PHOENIX — Tarleton State Men's Basketball travels to the desert to take on the Grand Canyon Lopes who are tied for the highest winning percentage in Division I men's college basketball this season on Saturday night at 7 p.m. CT at GCU Arena.
 
The game will be streamed on ESPN+. Kyle Crews will have the radio call on 90.5 KTRL. Live Stats will be provided by StatBroadcast and can be found on TarletonSports.com. For highlights and live score updates follow @tarletonmbb on Twitter and Instagram.
 
Tarleton is off to their best start in WAC play entering Saturday, 3-1, in conference play. The Texans knocked off Stephen F. Austin and UTRGV in the first set of WAC games before the new year. Last week, the Purple and White picked up their third victory against UT Arlington before falling to California Baptist on Thursday on the road.
 
Devon Barnes led the Texans in scoring while Dario Domingos was the only other Texan to score in double-figures. The lancers used a pair of 8-0 runs to begin each half to take full control of the game. Tarleton was never able to tie or grab the lead, but pulled within one three times. Barnes hit a jumper in the final seconds of the first half to send the Texans into the break down by one, 35-34.
 
Lue Williams knocked down a triple at the top of the arc in the final twenty seconds to lift the Texans to a 78-76 victory over UT Arlington last week. Emmanuel Innocenti posted a career-high 19 points and led the Texans in scoring last week against the Mavericks in the Texans' lone game of the week. Tarleton knocked off the Mavericks, 78-76, on Thursday night in Wisdom Gym.
 
The Texans are in their fourth year of reclassification into NCAA Division I. Thursday will mark the Texans' 100th game as a Division I institution. Men's basketball joins baseball, softball and volleyball as the fourth program to reach the century mark in total games played. Tarleton is the sixth men's basketball program since 2010 to win at least 50 games in its first 100. The Texans have the eighth-best winning percentage of all 31 reclassifying programs since 2010. Tarleton is tied for the highest winning percentage this season among all 11 reclassifying teams with St. Thomas (MN) who is 12-6.
 
KiAndre Gaddy leads the league in double-doubles (five) and offensive rebounds (63). Gaddy ranks in the top seven in five different statistical categories in the conference. Gaddy was named the WAC Player of the Week last Tuesday for the final week of 2023.
 
Joseph Jones will be standing on the Texan sideline for the twelfth time this season. Jones has been filling in for coach Billy Gillispie since Nov. 19 who has not been with the team due to medial circumstances. Jones was named the acting head coach on Dec. 19. He holds an 8-3 record during his time on the sidelines.
 
Grand Canyon's 15-1 record and .938 winning percentage is tied with three other schools for the best in the country. The Lopes enter the weekend, 5-0 in WAC play, the only unbeaten still standing. The Lopes are receiving votes in the AP and Coaches Polls. The Lopes have been very involved in the weekly conference awards with at least one of their players earning one of the two awards in seven of the nine weeks. Tyon Grant-Foster has won WAC Player of the Week four times this season.
 
The Lopes own the series record five games to one. The Texans earned their first win over GCU last season in Wisdom Gym, a 81-62 victory over the eventual WAC Tournament Champions.
 
The Purple and White will play a pair of games next week back in Texas, first with a home matchup in Wisdom against rival Abilene Christian. Tip is slated for 7 p.m. and will feature a special halftime performance by K9s in flight. The Texans will then hit the road south to take on the UTRGV Vaqueros on Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.