STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Men's Basketball returns home in hope to complete its third perfect 2-0 week on Saturday afternoon with a 4 p.m. contest against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks in Wisdom Gym.
 
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Byron Anderson and Scott Garner. 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.
 
Saturday will be Military Appreciation Night. Early arriving fans will receive a free Corps of Cadets camo Tarleton-branded koozie.
 
Tarleton started off the week on a high note, taking a 76-73 thrilling overtime victory to complete the season sweep of I-20 rival, Abilene Christian. Jakorie Smith sunk a triple with 11.3 seconds left in regulation to send the Texans to its first overtime of the season. In the extra period Lue Williams scored five points including a pair of free throws to ice it with 8.1 ticks to go after pulling down a critical offensive board.
 
KiAndre Gaddy needs one more offensive rebound to crack the top 15 in program history of single season offensive boards. His 89 is the most by a Texan in Tarleton's D1 era. Tarleton all-time single season offensive rebound leader is Danny Jones with 143 during the 2000-01 campaign.
 
The Texans are looking to improve their perfect record against Texas schools. Tarleton is currently 8-0 against Texas-based teams this season, all coming within the state of Texas. TSU will wrap up Texas competition on Feb. 15 with a road bout at UT Arlington for the chance to potentially finish the slate a perfect 10-0 against Texas programs.
 
Tarleton has been consistent with their starting lineup, featuring the same five starters for the last 19 games this season. The mark is currently tied for the fifth active longest streak in the country. The Texans are one of 20 schools in the country to use three or less starting lineups this season.
 
The Purple and White are 7-3 in the WAC play, and 14-7 overall. The Texans remain second in the WAC Resume Seeding, meaning that if the season ended today, Tarleton would own the second overall seed in the conference tournament in Vegas. The WAC has adopted the resume system to determine seeding, but based on conference winning percentage, the Texans are in sole possession of second place, a half-game ahead of California Baptist who is 6-3.
 
The Texans are in their fourth year of reclassification into NCAA Division I. The Texans' played its 100th game as a Division I institution on Jan. 13 at California Baptist. 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 reclassifying 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 owns the second highest winning percentage among the 11 current reclassifying schools this season.
 
KiAndre Gaddy leads the league in offensive rebounds (89). The senior would tie for second in the nation with 4.24 offensive boards per game. Gaddy ranks in the top seven in five 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 18^th time this season. Jones has been filling in for head 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 12-6 record during his time on the sidelines.
 
Stephen F. Austin has not won in Stephenville since 1974-75, marking 49 years since its last victory in Wisdom Gym. The Texans bested the Jacks in Nacogdoches earlier this season, 68-66 to take the first WAC game of the season. Tarleton won the last meeting in Wisdom, Jan. 8, 2022, 77-71. Head coach Kyle Keller is in his eighth season at the helm of the program and touts a 1-2 record against the Texans regardless of the location.
 
The Jacks opened the week with a home win over Utah Valley on Thursday, 77-72. Jalil Beaubrun led the squad with 22 points and eight boards. With the win, SFA is just a half game behind California Baptist for third place in the WAC based on conference winning percentage.
 
Tarleton will hit the road for three consecutive games starting with a pair of games at Utah Valley and Seattle U. The western road trip will start in Orem, Utah as the Texans will take on the Wolverines of Utah Valley on Thursday night at 7 p.m. CT. The Texans will close the trip with the WAC's northernmost member, Seattle U on Saturday evening at 5 p.m.