STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Men's Basketball hosts Abilene Christian on Greek Night with specials for dollar hot dogs and dollar beers on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Wisdom Gym.
 
The Texans (11-17 overall, 6-7 WAC) are in the middle of the pack in the WAC separated by a game with four teams for the third spot in the league. The Wildcats (14-13, 6-6) are currently tied for third in the league. Abilene Christian got the best of the Texans in Abilene a month ago, 67-56.
 
Thursday's game is sponsored by SurePoint ER. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Scott Garner and Byron Anderson. 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.
 
In the spirit of Greek Night, hot dogs and beer will be available for just a buck each. Please drink and eat responsibly. Students from Greek organizations will be partaking in the media timeout games. Also, the Texan Stars will hold a special performance at halftime before honoring their seniors graduating at the end of the year.
 
ACU and Tarleton rank one-two in the nation in forced turnovers per game. ACU is forcing 17.04 per contest this season. In conference play, the Wildcats are forcing 17.5 per game and the Texans are averaging 16.23. The two teams are also neck-in-neck for steals per game this season. ACU leads the nation with 10.8 per game and the Texans are second in the league and seventh in the country with 10.0 per tilt. In conference play, ACU is averaging 11.67 steals per game and the Texans are second at 10.54 per game. In WAC games, TSU allows the fewest rebounds per game (31.08) while ACU allows the second most in the league (35.33).
 
Freddy Hicks returned to the floor for the Texans after missing the last six games. He left due to injury in the second half at ACU on 1/23. After missing the first 18 of the year he made his season debut for the Texans on 1/16 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. In his return, he also led the team, this time posting 14.
He is 21 points short from notching 1000 points as a Texan, the first to accomplish the feat in the D1 era. Freddy's 347 made free throws at Tarleton is more than the rest of the entire team's career free throws made at Tarleton.
 
Dantwan Grimes would be a shoe-in for sixth man of the year if the WAC handed out that award.
Grimes is 10th in the league in minutes per game in conference play (30.33) and is the only player in the top 10 to not have started a single game. The junior ranks third in league-play in free throw percentage (85.0) and sixth in steals (1.77). He also averages 1.23 triples per WAC game, 13th in the league and is 19th in points (10.85). And he is the only player on any of those lists to post zero starts this season.
 
After just one season donning the Purple and White, Chris Mpaka has tallied the second most blocks in a career by a Texan in its D1 era. Mpaka has tallied 46 blocks this season. He ranks 47^th  in the nation and second in the league. He trails KiAndre Gaddy (2022-24) who recorded 72 total and needs just six blocks this season to tie Gaddy for the D1 era single season record. Gaddy's 52 is tied for the 15th most all-time in program history.
 
The Texans lead the WAC in conference play shooting 78.1 percent from the line, about four percent better than the next best team, Southern Utah (74.4). In WAC play, three Texans rank in the top nine in free throw percentage in league play. In total this season, the Texans are shooting 74.6 percent from the line, the 85th best in the nation and second in the league. TSU has made at least 20 free throws in 11 contests this season. The crew has shot 90 percent or better in three contests this season, all resulting in losses.
 
The Texans find themselves in a pack of five for the 3-7 seeds in next month's WAC Tournament. For the first time since joining the WAC, all nine teams will reach the WAC Tournament. The bottom two teams will play in the 8-9 play-in game in Utah Tech on Tuesday March 11, with the winner playing the next night in Vegas against the top seed. Tarleton can secure themselves a spot outside of the 8-9 play-in game with a victory or losses by SUU and Utah Tech. On Wednesday at the Orleans Arena, #1 will play 8/9 and #2 will play #7. The remaining teams, #'s 3-6 will open the tournament on Thursday March 13 and must wins three-straight in three days to clinch the auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament. Currently the Texans are bunched up with five teams fighting for seeds 3-6. With a win, the Texans would push themselves to the top of the back at .500, and a loss would put them near the bottom joining Seattle U two games below .500. ACU must play both top teams UVU and GCU in their final four games. UVU has secured a top two seed and GCU will seal their fate with a win or losses by CBU and ACU.
 
Head coach Billy Gillispie notched his 200th career victory on 1/30 against Utah Tech. Gillispie has accumulated his second most victories in his career at Tarleton with 54. 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. He is 3-4 in the NCAA Tournament. Gillispie became the 159th active head coach with at least 200 career victories.  Coach Gillispie is the fifth active WAC coach to reach the 200-mark.
 
Tarleton State will get its final Saturday off day, before embarking on its final road game of the season next week. The Texans will travel to California Baptist next week to take on the Lancers at 9 pm CT at the Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler Events Center on Thursday night.