STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Men's Basketball hosts Abilene Christian in its first of three home games this week on Monday night at 7 p.m. at the EECU Center.
The Texans (12-13 overall, 3-9 WAC) will take on the Wildcats (12-13, 4-8) for the final time in the regular season. ACU clinched the season series with a 73-59 victory in Abilene on Saturday afternoon. It will mark the second meeting between the two in Stephenville after the Wildcats won the first, 84-80. This game is the make up for the originally scheduled and then postponed game on Jan. 24.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Will Conerly and Hek'ma Harrison.
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.
Andy Sigiscar has scored 10 points or more in the last three consecutive games. At ACU, he scored 12 and added a team-high 3 blocks. He had a stellar road trip averaging 16.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 2.0 steals. Andy tied his career high with 18 points on the road at CBU on 2/5. Sigiscar shot 9-for-11 from the floor. He picked up his fourth foul with 11 minutes remaining, but continued to play finishing with 32 minutes of action, a new career best. He also tallied a team-high three blocks. The redshirt-freshman made his third start and scored in double figures for the fifth time this season. The Orleans, France native followed up his performance at CBU with a 14-point night at SUU on Saturday.
DJ Dormu tallied six helpers, his second game this season with at least six assists. He posted a season-best seven assists on Jan. 21 at UTA. He followed that up on Feb. 14 with six assists at ACU. Dormu is one of three Texans this season with multiple games of six assists or more joining
Kaia Isaac (2). The sophomore missed 12 games after starting the very first game of the season at SMU. Since then, he has come off the bench and played a productive role for the Texans. He has also scored in double figures in each of the last three games including a season-high 13 against Southern Utah. He joins
Freddy Hicks (7) and
Jordan Mizell (8) with at least seven this year.
Freddy Hicks became the first Texan in the D1 era to play 100 games as a Texan. Hicks played his 100th game at ACU on 2/14. Out of his 100 games, he has started a D1 era record, 88 of them. The senior is in his fifth season with the Texans, his second stint with the program. He started his collegiate career at TSU for three seasons and returned for his final two seasons.
Tarleton State is averaging 18.72 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 eight games. The Texans are also second in the nation in steals per game averaging 10.9. The squad has snagged double digit steals in 12 of the last 15 contests. The Texans are also 14th in the nation with a +3.9 turnover margin.
The Texans have played the same opponent in back-to-back games six times in the D1 era and 11 times total. In six of the 11 cases, the games were played in opposite cities. Five of those six times came in the 2020-21 season when Covid-19 forced the WAC to play back-to-back games against the same team in the same city. Only one of those six times in the D1 era the Texans played the same team in back-to-back games in opposite cites, North Alabama, 12/14/21 & 12/17/21. Prior to 2020, it happened just five times with the games happening no less than four days apart. 91-92 Ambassador (2 W's), 01-02 Angelo State (2 W's), 08-09 and 09-10 Midwestern State, 11-12 Texas A&M-Commerce (2 W's). The Texans have won the pair of games just four times and lost both three times, splitting five times.
Abilene Christian had lost seven straight games after starting WAC play 2-1. ACU's last win before their skid came at Tarleton State on Jan. 8, an 84-80 win. Two of their three WAC wins have come against Tarleton State with the other against UTA. ACU is 2-4 in their five WAC games in Moody Coliseum this season. Five of ACU's eight WAC losses have come by ten or more. In both of the Wildcats conference wins, they have scored more than 80 points. In each of their seven losses they scored less than 80 points. The Wildcats defense is top notch again ranking behind the Texans in the NCAA in 11th in steals per game (9.6) and fifth in forced turnovers (16.4). Earlier this season ACU traveled on the road in the same week to #1 Arizona and #10 BYU. Three of their 12 wins this season has come against non D1 programs. Head coach Brette Tanner is in his fifth season in his first D1 head coaching stop.
The Texans will continue three games in a week slate at home on Thursday against Utah Valley. It marks one of the biggest promos of the season as the Texans host $1 beer and $1 hot dog night while supporting Greek Night as well at the EECU Center. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.
