OREM, Utah — Tarleton State Men's Basketball looks to extend its current three-game winning streak on Thursday night against the Wolverines at 7 p.m. CT in UCCU Center.
 
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Brandon Crow (PxP) and Josh Kallunki (Analyst). 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 Purple and White are 8-3 in the WAC play, and 15-7 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. The second seed would receive a bye for the first two days and play a nationally televised game in the semifinals needing only one game to reach the championship.
 
After a pair of 25-point performances, Lue Williams earned the WAC Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday. Williams' 27-point effort against ACU was just one-point shy of tying the Texan WAC record of 28 points in a game. He posted 25 on Saturday against SFA while shooting five-for-six from the three-point line and eight-for-eight from the charity stripe. He also tied his career high with five steals against the Jacks.
 
The Texans are coming off a perfect 2-0 week for the third time in conference play this season. The Texans clinched a pair of season sweeps with wins over Abilene Christian and Stephen F. Austin. Tarleton led for the first 37 minutes against the Wildcats but fell behind in the final three minutes. With 11.3 ticks to go, Jakorie Smith drained a triple in front of the Texan bench to send the game to overtime. Williams scored five of the Texans nine points and iced the game with a huge offensive rebound and a pair of free throws giving the Texans a 76-73 victory.
 
Saturday, the Texans completed the season sweep of SFA, 75-64. After holding a one-point advantage after the first 20 minutes of play, the Texans broke out in the second half for the victory. Williams was the hero once again scoring 16 points in the second half alone. The duo of Williams and Devon Barnes became the second Texan duo this season to each score 20 in the same game.
 
In conjunction with Utah Valley have its annual "black out" night, the Texans will be wearing white in a true road game for the second time this season. Tarleton will wear white for its fifth consecutive game, carrying a 3-1 record. The Texans have only worn white away from home three times prior to Thursday with the most recent being last Thursday at Abilene Christian due to their "Purple Out" game. Tarleton wore white away from home last year against UTRGV in the first round of the WAC Tournament and in the championship game of the Paradise Jam against Drake. The squad is 2-1 donning white jerseys outside of Stephenville.
 
Tarleton has been consistent with their starting lineup, featuring the same five starters for the last 20 games this season. Currently it is tied for the fifth active longest streak in the country. The Texans are one of 25 schools in the country to use three or less starting lineups this season.
 
The Texans are in their fourth year of reclassification into NCAA Division I. The Texans' played its 100th game as a Division I institution last Thursday 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 (90). The senior would rank seventh in the nation with 4.09 offensive boards per game. 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.
 
Utah Valley enters the week after dropping a pair last week to Grand Canyon and Stephen F. Austin. Caleb Stone-Carrawell led the team in scoring with 15 and 20 in the pair of games. He leads the Wolverines averaging 112.4 points per game. UVU is led by first-year head coach, Todd Phillips. Phillips started in the program in 2019 as an assistant coach before changing his role to associate head coach in 2021. He was named head coach after Mark Madsen left to take the head coaching job at California.
 
Utah Valley owns the all-time series, 4-2. The Wolverines won the last meeting between the pair, 72-58 in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament last season. In Orem, UVU is 2-1 against the Texans and won the last meeting on New Year's Day 2022, 77-55.
 
Tarleton will stay out west for one more game this weekend heading northwest to Seattle U, the WAC's northernmost member. The Texans will take on the Redhawks on Saturday afternoon with tip scheduled for a 3 p.m. local PST start and a 5 pm CT start. Tarleton will return to Texas next week but will remain on the road with a single game in week eight at the College Park Center against UT Arlington on Thursday night at 7 pm.