STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Men's Basketball is set to close their first homestand of WAC play with its third home game in the first two weeks against Abilene Christian on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the EECU Center.

Early arriving fans will receive a purple bang-a-banner to help show out the Texan purple. The Texans (11-5 overall, 2-1 WAC) started WAC play last week with a road win at UTA and an OT home victory over CBU, 81-76. The Wildcats (9-6, 1-1) dropped their season opener to Utah Tech before handing Utah Valley their first loss to even their WAC slate at 1-1.

The game is sponsored by H-E-B and will be streamed on ESPN+ with Byron Anderson and Scott Garner on the call. Kyle Crews will have the radio call on 90.5 KTRL and online on the Tarleton Sports Radio Network. For the most up to date highlights, news and updates follow @tarletonmbb on Instagram and X.

Dior Johnson is tied the nation's lead in points per game (23.1). He is the only player in the country to score 30+ in five games this season. Despite missing four games, he is still 50th in the NCAA and 2nd in the WAC with 277 total points. He ranks 18th in the nation and leads the WAC with 88 made free throws. He is 47th in the NCAA and 3rd in the WAC shooting 58.1 percent from the floor.

For the second time in his Texan career, Freddy Hicks played all 45 minutes in the OT win over CBU. Hicks played 45 minutes and scored a game-high 30 points in the Texans final game of the 2022-23 season at the CIT against Radford. Hicks joined Shakur Daniel as the only two players in the D1 era to play 45 minutes in two separate games. So far this season, Hicks joins Kaia Isaac and Jordan Mizell as the only players to play the entire game. The Texans have only played four overtime games in the D1 era.

Tarleton State's defense has been in full force this season. They are averaging 19.44 forced turnovers per game, the most in the NCAA. Last season the Texans finished second in the category. So far this season, the Purple and White have forced at least 20 turnovers in seven games. The Texans are also third in the nation in steals per game averaging 11.4. The squad has snagged double digit steals in 9 of the last 10 contests and in each of the last 7. The Texans are also 13th in the nation with a +4.9 turnover margin.

Dior Johnson erupted for 34 points in the Texans 81-76 OT win over CBU for their first WAC win in the EECU Center. Johnson shot 15 of 20 from the charity stripe, to set the new Texan record for most made free throws in a WAC game. He did not enter until the final 4 minutes of the first half where he played the final 29 minutes of the game. It marked his second 30+ effort in back-to-back games in WAC play.

Freddy Hicks crossed the 1500 point-mark earlier this week with a pair of double-digit efforts against UVU and CBU. Hicks is just eight assists shy of the tying the Tarleton State D1 career assists record. Shakur Daniel holds the current record with 186 total assists. Hicks enters Thursday's game with 178 total helpers.

Dior won his third WAC Player and Newcomer of the Week award on Jan. 5. In the first week of WAC play he averaged 24.0 points per game and was the only in the WAC and the NCAA to score 30+ in two games. Johnson scored the third most total points in the nation (72). He led the country with 24 made free throws and was sixth in field goals made (22). Johnson is the only player this season to win three WAC Player of the Week awards. He is also the only player in the WAC this year to earn multiple newcomer of the week awards as well.  He joins Dominque Daniels Jr. and Dominick Nelson as the only players in the past two seasons to earn three player of the week honors in the same season, no one has earned four since the 2021-22 season.

Cam McDowell has scored 10 or more in 7 of his last 8 games. He has also tallied at least 20 points in 5 of his last 6. The senior went off for 26 against Utah Valley off the bench, It marked his third game this season with 26. He led the Texans in scoring for the third time this season with 23 at UTA to begin WAC play. The senior scorer has been on a tear as of late, averaging 19.4 points per game in his last eight appearances. He had three consecutive 20+ games against Cameron, Howard Payne, and MVSU. McDowell broke out with 19 points all in the second half against Rice in a 90-74 victory.

Abilene Christian opened WAC play with a home loss to Utah Tech and a followed it up with a 17-point defeat of Utah Valley to even their record to 1-1. The Wildcats defense is top notch again ranking behind the Texans in the top 20 in the NCAA in steals per game (9.9) and forced turnovers (15.9). Rich Smith leads the WAC in conference play in field goal percentage (61.9%) and assists (6.5) per game. He is fifth in scoring with 17.5 per game. Earlier this season ACU traveled on the road in the same week to #1 Arizona and #10 BYU.  Three of their nine wins this season has come against non D1 programs. ACU is second in the WAC in bench points, averaging 29.3 per game, over 15 less per contest than the Texans this season. Head coach Brette Tanner is in his fifth season in his first D1 head coaching stop.

The Texans were victorious in each of the first two meetings in series history. Tarleton State won the first meeting in the 1919-20 season, 22-19. The won the next game of the season 26-22 as well. The locations of each game are unknown. The Texans have won five of their last six meetings with their I20 rivalry. Three of those wins came during the 2023-24 season when Joseph Jones stepped in for coach Gillispie. Coach Gillispie is 2-4 in meetings against Brette Tanner during each of their times with the programs. In the Division I era, the series is tied 5-5.

Tarleton State will have their first of day of WAC play without a game on Saturday. The Texans will then hit the road to open a three-game road trip opening with Southern Utah on Thursday of next week at 7:30 p.m. CT followed by Utah Tech on Saturday night at 8 p.m. CT.