STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Men's Basketball will play its first of three weeks with a single game this Thursday night on the road at Moody Coliseum against Abilene Christian at 7 p.m.
 
Tarleton State (8-12 overall, 3-2 WAC) is one of four WAC teams with at least three wins in conference play. Currently, the Texans are in fourth in the league behind Utah Valley, Seattle U and Grand Canyon. Abilene Christian is one of two schools to be win less in WAC play, entering Thursday, 0-4.
 
The game will be streamed on ESPN+. 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.
 
Freddy Hicks made his season debut for the Texans on Thursday night against CBU. He made his first appearance for Tarleton State since March 19, 2023 vs. Radford. He spent last season with Arkansas State after spending his first three in Stephenville. The senior entered with 12:10 remaining in the first half, snapping his 63-game starting streak as a Texan. In his debut, Hicks posted a team-best 15 points while going 9-for-14 from the line. He is 43 points short from notching 1000 points as a Texan, the first to accomplish the feat in the D1 era. Freddy's 338 made free throws at Tarleton is more than the rest of the entire team's career free throws made at Tarleton. Hicks missed the first 18 games of the season due to a foot injury.
 
Tarleton State leads the WAC and is fifth in the nation in forced turnovers per game. The Texan defense has been a staple to the Purple and White's success under head coach Billy Gillispie. The Texan defense also ranks 21st in the country with 9.6 steals per game.
 
Dantwan Grimes has started off WAC play making all 19 of his free throw attempts. The junior has the most made free throws without a miss in league play this season. He is one of three players to have made at least 2 to start WAC play without a miss. Second is Utah Tech's Noa Gonsalves with 14. Grimes is tied for the most free throws without a miss in WAC play this season when he shot 8-for-8 against CBU on 1/16. Dating back to the 12/21 game against Howard Payne, Grimes has made his last 23 total free throw attempts.
 
Bubu Benjamin ranks in the top two in the WAC in four different categories. The sophomore is second in the WAC tallying 309 total points. He also ranks second in the league and 20th in the country in minutes per game (35:59). The sophomore is second in made field goals (106) and field goal attempts (222). He is tied for sixth in the WAC with 30 total steals, just one behind the four leaders who each have 31. Benjamin has scored 20-plus points in six games. The Canadian broke his 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.
 
 
During his time with the Texans, he leads the program in six statistical categories in the Division I era. As the leader in points, he is just 43 points from being the first 1,000-point scorer in the Texans' D1 era. Hicks leads the D1 era in free throws made (339), free throws attempted (456), total rebounds (416), defensive rebounds (300), rebounds per game (5.5) and points (957).
He currently is second in Division I era in games started (70), field goal attempts (674), offensive rebounds (116), fouls (238), and blocks (44). He also ranks third in games played (76), minutes played (2,162) and field goals made (282). Hicks will look to crack the top-15 in all-time program history in a few categories in his fourth season at Tarleton. To reach the top 15, he is in need of 92 points, 104 rebounds, or 27 steals.
 
A Texan has played in all 40 minutes of a game 14 times this season. Tarleton has had six different players accomplish the feat for a total of 12 times. Ronnie Harrison Jr., Bubu Benjamin, Jordan Mizell, Nick Krass, Izzy Miles and Joseph Martinez, Bubu Benjamin has played all 40 minutes six times this season. Three players (Mizell, N Krass and Martinez) have played all 40 minutes in two games this season. Bubu Benjamin has played 40 minutes on 11/29 & 11/30. Nick Krass and Mizell played 40 minutes in back-to-back games earlier this season.
 
Tarleton State is meeting against Abilene Christian for the 74th time in program history. The Wildcats are the Texans' second most played opponent in program history trailing Midwestern State with 79 total meetings. Last season, the Texans won three all three games against the Wildcats. The two squads had only played three times in the same season one time in 2012, where ACU held a 2-1 advantage. Tarleton had played ACU in the same calendar year two times prior (2022 and 2012). ACU won all three in 2022 and the Texans won all three in 2012. The MBB meetings are the second most by any school only trailing baseball who have faced off against each other 121 times. The most meetings between two programs in Tarleton history in any sport, belongs to Texas A&M-Kingsville and Tarleton State having matched up 131 times in history.
 
Head coach Billy Gillispie is just one win shy of notching 200 career victories. Gillispie has accumulated his second most victories in his career at Tarleton with 51. He registered 70 wins during his three seasons at Texas A&M. Currently, there are 158 active head coaches with at least 200 career victories. Coach Gillispie will be the fifth active WAC coach to reach the 200 mark.

The Purple and White will have its first of two Saturdays off during WAC play on Jan. 25. Tarleton State will be back in action in Wisdom Gym on Thursday, Jan. 30 against Utah Tech at 7 p.m. The Texans will close the weekend hosting Southern Utah on Feb. 1. Both games will tip at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.