A&M-Corpus Christi Faces NKU, LIU at Toyota Dealers Thanksgiving Tournament

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Spending its Thanksgiving on the road, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball program will play a pair of games in the Toyota Dealers Thanksgiving Tournament at Truist Arena.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi will square off with the host NKU at 5 p.m. (CT) Wednesday and will follow it up with a 1 p.m. (CT) neutral court game against LIU on Friday. Both games can be watched on ESPN+ or can be heard live for free on 1440 AM NewsTalk K-E-Y-S with Steven King on the calls.
 
The Islanders are coming off a hard fought 73-64 defeat at Texas Tech. A&M-Corpus Christi trimmed a 12-point deficit down to just two mid-way through the second half and was as close as 64-60 with under three minutes remaining.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi grabbed more steals than Texas Tech (11-8), more offensive rebounds (13-12) and matched the number of blocks (5-5). The Islanders also made more field goals (26-24). A&M-Corpus Christi's defense limited Texas Tech to just a 5-of-24 (.208) mark from beyond-the-arc.
 
Junior Dian Wright-Forde erupted offensively against the Red Raiders with a team-high 16 points off the bench. His previous season-high was eight points against Dallas Christian.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi has used a balance scoring attack as sophomore Owen Dease leads the way with 10.0 points per game. Junior Jordan Roberts nets 9.8 points per outing and leads the Southland Conference with a .643 clip from long-range. Dease and Roberts are a combined 16-of-31(.516)  from beyond-the-arc.
 
The Islanders have showcased their depth this season as 10 different Islanders have scored and seven have grabbed a rebound in every game. No student-athlete has played over 28 minutes.
 
As a team, A&M-Corpus Christi leads the SLC in field goal percentage defense (.365), three-point defense (.256), offensive rebounding (16.3 orpg) and rebounding margin (+10.3).
 
Wednesday will be a battle between a pair of 2023 NCAA Tournament teams. The Norse finished 22-13 overall and 14-6 in conference before winning the Horizon League Tournament. They fell 63-52 to Houston in the first round.
 
NOTES
- It will be first-ever meeting against both NKU and LIU.
 
- A&M-Corpus Christi is 18-0 over the last two seasons when holding the opposition to 70 points or less. The Islanders are 18-0 over the last three seasons when shooting over .500 FG%.
 
- The Islanders are one of six teams in the country to return zero total starts from last year along with Northwestern State, Notre Dame, Tulsa, UMBC and Utah State.
 
- The Islanders are one of nine teams in the nation who have student-athletes from 10 or more different states on their roster along with Navy, UW-Milwaukee, Missouri, Youngstown State, VMI, Louisville, Boston College and Richmond.
 
- The Islanders have surpassed the century mark twice in scoring in their two home games and have posted the two largest margin of victories in school history. The 65-point win over Southwestern Adventist broke the program's previous margin of victory record of 58 set on Nov. 21, 2005 in a 116-58 win over Texas A&M-International. The Islanders also tied the school record for most field goals made in a game with 46 first set on Jan. 18, 2001 against Cal Poly.
 
- The program is 226-108 all-time at home. They are going for their first road win of the year against NKU.
 
- The Jim Shaw era also tipped off the 25th season of basketball on The Island. Shaw, a San Antonio native, was elevated to head coach after spending the last two seasons as assistant coach. Shaw has spent the last 19 years at the Division I level with stops at Texas Tech, Nebraska, UTEP, Texas State and Tarleton State.
 
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