TALLAHASSEE, Florida – Tarleton State Men's Basketball prepares for its second power four conference matchup of the season against the ACC's Florida State on Tuesday night at the Tucker Center at 6 p.m. CT.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and ACCXN with Sean Salisbury and Alexandra De Capua on the call. Kyle Crews will have the call on the Tarleton Sports Radio Network on 90.5 KTRL. Live stats will be provided by StatBroadcast available on tarletonsports.com. Follow @tarletonmbb on Instagram, X and Facebook for live updates, highlights and content.
Bubu Benjamin has paced the Texan scoring efforts in each of the first two tilts this season. The Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, native set a new career high with 21 points in the season opener against SMU. He followed up that performance with a 17-point total on Saturday night against Sam Houston. Benjamin ranks third in the WAC averaging 19.0 points per game after the first two contests.
The Krass brothers are the first pair of brothers to both enter their first year at Tarleton together. The brothers are the second set to be on the team at the same time, joining Jim and Joel Moreno who played together during the 1991-92 season. The brothers are one of 17 sets of brothers to be on the same D1 roster this season. The Krass brothers spent two seasons together at St. Patrick Catholic HS in Gulfport, MS.
Tarleton will play its 12th Power Four conference opponent on Tuesday night. The Texans are 1-11 in those matchups, with a victory against the ACC's Boston College. TSU has trailed by less than nine at the end of the first half in nine of those contests and lost by less than nine in four of those. This list includes, #3 Kansas, #20 Michigan, #3 Gonzaga, and #12 Baylor all on the road. The Texans have been up at the half against Texas A&M, Stanford, and Boston College.
Tarleton returns just two players to play in a game from last year's squad and has 15 newcomers for its roster. Last season the Texans 18 newcomers was the most in the country. This year their 15 ties for the second most behind four schools with 16. Tarleton has resorted to freshman this season with nine true freshmen on the roster. This marks ranks second in the country behind Air Force's 10. Tarleton returns less than five percent of their production last year in the following categories: FG made (4.94%), points (4.67%), 3FG Made (3.94%), FT Made (3.89%) and rebounds (3.1%).
Senior transfer
Freddy Hicks is back for his fourth and final season in the 'Ville. Hicks was named to the five-man 2024-25 Preseason All-WAC Team. The senior earned his second preseason All-WAC selection, after earning second team honors ahead of the 2022-23 season. In his third season with the Texans, Hicks was named to the 2022-23 All-WAC Second Team. He led the team in both scoring and rebounds, averaging 16.2 points and 6.0 boards. The Searcy, Ark. native was named the 2020-21 WAC Freshman of the Year after his first year in Stephenville. Hicks led all WAC first-year players in scoring 8.2 points per game.
Head Coach
Billy Gillispie is chasing the 200-career win mark, needing nine more to eclipse the milestone. Gillispie returns to the floor after stepping away due to medical circumstances last season after the fourth game of the season.
The Texans return to Wisdom Gym on Thursday night against Tabor College at 7 p.m., before closing out the week on Sunday at Baylor.
