STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Men's Basketball begins a stretch of five-straight contests away from Wisdom Gym, starting with nationally-ranked no. 12 Baylor on Sunday night at 7 p.m. at the Foster Pavilion.
 
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with John Morris and King McClure 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.
 
A year after redshirting and spending all his time on the scout team, Joseph Martinez finds himself as a viable member of the rotation. In the first four games, he is averaging 26.8 minutes which ranks second on the team. Last time out, he tied for the team lead posting a career best 17 points. He also shot a perfect six-for-six from the line and was the only Texan to not commit a single turnover.
 
Earlier this week, the Texans have split their first two games. On Tuesday after trailing by five at the break, the Purple and White ultimately dropped to Florida State, 72-52. Chris Mpaka recorded his first double-double, with 15 points, 11 boards and five blocks. Thursday, the Texans returned home for their first win of the season, 88-57 over Tabor College, Martinez and Bubu Benjamin led the way with 17 points each. Five Texans recorded double-digit scoring totals.
 
Sunday will be the fifth time the Texans have took the court against an AP Top 25 team in its D1 era. Last year, the Texans traveled to Knoxville to take on #8 Tennessee. Baylor enters with a loss to #6 Gonzaga and a win over #16 Arkansas. The Texans lone two wins of the all-time series come in the 1920-21 season. Both wins came in Waco with TSU victorious, 33-18, 33-21. Tarleton is one of three teams to face off against Scott and Bryce Drew this season joining ACU and Arizona State. Bryce Drew is the head man at GCU.
 
Tarleton will play its 13th Power Four conference opponent on Sunday night. The Texans are 1-12 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 10 of those contests and lost by less than nine in four of those. This includes trailing by just five at half last time against Florida State. 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.
 
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 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%).
 
Three Texans from last year's squad all signed on to play overseas. Lue Williams has started all five games for Lahti Basketball in the Finnish 1st Division A. Williams has scored 20-plus in four games and posted a career-best 33 points on Nov. 8. The Alabama native is averaging 22.4 points, 6.4 boards and 2.2 steals per game. He is 10-for-30 from deep, a .333 clip. KiAndre Gaddy has started all eight games for BBC Arantia Larochette in the Luxemborg LBBL. Gaddy has scored at least 20 in seven games and posted 30 in one as well. The power forward is averaging a double-double with 22.5 points and 11.1 boards per contest. He is shooting 64 percent from the floor and is averaging 2.0 blocks a game. Jakorie Smith has played in eight games while starting seven for K.B. Golden Eagle Ylli in the Kosovo-Superliga. He is averaging 6.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest.
 
Head Coach Billy Gillispie is chasing the 200-career win mark, needing eight more more to eclipse the milestone. Gillispie served as an assistant at Baylor from 1995-97. Gillispie returns to the floor after stepping away due to medical circumstances last season after the fourth game of the season.
 
Tarleton will be off for four days before taking on the Michigan Wolverines in the Crisler Center on Thursday night at 7:30 CT. That will be the final contest for the Texans before heading to the Bahamas for the 2024 Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship spanning from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1.