SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, California — Tarleton State embarks on its annual Thanksgiving week trip, with this year's edition in San Juan Capistrano, California at the SoCal Challenge in JSerra Pavilion. The Texans first round matchup is slated for a 4 p.m. start CT, 2 p.m. local PT against Austin Peay in the Sand Division. Tarleton will play its second and final game against either Sacramento State or CSU-Bakersfield on Wednesday afternoon based on the outcome of each pair's first game.
Monday's game will be streamed on FloSports with John Brinkley on the call. Kyle Crews will have the radio call on KTRL 90.5 FM and online on the Tarleton Radio Network. Statistics will be provided by StatBraodcast. Follow @tarletonmbb on Twitter and Instagram for highlights and live score updates.
Tarleton State continues its stretch of four-straight road contests following its 86-63 loss at Bradley last Tuesday night.
Lue Williams and
Bubu Benjamin led the team with 16 points apiece. Williams lead the team in nearly every other category including seven made three throws and five steals, a new career high.
On Sunday morning, Tarleton State released that head coach
Billy Gillispie would not be traveling with the team to the SoCal Challenge due to medical circumstances. Assistant coach
Joseph Jones will fill in for coach Gillispie in California.
Tarleton has not have any previous meetings against Austin Peay, or any current members of the Ohio Valley Conference. Austin Peay is led by Corey Gipson who is in his second year with the Governors.
The Texans boast the largest roster in the country of 21 men which also features the most newcomers to any D1 roster, 16.
In the Purple and White's opening week,
Jakorie Smith scored the most points by a Texan in a game during its Division I era, 34 against FIU. He also tallied a career-high six steals in the game.
KiAndre Gaddy also showed out against the Panthers compiling his first career double double as a Texan with 17 points and 14 boards, both new career highs. Gaddy would then set another scoring high less than 48 hours later at home against UNT Dallas posting 20 points against the Trailblazers.
Tarleton State is in its final year of NCAA Division I reclassification, making the Texans ineligible for NCAA postseason tournaments, but eligible for the WAC Tournament in March at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Last season, the Texans knocked off UTRGV in their first WAC Tournament game in program history. Tarleton also earned a bid to the CBI, which is not affiliated with the NCAA making the Texans eligible to participate.
