STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Men's Basketball returns home for its first game in Wisdom Gym in two weeks with a Thursday night contest against Utah Tech at 7 p.m.
Tarleton State (8-13 overall, 3-3 WAC) is right in the middle of the conference with a .500 winning percentage. Utah Tech (6-14, 2-3) got the best of the Texans earlier in the season with a 58-54 victory in St. George. The Texans lead the all-time series, 6-2 and are 2-0 in Stephenville.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Jeremy Bryant and Scott Garner on the air.
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.
Thursday night will be Military Appreciation Night. Fans will receive free military rubber ducks upon early arrival. A member of the Texan Corps of Cadets will sing the national anthem while honoring the Tarleton State Corps of Cadets.
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. During his career he has posted a 142-49 record, a .743 winning percentage at home. He has posted six winning seasons and five seasons with at least 20 wins. Coach is 3-4 in the NCAA Tournament. 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.
Every squad under coach Gillispie is very defense oriented, and this year's crew is no different. Tarleton ranks third in the nation in forced turnovers per game, averaging 17.48 to lead the WAC. UTEP leads the nation averaging 17.95 per game. The Purple and White have forced at least 20 turnovers in six games this season. Tarleton has forced double-digit turnovers in all but one game this season (11/30 vs. Hofstra). The Texans rank 10th in the nation and second in the league averaging 9.9 steals per contest.
Dantwan Grimes has the longest active free throw streak in the nation with 31 made free throws spanning since 12/21. In WAC play he has made all 27 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 16 and he has made his last 26. Grimes has made eight of eight in a pair of games this season.
Last week, the Texans lost their lone game of week to ACU on Thursday, 67-56. Grimes led the Texans in scoring with 14 for the second consecutive contest.
Freddy Hicks and
Izzy Miles both did not return after leaving due to injury at ACU. Hicks missed the first 18 games due to a foot injury. Miles has not yet missed a game this season.
Tarleton State has been money from the line as of late. Last game the Texans shot 90.6 percent, making 29 of their 32 freebies. Tarleton scored 29 points from the line and just 27 points from the field. Across the past four contests, the Texans are shooting 84.6 percent, while making 77 of their 91 attempts. This streak includes a perfect 7-for-7 night at Utah Tech. Tarleton State ranks second in the WAC on the season shooting 73.9 percent from the line. In conference play, the Texans are leading the WAC shooting 81.1 percent from the line, nearly four points more than the next best team Utah Tech at 76.4 percent.
The Texans will end the week at home with a Saturday night contest against Southern Utah at 7 p.m. at Wisdom Gym. Saturday night will be rodeo night with early-arriving fans receiving a free Boot'N'Scootin' koozie. The baseball and softball teams will be in the concourse pregame for a meet and greet and chance to get autographed poster schedules of both teams.
