After picking up its 1st road win of the season at UNLV, TXST returns to San Marcos for its 3rd game of the Southwestern Showdown with a Monday night match-up with Abilene Christian in Strahan Arena.
TXST News
- I’m not sure if the Southwestern Showdown announces a winner at its conclusion or not, but let’s take a look at the “standings”:
- Texas State 2-0 (Jackson State, UNLV)
- SMU 2-0 (Jackson State, UNLV)
- Hartford 2-0 (non-D1 Gordon, non-D1 Emerson)
- Abilene Christian 1-1 (W over non-D1 Champion Christian, L to UNLV)
- UNLV 1-2 (W over Abilene Christian, L to TXST/SMU)
- Jackson State 0-2 (SMU, TXST)
- I’m gonna guess no champion is crowned given there are non-D1 games considered part of this event for whatever reason. Or they just disregard the non-D1 games maybe when determining. Either way, everyone doesn’t play everyone (we don’t play SMU). And the teams with non-D1 games don’t play multiple teams (Hartford only plays TXST and SMU but none of the other 3 teams).
- Texas State snapped a 4-game losing streak away from Strahan Arena dating back to last year with its win at UNLV last Monday night.
- Nijal Pearson led the way with a double-double vs. UNLV and moved to 3rd on the all-time TXST scoring list in the process. He passed Donte Mathis and now sits at 1,635 career points. Next on the list is Travis Cornett (’70-’74) at 1,841.
- A big issue for the Bobcats so far this season has been turnovers. TXST cleaned that up a bit, at least for one game, vs. UNLV committing just 10 for the game and 3 in the entire 2nd half. Marlin Davis had a career high 7 assists with 2 turnovers.
Scouting Abilene Christian
ACU is 2-3 on the season, but still searching for its first D1 win. They opened the season at home with a 90-39 win over non-D1 Arlington Baptist. They lost their next 3: 86-83 @ Drexel, 73-69 at home vs. Pepperdine, and 72-58 @ UNLV in its first game of this event. They bounced back with a 90-58 win over non-D1 Champion Christian on Thursday in a game that was technically part of this event also.
The Wildcats were a really good team that made the NCAA tourney last year and shouldn’t be overlooked by the Bobcats. I remember them being in TXST’s vicinity for most of the year in the NET ratings (though TXST had the advantage all year thanks to being in a tougher league). They went 27-7 overall for what was easily their best season ever at the D1 level and finished 14-4 in the Southland, finishing as the league’s runner-up behind Sam Houston State. They went straight into the Southland Tournament semi-finals and beat Southeastern Louisiana before beating New Orleans in the championship game to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament. Their weak schedule led to a 15-seed and they were easily bounced in the first round by 2-seed Kentucky. Still, the Wildcats had a fantastic season last year and are a worthy opponent for a TXST team that made an effort to beef up its non-conference schedule this year. ACU is a very competitive opponent. They were picked to finish 3rd in the 13 team Southland in the preseason poll this year.
ACU lost a lot from last year. They return 1 starter and lost 5 of their top 6 scorers from a season ago. The lone returning starter and top returning scorer from last year (3rd last year) is unsurprisingly leading the Wildcats so far this year and that is 6’2″ Sr. G Payten Ricks. Ricks was named a Preseason All-Southland 1st team selection this year after earning honorable mention honors last year. Ricks started all 34 games for the Wildcats last year and averaged 11.7 PPG while shooting 42.1% from the field and 39.5% from 3. 205 of his 297 shot attempts were from 3 and he took almost 1/3 of the entire teams’ 3-point attempts last year. He was a double digit scorer in 20 games. So far this year he’s leading the team at 13.6 PPG and is shooting 35.9% from 3. Really dangerous 3-point shooter and that’s where he’ll look to take the majority of his shots.
6’6″ So. F Clay Gayman is the 2nd leading scorer after coming off the bench for most of last year. Gayman averaged just 2.0 PPG and 1.0 RPG last year and was a rotation player that averaged just 5.0 MPG over 31 appearances. Despite being just the 10th leading scorer last year he’s turned into a huge contributor his sophomore year. He got his first start of the season in their most recent game vs. Champion Christian and I’d expect he continues to start considering he’s averaging 11.0 PPG on 58.3% shooting. He’s only shooting 28.6% from 3, but he’s tied for the 2nd most 3-point attempts behind Ricks with 14 on the season so you can’t leave him unguarded on the perimeter either. He was a 42.1% 3-point shooter last year and his 3-point numbers will improve.
Another big weapon that could pose a huge match-up issue for TXST is 7’0″ Jr. Kolton Kohl. TXST doesn’t face many 7-footers and with Terry and Sule undersized at just 6’8″ and 6’7″, Kohl could pose a big problem for the Bobcats in the frontcourt. Despite his size, Kohl was just a rotation player last year averaging 1.9 PPG and 1.7 RPG. This year he has started in 4 of 5 games however and is scoring 10.4 PPG and bringing down 4.2 rebounds per game. He either struggles with conditioning or foul trouble because he’s playing just 18.4 mpg. 6’8″ So. F Joe Pleasant is another player to watch as he’s scoring 9.0 per game and is the teams leading rebounder at 5.0 per game. He and Ricks are the only two players to start every game this season. ACU also has a TXST bounce back on its roster as ex-TXST PG Reggie Miller is on the roster and made his 1st career start with ACU last week against Champion Christian. Miller played in 18 games his freshman season at TXST, but transferred after struggling to get playing time, even after starting PG Marlin Davis went out with a season ending ACL injury. Miller played JUCO ball last year and is in his first season with the Wildcats, scoring 3.2 PPG. He’s very familiar with Strahan Arena (though will probably be surprised by the lack of a big wall behind one basket).
Its hard to get a feel for ACU so far as their stats are inflated with 2 non-D1 games already through their first 5 games. One thing I notice is they tend to take care of the ball and most of their made shots come off assists. They average 16.0 assists per game, and lead the Southland in assist/turnover ratio (1.4) and turnover margin (+9.6). They rebound well too with a 74.8% defensive rebound percentage. Just 8 blocks through 5 games is surprisingly low to me considering they have a 7-footer in the paint.
Last Meeting
I remember the last meeting well as I considered it one of our worst losses of the 2017-2018 season. TXST lost a 72-68 game in Abilene in December 2017. Pearson had a rough game going just 3/14 from the field but did score 11 points as a sophomore. Marlin Davis also started that game and added 4 points and 4 assists. Reggie Miller played 10 minutes in that game and scored 3 points with 1 assist and 4 turnovers. He’ll be playing for the other team this time around. I think that’s the only match-up between the schools with both being D1 teams. I’m sure there is more history overall, but I can’t find it. TXST may publish when they release their preview later today at some point.
Odds/Time/TV
TXST opened as 11.5 point favorites at home and Vegas currently has TXST at -12. Given ACU’s early season struggles vs. D1 teams (0-3) this is a game TXST should be expected to win at home.
Tip-off is set for 7pm from beautiful Strahan Arena. Get out there if you can, if not the game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as usual.
