6 points for 900 in his career.
- EJ Reed needs 23 points for 800 in his career.
- EJ Reed needs 2 blocks for 50 in his career.
- Malcolm Hamilton needs 20 points for 550 in his career.
- Charles Hill needs 25 points for 350 in his career.
- Xavier Smith needs 10 points for 200 in his career.
- Jakob Damstra needs 5 points for 100 in his career.
 
WHEN THE TEXANS...
Tarleton is 13-0 when they shoot at least 45 percent from the floor.  When Tarleton dishes out at least 16 assists, they are 9-1 on the year. The Texans are 12-1 when they have less than 15 turnovers. Tarleton is 17-2 when they score 70 or more.
 
REACHING 20 WINS
At 19-7 on the season, Tarleton is one win away from its seventh straight 20-win season. It would be the 13th time in the NCAA era that Tarleton has won 20 games in a season.
 
RUNS IN THE FAMILY
Xavier Smith is third in the Lone Star Conference in blocks this season with 58 total blocks and 2.2 per game. His brother, Zach Smith, is a sophomore forward for Texas Tech University and is fourth in the Big 12 with 43 blocks and 1.59 per game.
 
WINNING AT WISDOM
Tarleton finished the regular season at home with a 16-2 record. It's the seventh straight season the Texans have won at least 16 games at home and lost two or fewer games. During that stretch, Tarleton is 115-9 at Wisdom Gym for a .927 winning percentage.
 
CLIMBING THE ALL-TIME WINS LIST
Reisman comes into the game with 608 wins. Reisman became the 6th active Division II head coach with 600 career wins and the 16th Division II coach to win 600 games in a career. Reisman passed Dave Boots (Ausburg, 603 wins) for 15th on the all-time wins list. Reisman needs 11 wins to pass Tom Smith (Mo. Western State) for 14th all time.
 
LSC SEEDING SCENARIOS
- If Tarleton wins: 2nd, 3rd
- If ASU, WT, MSU wins + Tarleton wins and coin flip loss to ASU, Tarleton gets 4th seed.
- If Tarleton loses to TAMUC: 4th or 5th
 
NCAA TEAM STAT LEADERS
- 6th in NCAA in defense FG% (38.9)
- 8th in NCAA in scoring defense (65.5)
- 11th in NCAA in scoring margin (13.5)
- 13th in NCAA in rebound margin (7.3)
- 20th in NCAA in total blocks (123)

UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will compete in the Lone Star Conference tournament in Allen beginning March 2.