STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Men's Basketball has the possibility of clinching their birth to the 2024 WAC Tournament presented by Hercules Tire on Thursday night against UT Arlington at the College Park Center at 7 p.m.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Ron Thulin (pxp), Brandi Poole (analyst), Casey Bucher (sideline) on the call. 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.
The Texans control their own destiny now for the WAC Tournament as the squad can clinch a berth in the top eight on Thursday. With a Texans win and Southern Utah loss to Seattle U, Tarleton would secure its second-straight bid to the WAC Tournament.
The Purple and White are 10-3 in the WAC play, and 17-7 overall. With last night's win, it ties the most wins in the WAC in program history and secures an over-.500 overall record for the first time in the D1 era. Tarleton is one of 33 teams in the nation to have at least seven road wins. No school from any of the power six conferences has seven wins. TSU and GCU are the only WAC schools to have seven road wins.
Last week, the Texans notched their first 2-0 perfect week on their last road trip at Utah Valley and Seattle U. The Purple and White overcame a 15-point deficit to the Wolverines with a 26-point swing in the second half to take a 72-61 victory. On Saturday, the Texans were led by
Jakorie Smith in the first half who scored 24 while the squad held on to a 82-77 victory over the Redhawks.
Tarleton has been consistent with their starting lineup, featuring the same five starters for the last 22 games this season. Currently it is tied for the sixth active longest streak in the country. The Texans are one of 30 schools in the country to use three or less starting lineups this season.
KiAndre Gaddy leads the league in offensive rebounds (95). The senior would rank seventh in the nation with 3.96 offensive boards per game. The senior ranks 12
th in program history and is 58 boards behind program record holder Danny Jones 153-mark. Gaddy ranks in the top seven in four different statistical categories in the conference. Gaddy was named the WAC Player of the Week on Jan. 2 for the final week of 2023.
Joseph Jones will be standing on the Texan sideline for the thirteenth 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 8-4 record during his time on the sidelines.
UT Arlington enters the eighth week of conference play, 7-6 in the WAC and 12-12 overall. Now, the Mavericks are tied for fifth place with Stephen F. Austin who is also 7-6. Seattle U and California Baptist are slightly ahead at 7-5 and Utah Tech is slightly trailing holding a 6-7 record. Phillip Russell was allowed to start playing 12 games ago after the second-transfer decision. Since then, he leads the team with 13.8 PPG. Head Coach KT Turner is in his first season at the helm of the program.
The Mavericks leads the all-time series, 8-4. However, the Texans have won the last three meetings, and are 3-0 when both programs are Division I. Earlier this season, Tarleton was victorious, 78-76 in Wisdom Gym over UTA.
Tarleton will play a pair of monster home games next week in Wisdom Gym. First, in a battle of the best, the Texans will take on first-place Grand Canyon on Thursday at 7 p.m., in a night Tarleton fans will not want to miss, more details to come. TSU will round out the week on Saturday against California Baptist in a revenge match against the Lancers at 4 p.m.
