STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Men's Basketball returns home for just the second time this season after playing six of its first seven contests on the road. The Texans will host UTRGV in their WAC home opener at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Wisdom Gym.
The first 150 early arriving fans will receive a Tarleton branded mini basketball. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be in attendance provided by the Optimist Club. Fans can bring in a new unwrapped toy to exchange for a free ticket to Saturday's game.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Byron Anderson and Ladarrin McLane. Kyle Crews will have the radio call on 90.5 KTRL. Live Stats will be provided by StatBroadcast and will be available on tarletonsports.com. Follow @tarletonmbb on Instagram and twitter for highlights and live score updates.
Tarleton won their first WAC contest of the season a tough-battled win, 68-66 at Stephen F. Austin on Wednesday night. The Texans handed the Jacks just their 20
th home loss in the past 11 seasons.
Lue Williams led the charge recording game-highs in both points (18) and rebounds (9).
Last week, the Texans won the SoCal Sand Division Championship with a pair of wins over Austin Peay and CSU-Bakersfield. After posting a sand division record 28 points in the opening round, and a game-high 17 in the title game,
Jakorie Smith was named MVP.
KiAndre Gaddy earned an All-Tournament nod after he notched a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards in the championship game.
Assistant coach
Joseph Jones has been a player on a coach on the sideline for 114 of head coach
Billy Gillispie's 194 wins. Jones has been filling in for Gillispie for the past three wins.
For the first time in school history, a duo of Texans posted a double-double in the same game. Last Wednesday, the pair of Gaddy and
Emmanuel Innocenti recorded a double-double against the Roadrunners in California.
Smith ranks in the top 10 in five statistical categories in the WAC. He is second in steals (2.43), sixth in points (16.0), FG % (43.0) and FT % (79.2) and tenth in made three-pointers (13).
UTRGV is led by head coach Matt Figger who is in his seventh season as a head coach and his third at the helm of the Vaqueros program.
The Texans own the all-time series, 5-3 with the Vaqueros. UTRGV took both regular season games last year, but Tarleton avenged the losses with a 74-70 win in the opening round of the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Tarleton State will continue their four-game homestand with a match-up against Hardin-Simmons on Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. The contest will be streamed on ESPN+.
