PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Classic continues for the Texas State men's basketball team on Friday against USC Upstate at 6:30 p.m. CST in the Chiles Center.
Entering the game, the Bobcats are 3-1 on the season while the Spartans are 1-3 and have lost their last two.
Friday's contest will air on AM 1300 The Zone, 89.9 FM KTSW and on the TuneIn app with
Bill Culhane on the call. There will also be a single-camera video stream provided on YouTube.
ABOUT TEXAS STATE
Texas State is in its 98
th season of men's basketball and the sixth under the guidance of head coach
Danny Kaspar. He owns a 77-88 record in his time in San Marcos. His career record stands at 542-282, making him the 24th-winningest active head coach in all of NCAA Division I.
The Bobcats are led by
Nijal Pearson, who moved up to 20
th on the program's career scoring list on Wednesday. The junior is averaging 17.8 points per game on 46.6 percent shooting. He has connected on a team best 10-of-22 (45.5%) three-pointers.
Contributing at least nine points a contest is
Alex Peacock (9.5) and
Eric Terry (9.0). Peacock leads TXST with 9.0 rebounds per game and shares the team lead with seven steals with
Jaylen Shead and Pearson. Shead leads the team with 4.0 assists per game and sports a 3.2 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Coming off the bench,
Alonzo Sule is averaging 5.0 ppg and 1.7 rpg in just nine minutes a game.
Quentin Scott is adding 4.0 ppg and 2.8 rpg in nearly 10 minutes of action.
SCOUTING USC UPSTATE
USC Upstate was picked to finish last in the 11-team Big South Conference. The Spartans are under the direction of first-year head coach Dave Dickerson. His only previous head coaching stop was five years at Tulane that ended in 2010 with him compiling a 68-84 record.
Deion Holmes, a Preseason All-Big South Second Team selection, made his season debut on Wednesday against Portland. In 29 minutes off the bench, he scored a game-high 20 points on 8-of-17 shooting and was 3-for-7 from beyond the arc. The senior guard also grabbed six rebounds and had two steals.
Malik Moore is shooting 47.5 percent from the field and a team best 75.0 percent at the free throw line to average 15.0 ppg. He is also grabbing a team-high 6.8 rpg and is second with 11 assists. The senior forward is second on the squad with four made three-pointers along with Jure Span, who paces USCU with 3.5 apg and 2.0 spg, and Bryson Mozone.
Only other player averaging double-digit points is Everette Hammond at 10.8. He has knocked down a team-high five three-pointers at a 37.5 percent clip and is shooting 42.1 percent overall.
Nevin Zink enters making a team-high 63.2 field goal percentage. He is averaging 7.0 ppg and 5.0 rpg in 16.5 minutes per contest.
SERIES HISTORY
Friday will be the first -ever meeting between Texas State and USC Upstate. For the Bobcats, it will be the second meeting against a current Big South opponent. The only other meeting was on Dec. 28, 1979 against Hampton in Eau Claire, Wisconsin that TXST won 70-60.
For more information on the Texas State men's basketball team, visit the official website of Texas State Athletics at
www.txstatebobcats.com, like on Facebook at Texas State Men's Basketball and follow on Instagram and Twitter at @TxStateMBB.
