The Teams: Tarleton Texans (7-7, 1-1 WAC) vs. Southern Utah (10-5, 2-0 WAC)
Where: Stephenville, Texas
Arena: Wisdom Gym
Day and Time: Thursday at 7 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: ESPN+ (John Liddle, Byron Anderson)
Radio: Tarleton Sports Network (Kyle Crews)
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• This is the first meeting between these two programs. This is Southern Utah's first WAC season.
• SUU is one of three WAC teams to start conference play 2-0 (Utah Valley and Stephen F. Austin).
• SUU has won two straight and six of their last seven. They've played three upper echelon schools; an 82-76 loss at Kansas, an 89-81 loss at New Mexico, and an 86-78 loss at Colorado.
• Reigning WAC Player of the Week Tevian Jones leads SUU at 20.1 PPG, third most in the WAC, 20th most in D1.
• SUU is second in the country in scoring at 89.5 PPG and 10th in rebounds per game (41.4).

 
QUICK HITS

• Tarleton is a perfect 5-0 at home, their best start at home to a season since 2014-15, a year they began 11-0 in Stephenville. They also have seven straight home wins dating back to last season, their longest such stretch since Dec. 12, 2018, through Feb. 9, 2019. They haven't won eight straight at Wisdom Gym since Nov. 26, 2016, through Jan. 19, 2017.
• Under head coach Billy Gillispie, Tarleton is 21-8 (.724) at home.
• SUU hasn't started conference play 3-0 in at least the past 15 years.
• Tarleton is 1-1 to start WAC play for the second straight year. They improved to 3-1 last season.
• Tiger Booker has taken the lead in conference play, averaging 17.0 points (.563 FG%), 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 24.0 minutes. He has the fourth highest scoring average in WAC play.
• In the last game, it marked just the second time in 14 contests that Tarleton had more turnovers than their opponent, turning it over a season-high 21 times. Still, their +6.9 average turnover margin is tops in the WAC and fifth best in the country (UNLV leads at +8.0 per game).
• After shooting 0-for-3 from the three-point line at Air Force on Dec. 18, Tarleton has made 22-of-50 (.440) from distance over the last three games. Lue Williams has nine of the 3PM's. Opponents have shot 20-of-66 (.303) from deep over the same time period.
• Tarleton was without two of their top three leading scorers in the last game, Freddy Hicks and Jakorie Smith, who missed the contest due to injury.

 
WHO'S HOT

• Tiger Booker – Booker just scored a career-high 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting, plus 7-of-8 from the stripe, adding two assists and two steals off the bench in 29 minutes. That makes back-to-back double-digit scoring games, his first career stretch. He's scored 10+ points in three of four.
• Coreyoun Rushin – Rushin returned from a one-game absence to make his second straight start, and he scored a season-high 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting. It marked his second 10+ point game of the year (Nov. 29 vs. Weber State) and his first since Feb. 10, 2022, vs. SFA, with Chicago State.
• Lue Williams – Williams has matched a career-long stretch of scoring in double figures at three games, averaging 20.3 points on 21-of-38 (.553) shooting, including 9-of-20 (.450) from distance, 2.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steals in 24.7 minutes.

 
NUMBERS TO KNOW
2: Tarleton knows how to draw the whistle, averaging the SECOND MOST FREE THROW ATTEMPTS PER GAME IN THE COUNTRY at 26.6. Only UTRGV at 27.0 averages more.
  
4: Tarleton recently had a season-high 21 steals. They rank FOURTH IN THE NATION IN STEALS PER GAME at 11.1. Only Missouri (12.5), Morgan State (12.3) and James Madison (11.6) average more this year.
 
5: Tarleton has averaged 20.7 turnovers over their past three games. They're FIFTH IN THE NATION IN TURNOVERS FORCED PER GAME at 20.0. Morgan State leads at 20.9 on average.
 
9.8: Offensively, Tarleton is much improved year-over-year, averaging 9.8 POINTS PER GAME MORE THAN THEY AVERAGED LAST SEASON. Through 14 games year-over-year, Tarleton is averaging 10.6 more points this season, and the Texans are 7-7 compared to 6-8 at this point in 2021-22.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
The Texans head to one of the WAC's top teams in non-conference play, Sam Houston, for a bout with the Bearkats on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. CT.