Men's Basketball | 2/12/2017 2:45:00 PM
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State men's basketball team hosts Arkansas State, one of three co-Sun Belt Conference leaders in Strahan Coliseum on Monday for a 7 p.m. tip.
Entering the game, the Bobcats are 14-9 on the season, the best start in 18 years, and currently in fifth place in the conference standings with a 7-4 record. The Red Wolves are 18-7 overall and 9-3 in conference play to share first place with Georgia Southern and Georgia State.
Live stats, audio and video will be available for the game with Bill Culhane calling the game on either 1300 The Zone (1300 AM) or 103.1 FM out of Austin and on KTSW 89.9 FM out of San Marcos. The game will also be broadcast on Spectrum Sports (Ch. 323) with Tom Franklin and Jeff Power providing the play-by-play and analyst, respectively.
Last Time Out
Texas State struggled offensively but shutdown Little Rock on the way to a six-point victory. The win was the third time in the
Danny Kaspar era and second time this season in which the Bobcats scored less than 60 points.
Kavin Gilder-Tilbury scored a game-high 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting with two three-pointers. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out two assists. The senior is 12 points shy of passing Cameron Johnson (2007-11) for ninth place on the program's career list.
Nijal Pearson was the only other Bobcat to reach double-digits with 13 points. He made all four of his free throw attempts to be just the second player to crack the 70 percent plateau at 70.1.
Just missing out on his first career double-double was
Bobby Conley with nine points and a career-high nine rebounds. Both he and
Ojai Black handed out a game-high four assists against the Trojans. With his four assists, Black moved into a tie for 10th place in school history with 229 career assists with Stacy Bennett (1988-90).
Scouting Arkansas State
Arkansas State saw its seven-game winning streak come to an end on Saturday with a six-point loss at UTA. The Red Wolves are 7-6 this season when playing on the road this season with a 3-3 record against SBC opponents. Along with the loss to the Mavericks, their other conference road losses were to Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina while beating Little Rock, Louisiana and ULM.
Devin Carter, an All-SBC First Team preseason selection, leads the team in scoring (16.7), free throw percentage (74.0) and made three-pointers (80). He is second on the squad with a 40.2 three-pointer percentage and 23 steals. Overall, Carter has made 43.8 percent of his shot attempts.
Coming off the bench in all 23 games he has played, Deven Simms is putting up 13.5 points per game with a 49.8 field goal percentage. He paces the squad with 24 steals and is second in rebounding at 4.7 per game.
The third player averaging double-digit points is Rashad Lindsey at 10.8. He has connected on 47.7 percent of his shots and 44.9 percent on long distance shots while making 35 treys.
Pacing ASU and second in the conference with 6.0 assists per game is Deonte Thomas. The point guard has struggled to shoot the ball this season making 36.7 percent from the field, 26.7 percent on three-pointers and 59.8 percent at the charity stripe.
Tamas Bruce leads the Red Wolves in field goal percentage (61.0) and rebounding (5.0). His 17 blocks are tied for the team lead with Jahmiah Simmons. Coming off the bench, Connor Kern is a threat from long distance having made 31 three-pointers and connecting on 47.7 percent of his attempts.
All-Time Series
The all-time series between Arkansas State and Texas State is tied 3-3. The Red Wolves won the first three meetings but the last three has seen the Bobcats come out victorious.
When playing at home, Texas State is 2-1 that includes a 78-68 win last season that saw
Cameron Naylor nearly record a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds. The lone loss in Strahan was the first meeting on Jan. 4, 2014 by the score of 74-69.
In the Bobcats' three victories, they have won by an average margin of 10.3 ppg. ASU's three wins have all been by five points.
The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy. New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your school's ticket office. For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the #FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.
For the latest on Texas State men's basketball, visit the official website of Texas State athletics at
www.txstatebobcats.com, follow the team on Twitter at @TxStateMBB, Instagram at @TxStateMBB and like on Facebook at /TexasStateMensBasketball.
