STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Men’s Basketball opens three games in six days with Abilene Christian on Monday night at 6 pm at the EECU Center.
The Texans (11-8 overall, 2-4 WAC) will host the Wildcats (12-6, 4-2) for the second time this season. The Wildcats got the best of the Texans in the first matchup on Jan. 8, 84-80. Monday’s game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was changed due to the inclement Texas weather this weekend.
The game is sponsored by Smile Doctors 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.
Dior Johnson and Cam McDowell are 1-2 in the WAC in scoring per game in conference play. Johnson is averaging 24.8 points per game and McDowell is averaging 20.8. The duo is the only pair of players to rank in the top 2 in their conference in league play in points per game. Tarleton State is one of teams to have two players averaging 20 or more in conference games this season. (Duke, Buffalo, Samford). BYU is the only school with three. Johnson and McDowell are 2 of just 70 players as of Jan. 23 to average at least 20 points per game in conference play.
Tarleton State is averaging 18.85 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 second in the nation in steals per game averaging 11.2. The squad has snagged double digit steals in 12 of the last 14 contests. The Texans are also 14th in the nation with a +4.4 turnover margin.
Glynn Cyprien has filled in for head coach Billy Gillispie on 12/29 against UTA, 1/15 at Southern Utah and 1/17 at Utah Tech, 1/21 at UTA as Gillispie was under the weather. The team is 1-3 during these circumstances. Cyprien filled in for Texas A&M’s Billy Kennedy in the exhibition games of 2011 and the Aggies’ season opener victory 81-59 against Liberty. He served as head coach for the Iowa Energy for the second half of the 2017 season and the full 2017-18 slate for the Memphis Hustle. During his team as a D-League head coach, he was 31-50. He enters his second season in Stephenville after previously serving on Gillispie’s staff at Kentucky. As an assistant coach he’s been part of 573 wins over his 30 seasons at the collegiate level. Cyprien was named the associate head coach by coach Gillispie over the summer. Cyprien is in his 36th season as a coach with stops in the NCAA, NBA G-League, NBA front office and Junior Olympics. He spent time with Memphis G-League team. He served on the bench of UNLV when Gillispie was on Tulsa’s bench in the 2000 NCAA Tournament. Tulsa was victorious, 89-62.
Tarleton State leads the nation and leads the WAC with 45.5 bench points per game. The Texans 911 bench points is also the most in the nation in total bench points. The Tarleton State bench has outscored their starters in 14 games this season, with their leading scorer coming off the bench in each. Bench points account for 56.8 percent of their total points. The Texans have notched 60 or more bench points 4 times. The Texans scored a D1 era best 70 bench points at SUU on 1/15.
Dior Johnson tied for the top of the nation in points per game (23.6).Despite missing four games, he is still 28th in the NCAA and 2nd in the WAC with 377 total points. He ranks sixth in the nation and leads the WAC with 121 made free throws. He is 73rd in the NCAA and 3rd in the WAC shooting 54.6 percent from the floor.
DJ Dormu became the third Texan this season to dish out seven or more assists in a game. Dormu tallied seven helpers at UTA, a game high to set a new career high for the sophomore. He joins Freddy Hicks (7) and Jordan Mizell (8) with at least seven this year.
Tarleton State will play two more originally scheduled games this week at the EECU Center. The Texans will host Utah Valley on Thursday at 7 p.m., their second meeting with the Wolverines in Stephenville this season. On Saturday, the Purple and White will host Uta Tech for the first time in the EECU Center with tip slated for 4 pm.
