MIAMI — For the third time in Tarleton State's Division I era, the squad will travel to Florida. The Texans will take on the Florida International Panthers for the first time at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center on Thursday night at 6 p.m. CT in the first game of the CUSA x WAC Battle.
 
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with AJ Ricketts and Corey Brooks on the call. Kyle Crews will be on site for his radio call starting 30 minutes before tip on 90.5 KTRL.
 
The Texans hope to spoil the Panthers' home opener on Thursday night and find their first victory of the season. Tarleton was unable to knock off the Virginia Cavaliers, who are receiving votes in the national polls. Ultimately, the Cavs got the best of the Texans, 80-50 fueled by a 24-point lead at halftime. Tarleton battled in the second half, with UVa only outscoring the Purple and White, 37-31 in the second 20 minutes.
 
Devon Barnes was a bright spot in the loss, leading the Texans with 11 points while shooting a perfect six-for-six from the charity stripe off the bench. The Texans second highest scorer, Izzy Miles, totaled 10 off the bench. The duo increased the Texans to their sixth straight game with a double-digit bench scoring effort from an individual. Barnes was the third in that span to lead the team in scoring and became the second consecutive junior college transfer to lead the team in points in the season opener of their Texan debut.
 
Bubu Benjamin was also excellent in his collegiate debut with the Texans as the only freshman to start. Benjamin logged the most minutes of all players (37:36) while leading the squad in assists (three), blocks (two), co-leading in rebounds (five) and adding eight points, the most by a Texan starter.
 
Over the summer, Shakur Daniel became the second Texan to sign a pro contract. Daniel signed in the Macedonian Superleague with the AD FENIKS 2010. He is averaging 8.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists in his six games with the club. He notched his first professional double-double on Oct.9.
 
Head coach Billy Gillispie was busy in the summer bringing in 16 newcomers to fill his roster at 21, both the nation's most. Gillispie found the newcomers in many different basketball circles with three freshmen from overseas, a D2 transfer, an NAIA transfer, several junior college transfers, US high school seniors and a WAC opponent transfer in Dario Domingos.
 
Not only did Gillispie bring a new roster, but he is replenished his coaching staff. A former player of his at Texas Tech, Luke Adams joined Gillispie early in the summer. Damon Archibald had a connection to Billy as both of his sounds played for Billy at Ranger College and/or Tarleton State. Last season, his son Tydan played for the Texans. Randy Pulley was the most recent addition to his staff, joining the Texans from Virginia State where he served as an assistant coach.
 
Tarleton State at Florida International will be the first tip-off of the C-USA x WAC battle this season. Utah Valley takes on Sam Houston at 6:30 p.m. and Abilene Christian will tip off against Middle Tennessee an hour after the Texans. The Texans will play its second and final game of the battle against Jacksonville State in Stephenville on Dec. 18. The battle will consist of 18 total men's games with all nine CUSA schools and nine of the 11 WAC members. UTRGV and UT Arlington will not be participating in the battle this season from the WAC.
 
This will be the first meeting between the Texans and FIU. Tarleton is 2-5 against current members of the CUSA as a D1 program and 5-23 in total. Coach Gillispie is 10-9 against the conference overall and holds a 2-5 on the road against its current members.
 
Head coach Jeremy Ballard is in his sixth year as a D1 head coach, all at the helm of the Panthers program. He is one of 56 active D1 head coaches to have only coached at a single D1 program for at least six seasons.

Tarleton State will return to Stephenville for its home opener on Saturday at 7 p.m. against NAIA's UNT Dallas. Fans will be able to participate in a meet and greet autograph signing with the players after the game.