BEAUMONT, Texas – Looking to stay hot from the floor, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball program travels for 7 p.m. games at Lamar on Thursday at the Montagne Center, and HCU on Saturday at Sharp Gym.
A&M-Corpus Christi (11-7, 4-1 SLC) sits in a tie for first-place in the Southland Conference standings at 4-1 with Southeastern. Lamar enters play at 5-13 overall and 1-4 SLC, while HCU is 6-12 overall and 3-2 SLC.
The Islanders are coming off a historic shooting night where they drained a school record 16 three-pointers and shot .667 (16-24) from beyond the arc in a 97-79 win over New Orleans. The previous school record for threes made in a game was 14. Senior
Trevian Tennyson poured in a career-high 28 points and was 6-of-10 from three.
The Islanders have lit it up from long range in conference play where they are .455 (51-112) as a team. Most notably, graduate
Ross Williams is 15-of-28 (.536) and Tennyson is 20-for-38 (.526).
A&M-Corpus Christi has outrebounded all five conference opponents so far. The Islanders have also been leading at the half in all five games.
The Islanders rank 15th in the nation in steals per game (9.7), 16th in turnovers forced per game (17.3), 21st in bench pointers per game (28.9) and 24th in free throw percentage (.763). Individually, Williams is 13th in 3FG% (.463), senior
Terrion Murdix is 19th in steals per game (2.3) and Mushila is 16th in double-doubles (8) and 19th in offensive rebounds (3.4 orpg).
A&M-Corpus Christi has four student-athletes averaging in double-figures. Mushila nearly averages a double-double with 14.0 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. Tennyson scores 13.3 points per game including a team-high 17.2 in conference.
Murdix averages 12.5 points per outing and leads the conference in both assists (4.7 apg) and steals (2.3 spg). Williams scores 11.2 points per game and is 26-for-49 (.531) from three-point range over the last eight games.
Lamar has a 69-66 home win over Nicholls last Thursday. Nate Calmese ranks second in the conference in scoring with 16.5 points per game, including 17.8 in conference. Yuto Yamanouchi averages a double-double in conference with 10.6 points and 10.8 rebounds per contest.
HCU is coming off back-to-back wins 68-59 over Texas A&M-Commerce and 90-81 at McNeese. Sharp-shooting Brycen Long scores 16.0 points per game and shoots .424 from three-point range and .879 from the charity stripe. Bonke Maring averages 14.9 points per game and ranks 19th in the country with a .622 field goal percentage.
Both games can be watched live with a subscription to ESPN+ and can also be heard live for free on 1440 AM NewsTalk K-E-Y-S with Steven King on the calls.
NOTES
- The Islanders played Lamar at home last year in a non-conference game and won 57-53 as the Cardinals spent one season in the WAC. A&M-Corpus Christi is looking to win at Lamar for the first time since a 69-66 overtime victory in 2016-17.
- The Islanders are 13-5 all-time against HCU, 5-4 on the road and 2-1 under head coach
Steve Lutz. A&M-Corpus Christi knocked the Huskies out of the SLC Tournament last year in the quarterfinals 75-60 en route to winning the championship.
- A&M-Corpus Christi has the highest NET Ranking in the Southland Conference at 202 out of 363 Division I schools.
- A&M-Corpus Christi is 149-125 all-time in the Southland Conference since joining the league in 2006-07.
- In two seasons under Lutz, the Islanders are 14-0 when they shoot over 50 percent from the field and 22-1 when the opposition scores below 70 points.
- The Islanders rank first in the Southland Conference in scoring (80.2 ppg), free throw percentage (.763), rebounding margin (+2.4), turnover margin (3.7), assists (16.2 apg) and assist:turnover ratio (3.7).
- The Islanders registered back-to-back wins over UIW. The home victory 91-61 was the third-largest conference win in program history. A&M-Corpus Christi improved to 13-6 all-time against the Cardinals and 4-0 under Lutz.
- With wins of 91-61 over UIW and 98-67 over Alcorn State, the Islanders have posted multiple 30-plus point wins over Division I schools in the same season for the first time since 2005-06.
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