STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Men's Basketball hosts Southern Utah in a pivotal home matchup with WAC Tournament seeding implications on Thursday night at 7 pm at the EECU Center. All fans in attendance will be treated to one-dollar hot dogs and one-dollar beers on Greek Night, one of the biggest promotions of the year.
The Texans (13-13 overall, 4-9 WAC) will take on the Thunderbirds (9-17, 5-8) for the final time in the regular season. The season series is tied with one win apiece with both meetings coming in Cedar City.
The game will be sponsored by Ace Hardware and will be streamed on ESPN+ with
Byron Anderson and Scott Garner.
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.
Tarleton State climbed into a tie for sixth with ACU after a win on Feb. 16. ACU holds the tie breaker. With a win against SUU, the Texans would climb into a tie for fifth at 5-9 and the Texans would own the tiebreaker winning the season series, 2-1. With a win against UTA on the final game of the Texan regular season, the Texans would own that tiebreaker as well. With wins against SUU and UTA the Texans could potentially creep to as high as the 3rd or fourth seed depending on the ongoing Utah Valley situation.
Kade Douglas broke his career-high with 24 points against ACU on Monday night. He hit a clutch three with 3:31 left in regulation to put the Texans ahead for the final time. Douglas has led the team in scoring in back-to-back games and three times this season. He became the fourth Texan to score 20 or more in a game this year.
Jordan Mizell was responsible for the final three Texan points to give the Texans the 65-62 victory on Monday. Mizell drove the lane, drew the foul, and made the layup to break the 62-62 tie. The sophomore totaled a career-best 18 points. He also tied for the team lead with four steals.
Tarleton State is averaging 18.77 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 11.1. The squad has snagged double digit steals in 13 of the last 16 contests. The Texans are also 16th in the nation with a +3.8 turnover margin.
Freddy Hicks is just three assists shy of the tying the Tarleton State D1 career assists record. Shakur Daniel holds the current record with 186 total assists. Hicks enters Saturday's game with 183 total helpers Hicks moved into second in the D1 era with 108 total steals after a three-steal night against ACU on 2/16. Hicks is the Texans D1 era career record holder in 10 different statistical categories.
Southern Utah and Tarleton State are on the bottom of the list for average points given up per game in conference play. The Texans are sixth in WAC games 74.15 points per game. The Thunderbirds are last averaging 78.15 points per game scored by their opponent. The duo scored the most combined points in a WAC game this season in a 106-105 SUU OT victory in Cedar City.
Southern Utah has won its last two WAC road games both in Texas to bring their conference road record up to 2-4 this season. The Thunderbirds are fresh off a 78-73 win at UT Arlington last Saturday. Jaiden Feroah is ranked second in WAC games with 7.54 rebounds per game and shooting at a 57.7 percent clip. SUU leads the WAC with the fewest fouls per game, 16.2 ranking 76th in the NCAA. Southern Utah started WAC play 0-4, the longest WAC team to get a win. Since then, they have been 5-4. SUU continues their 10-day road trip with three consecutive games in the state of Texas. Rob Jeter is in his third season at SUU and his 17th in his career. Jeter has made previous stops at Milwaukee and Western Illinois.
The Texans will continue three games in a week slate at home on Saturday afternoon against Utah Valley. Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m. from the EECU Center.
