The Teams: Tarleton Texans (16-15, 9-9 WAC) vs. UTRGV Vaqueros (15-16, 6-12 WAC)
Where: Las Vegas, Nevada
Arena: Michelob ULTRA Arena
Day and Time: Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: ESPN+ (Ben Wilson, Sed Bonner)
Radio: Tarleton Sports Network (Kyle Crews)
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• Tarleton is 4-3 all-time against UTRGV. The Vaqueros won both games this season by a combined seven points, a 68-65 win in Stephenville and a 99-95 OT win in Edinburg.
• In that OT game, Tarleton's lone OT game of the season, there were a combined 72 FTA. These two are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the country in FTA per game (UTRGV 25.4, Tarleton 24.9).
• UTRGV's Justin Johnson was named All-WAC First Team. He averaged 20.6 PPG, 5.2 RPG and 3.1 APG.
• The Vaqueros are 1-8 all-time in the WAC Tournament, their lone win coming in 2019.

 
QUICK HITS

• This is the first D1 conference tournament Tarleton will participate in across all of Tarleton athletics. This is their second D1 postseason tournament overall (Tarleton Softball last year).
• Tarleton is a 7-seed in the WAC Tournament. The winner of Tuesday's game plays No. 2 Utah Valley in the quarterfinals Thursday at 8 p.m. CT at Orleans Arena. Also on their side of the bracket are No. 3 Southern Utah, No. 6 SFA and No. 11 Utah Tech. Tarleton is 4-2 against the four teams combined this season.
• Tarleton enters at 16-15, the Texans' first winning regular season in the D1 era.
• Tarleton is 2-1 in neutral site games this year, all three coming in the Paradise Jam. The Texans took silver with wins over Belmont and Boston College, falling in the title game to Drake.
• Tarleton had two honored in postseason WAC awards announced Sunday, with Freddy Hicks named All-WAC Second Team, and Shamir Bogues named to the WAC All-Defensive Team. This is both player's second postseason WAC awards. Hicks was the WAC Freshman of the Year in 2020-21, and Bogues has made it back-to-back seasons on the WAC's All-Defensive Team.
• The Texans wrapped up WAC play 9-9, one of seven teams in conference play at .500+.
• Against UTRGV this season...Shamir Bogues (19.0 PPG, 14-26 FG, 10-13 FT, 4.0 RPG, 2.5 APG, 4.5 SPG, 36.0 MPG)...Lue Williams (12.5 PPG, 4-10 3PT, 7-8 FT, 26.5 MPG).
• The Texans had 38 FTA in each of their last two WAC games (64-for-76, .842), their first stretch of 30+ FTA games since 2018. Only Texas A&M averages more FTA than UTRGV and Tarleton.

 
WHO'S HOT

• Shamir Bogues – Bogues had a record day in Tarleton's last game, recording 30 points (13-18 FG, 4-6 3PT), six rebounds, six assists, 11 steals and a block in 38 minutes. He's on a career-long streak of 10+ point games (five), averaging 17.4 PPG (31-58 FG, .534), 4.2 RPG, 2.8 APG and 3.8 SPG.
• Freddy Hicks – Hicks just recorded his sixth 20+ point game of the season with 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in 20 minutes. He had the tied-seventh most 20+ point games in the WAC, and has the sixth best scoring average (15.7 PPG).
• Jakorie Smith – In the last game, Smith tallied 10 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in 14 minutes. He's posted multiple rebounds in 25 of his 26 games played, and is second on the team in rebounding at 3.8 RPG, only behind Hicks (5.6 RPG).

 
NUMBERS TO KNOW
2: Tarleton just forced 37 turnovers. The Texans are now third in the country in turnovers forced per game at 18.1, only behind Morgan State (18.9) and UMES (18.8). NATIONALLY THEY'RE TIED-SECOND IN AVERAGE TURNOVER MARGIN at +5.7, behind No. 25 Missouri (+5.8), tied with No. 2 UCLA (+5.7).
  
110: Tarleton just scored 110 points, their SECOND HIGHEST SCORING OUTPUT of the season. They had six 90+ point games this year, their most in a single-season since 2016-17. The Texans are 14-2 this season when scoring 70+ points, and 2-13 when scoring under 70.
 
27: In the last game, Tarleton had 27 steals, the MOST STEALS IN A SINGLE-GAME across all of NCAA Division I this season. The last 27-steal game was done by UTRGV in 2020-21, a season Tarleton also had 28 steals. The Texans are tied-fourth nationally in steals per game at 9.8 SPG.
 
11: Shamir Bogues just had 11 steals, BREAKING THE PROGRAM'S SINGLE-GAME RECORD, surpassing Chris Brown's 10 against West Texas A&M on Jan. 23, 1995. Bogues missed the all-time WAC single-game record for steals by one, set by TCU's Greedy Daniels (12) against UAPB in 2000.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
The winner of Tuesday's game plays No. 2 Utah Valley in the quarterfinals Thursday at 8 p.m. CT at Orleans Arena. If they advance from there, the semifinals game would be on Friday at 10 p.m. CT, and the championship game would be Saturday at 10:30 p.m. CT.