STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Men's Basketball will host Florida A&M in the second part of a men's and women's doubleheader to close out Tarleton Athletics calendar year on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.

Fans can purchase one ten dollar ticket for admittance to both the men's game at 4 p.m. and the women's game at 2 p.m. against Texas Southern.
 
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Hekma Harrison and Jeremy Bryant. Kyle Crews will have the call on the Tarleton Sports Radio Network. Live stats will be provided by StatBroadcast available on tarletonsports.com. Follow @tarletonmbb on Instagram, X and Facebook for live updates, highlights and content.

Last time out, the Texans scored their most points this season, a 100-point effort against Howard Payne. After a close battle with the Texans leading 77-71 late in the second half, the Purple and White closed out the game with a 23-12 run. Bubu Benjamin and Chris Mpaka notched their second double-doubles of the season. Benjamin totaled 27 points and 10 boards while Mpaka registered career highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds. Dantwan Grimes led the team with six assists, the third different Texan to hit that mark this season.
 
Benjamin ranks top three in the WAC in six different categories. The sophomore is second in the WAC in scoring, averaging 17.1 points per game. He ranks 37^th in the nation and second in the league with 239 total points. He also ranks second in the league in minutes per game (35:33) and field goals (82). The sophomore is third in field goal attempts (158) and field goal percentage (.519). Benjamin has scored 20-plus points in four games this season. The Canadian broke is career-high for the third time this season with 29 against Dallas Christian. Benjamin posted 21 points in the season opener at SMU and then broke his career high again against Iona with 22 in the Bahamas.
 
Izzy Miles tallied eight steals against UCF, the most by a player in a single game this season in the NCAA. His eight is the second most steals in a single game by a Texan in the D1 era.
Miles notched eight steals against UCF on Sunday 12/8. He was only three steals short of Shamir Bogues D1 era and program record 11 steals on Feb. 28, 2023 vs. Southwestern Assemblies. In program history, Miles mark of eight is fourth since 1988. Miles leads the league with 23 steals this season.
 
Marty Silvera is playing with his third program in five seasons. Silvera scored a season-best 16 points against the Cowboys while leading the team with six assists and five steals. After not getting much time in two seasons at Saint Peter's, he spent two seasons at D2 Southern Connecticut State. At SCSU he was named to All NE10 Third Team in both seasons and earned five selections to NE10 Weekly Honor Roll in second season.
 
Every squad under coach Gillispie is very defense oriented, and this year's crew is no different. Tarleton ranks sixth in the nation in forced turnovers per game, averaging 17.36 to lead the WAC. The Texans rank 40th in the nation and third in the league averaging 9.2 steals per contest.
 
In the most recent NET (12/25/24) the Texans rank 21st in SOS. Tarleton has the highest ranked SOS in the WAC. The average net ranking of Tarleton opponents is 21. Tarleton's NET ranking is 332.
 
Florida A&M enters Sunday's contest with the hardest strength of schedule in the nation. The Rattlers have played a grueling schedule with seven contests against Power Four opponents all on the road. FAMU is making its first trip to Stephenville in the first ever meeting between the two programs. The Rattlers are 0-2 in the state of Texas this season with losses at TCU and SMU
 
For the second consecutive season, the Texans will take on the son of NBA legend, Shaquille O'Neal, Shaquir O'Neal. Last season, O'Neal played for Texas Southern who the Texans played in the first round of the CIT a 82-71 victory. O'Neal did not play against Tarleton last season. This year, Shaquir is averaging 9.6 points in 19.6 minutes per game with seven starts. He posted a season high 26 points against Trinity Baptist.
 
Head Coach Billy Gillispie is chasing the 200-career win mark, needing five more to eclipse the milestone. Coach Gillispie has totaled 49 wins in Stephenville, the second most of any of his five stops as head coach trailing only Texas A&M. He totaled 70 in College Station in three seasons.
 
Tarleton State will open the new year starting its 16-game WAC slate with a home tilt against UT Arlington. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Wisdom Gym as the Texans will bring in the new year with the first Tarleton athletics home game of 2025.