STEPHENVILLE, Texas. — Tarleton State Men's Basketball returns home to host Florida A&M in its non-conference season finale on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the EECU Center.

Early arriving fans will receive a free Tarleton State Christmas ornament in the final Texan home game before Christmas. Fans are encouraged to donate new, unwrapped toys to the Tarleton State Ticket Office that will be donated to the Stephenville Optimist Club. Fans who donate toys will receive free admission to the game. The concourse will be decked out for Whataburger Holiday Hoops as well.

The game is sponsored by Ebby Halliday and will be streamed on ESPN+ with Jeremy Bryant and Scott Garner on the call. Fans can also listen on the radio by 90.5 KTRL or online on the Tarleton Sports Radio Network with Kyle Crews on the call. Live Stats will be provided by Stat Broadcast. For the latest updates, content and highlights, follow @tarletonmbb on Instagram and X.

So far this season the Texans are 6-0 at home in their brand-new arena. The Texans are averaging 86.2 points per game, 25.0 points more than their opponent in home games. The Texans are also averaging seven more forced turnovers than their opponents in the EECU Center this season. The last time the Texans won their first five home games of the season was the 2022-23 season when they won the first 10. In the past 20 years, the Texans have won at least their first 5, seven times, making this season the eight. The Texans were a perfect 14-0 in 2005-06 and 15-0 in 2010-11. The Texans won their first 13 in the 2013-14 season and 12 in the 2006-07 season. The Texans won each of the first 10 in 2014-15 and '16-'17.  TSU won the first five in 2007-08.

The dual threat of Dior Johnson and Cam McDowell was in full effect on Tuesday night at Mississippi Valley State. Each of the duo notched at least 20 points, the second time this season a Texan duo has reached the mark. It had only been done previously by Johnson and Chris Mpaka. Johnson led the team scoring 27 with McDowell accounting for 26 against the Delta Devils. It marked Johnson's sixth game this season with at least 20 and McDowell's third-consecutive game.

Tarleton State tops the nation and leads the WAC in bench points per game. The Texans 536 bench points is also the most in the nation in total bench points. The Tarleton State bench has outscored their starters in nine games this season, with their leading scorer coming off the bench in each. Bench points account for 55.3 percent of their total points.

The Lou Henson Award is awarded annually to the top mid-major college basketball player in the country. Johnson is on the list as one of the best 50 at this point in the season that could potentially take home the honor at the end of the season. The junior is one of three WAC players on the list joined by Utah Valley's Jackson Holcombe and CBU's Dominque Daniels Jr.

The Rattlers have won just one Division I contest this season, a 75-62 victory against Jacksonville after losing to them earlier in the season. Anquan Boldin Jr., the son of Anquan Boldin, NFL WR, is also on the squad. Head coach Charlie Ward is the only NBA player to have ever won a Heisman trophy. FAMU ranks 79th in the nation averaging 8.5 steals per game this season. Antonio Baker is 30th in the NCAA averaging 2.3 steals per game. The Rattlers will head to TCU next for their fourth game in the last seven days. They also played the Horned Frogs a season ago before their trip to Stephenville.

The Texans knocked off the Rattlers last season, 70-60 in Wisdom Gym. Chris Mpaka and Jordan Mizell are the only two returning players that played in that game, combining for 12 minutes played and 0 points. It was also the Texans non-conference finale. The Texans forced 20 turnovers and held FAMU to shoot 40 percent from the field. Charlie Ward never played against a Coach Gillispie team during his playing career at Florida State as Gillispie didn't enter collegiate D1 coaching until 1994 the season after Ward graduated.

Tarleton State will open conference play after a 10-day Holiday break. The Texans will hit the road to open their WAC slate against UT Arlington at the College Park Center on Dec. 29 at 7 pm.