STEPHENVILLE, Texas
— Tarleton State Men's Basketball after splitting a pair of games on the road to open, returns to Wisdom Gym for its regular season home opener against UNT Dallas on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ for those unable to attend. Live Stats will be provided by Genius Sports and a link can be found on tarletonsports.com. Highlights and score updates can also be found on the Twitter and Instagram @tarletonmbb. Kyle Crews will have the radio call on KTRL 90.5 FM. Tickets can be purchase on tarletonsports.com. Following the game, the Texans will encourage fans to stick around after as players will be available for a meet and greet and autograph session.
The Texans closed their two-game road trip on Thursday night with an 82-65 victory over the Panthers of Florida International.
Jakorie Smith broke out for a Texan Division I era record 34 points and led the team with six steals. Smith accounted for 15 straight Texan points in the first half.
KiAndre Gaddy notched his first career double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Devon Barnes is the only Texan to score in double figures in each of the first two games. Barnes scored 14 points in the victory over FIU and 11 in the 80-50 loss to Virginia.
Head coach
Billy Gillispie is in his fourth season at the helm of the Texan program. He has 190 career wins with 42 of those coming at Tarleton. Gillispie welcomed in the largest roster in Division I, 21, and his 16 newcomers are the most in the nation. While the team is fighting the injury bug, he is only playing with seven of his scholarship players.
Gillispie's staff also has newcomers, with three new assistant coaches and a new graduate assistant. On his staff, Gillispie hired a former play of his from during his tenure at Texas Tech,
Luke Adams. He also added
Damon Archibald, who had both of his kids play coach Gillispie at Ranger College or at Tarleton. The newest addition to the staff is
Randy Pulley who joins the Texan bench after a pair of seasons at Virginia State. Heri Tshiyoyo was added as a graduate assistant coach, he played for coach Gillispie at Tarleton in 2020-21.
Last season, the Texans earned their first bid to the WAC Tournament, in their first season eligible. Tarleton earned the seventh seed and knocked off UTRGV in the first round. After falling to Utah Valley in the quarterfinals, the Texans accepted a bid to the CBI a few days later. The Purple and White drew the seventh seed and were pitted up against the tenth-seeded Radford Highlanders. Radford got the best of the Texans in their postseason tournament debut, 72-70 in overtime.
The Texans will welcome UNT Dallas to Wisdom Gym for the second time, with this being the first regular season meeting between the two programs. Last year the two schools meet for an exhibition. The Trailblazers are led by 10-year NBA Veteran Josh Howard. Howard spent seven seasons with the Dallas Mavericks earning an all-star game selection in the 2006-07 season and was a member of the 2005-06 Mavs' NBA finals runner-up squad. During his career he averaged 14.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 30.3 minutes per game. Howard is 78-77 in eight years as a head coach including a 28-27 mark with the Trailblazers.
Tarleton State will play four straight road games starting on Tuesday night in Peoria, Illinois against Bradley University at 7 p.m.
