Islanders Tip-Off 25th Season of Basketball Tuesday against Southwestern Adventist

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Jim Shaw era begins Tuesday for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball program when it hosts Southwestern Adventist at 7:30 p.m. in the Dugan Wellness Center.
 
It will start the 25th season of basketball on The Island after beginning the program in 1999-00. The game will be a White Out.
 
Shaw was named head coach in late March after spending the previous two seasons on staff as an assistant coach. The San Antonio native has spent the last 19 years at the Division I level with stops at Texas Tech, Nebraska, UTEP, Texas State and Tarleton State.
 
Shaw helped the Islanders win three conference championships in the last two seasons. It included back-to-back SLC Tournament titles and the 2022-23 SLC regular season crown. The Islanders earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons.
 
The new-look Islanders brought in 11 newcomers, similar to when Shaw first arrived in 2021-22 when the team welcomed 10 newcomers and ultimately advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Two of this year's transfers played within the league as Lance-Amir Paul is a transfer from Nicholls and Dayne Prim from Northwestern State.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi returned five student-athletes from last year. Most notably, sophomore Owen Dease had a coming out party in the 2023 SLC Championship game where he registered 16 points and seven rebounds and was four-of-five from three-point range in the win over Northwestern State. He went on to tally 14 points against No. 1 Alabama in the NCAA Tournament. Dease averaged 10.0 points per game over the last three contests where he was 6-of-9 from beyond-the-arc.
 
Other returners include sophomore Stephen Giwa who missed last season due to injury, junior Jordan Roberts, sophomore Jaren Marshall and freshman Aaron Harden who redshirted last year.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi was picked to finish fourth in the SLC Preseason Poll. The Islanders received five of the 20 first-place votes.
 
The Islanders are coming off a historic 2022-23 campaign which saw them win their first-ever NCAA Tournament game with a 75-71 victory over Southeast Missouri State in the NCAA First Four. It was the third NCAA Tournament appearance in school history and the second in a row.
 
Southwestern Adventist is a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) and competes in the Southwest Region of the Division II level. The Knights return their top four leading scorers including senior guard Ephraim Vaidex who averaged a team-high 15.0 points per game last season.
 
The game can be watched live on ESPN+ with Steven King on the call.
 
NOTES
- A&M-Corpus Christi is 20-4 all-time in season openers and 21-3 all-time in home openers. The Islanders are 224-108 all-time at home.
 
- Tuesday will be the first-ever meeting between A&M-Corpus Christi and Southwestern Adventist.
 
- 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.
 
- Dease was the Pop-A-Shot Champion at 2023 SLC Media Day in October. Each of the 10 SLC institutions had one student-athlete compete in the bracketed tournament.
 
- The Islanders faced Alabama, the No. 1 overall team in the country, in the NCAA Tournament First Round last season. A&M-Corpus Christi cut a 20-point halftime deficit down to 13 in the second half and were outscored by the slimmest of margins 42-41 in the second.
 
- The Islanders earned the automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Tournament after winning three games in the SLC Tournament including 74-65 over top-seeded Nicholls where the Islanders never trailed in the second half. The Islanders defeated second-seeded Southeastern 73-65 in the finals.
 
- A&M-Corpus Christi was 17-0 last season when holding the opposition to 70 points or less. The Islanders held all three opponents to under 70 in the SLC Tournament.
 
- A&M-Corpus Christi ranked fifth in the nation in free throws made (572), sixth in free throw attempts (776), 12th in steals (298), 14th in turnovers forced per game (16.51), 15th in offensive rebounds per game (12.77) and 18th in total rebounds (1,341).
 
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