CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Remaining home for the second straight game, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team will host Omaha at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the American Bank Center.
It is the first time this year the Islanders (3-5) are playing back-to-back home games after coming off a four-game road swing that featured a 67-63 win at UTEP, head coach
Jim Shaw's first career road win who ironically earned his master's from UTEP in 2005.
The Islanders will also be looking to bounce back after dropping its first home game of the season 76-74 to UTRGV after it came down to the final possession. The Islanders outrebounded the Vaqueros by 20 and outscored them 14-0 in second chance points, only allowing UTRGV to grab one offensive rebound.
It was the first game of the season and first since the 2022-23 regular season finale that two Islanders scored 20+ points. Junior
Dian Wright-Forde led it with 21 points, the most scored by an Islander in a game this year, and senior
Lance-Amir Paul scored 20.
The Islanders have broken the century mark twice in both of their other home games with the two largest margins of victories in school history. The 65-point win over SWAU 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.
A&M-Corpus Christi has used a balance scoring attack this season as Wright-Forde leads the way with 12.4 points per game, while Paul averages 11.3 points per outing. The Islanders score 76.4 points per game and have 11 student-athletes scoring over 5.0 per outing.
Junior
Garry Clark is the team's leading rebounder with 7.8 per outing, which ranks tied for third in the Southland Conference. He scores 7.6 points per game and also ranks third in the SLC in offensive rebounding with 3.0 per game.
As a team, the Islanders lead the conference in rebounding margin (+9.6), offensive rebounds (14.6 orpg), and total rebounds (42.3 drpg). They rank second in defensive rebounds (27.6 drpg), opponent rebounds (32.6 rpg), scoring margin (+6.9), scoring defense (69.5 ppg), field goal defense (.423), and three-point defense (.297).
The program is 226-109 all-time at home and 149-80 in the American Bank Center.
Omaha (5-5) is extending its trip in Texas after facing Texas Tech on Wednesday which they dropped 87-58. The Mavericks are led by two double figure scorers, including Frankie Fidler who averages 13.9 points per outing and Marquel Sutton with 10.2.
The game can be watched live with a subscription to ESPN+. Steven King will be on the call.
NOTES
- It will only be the second ever meeting between A&M-Corpus Christi and Omaha. The first featured an 87-73 road win for the Islanders in 2021-22, which was the first year
Jim Shaw arrived on the Island. It capped A&M-Corpus Christi's eight-game win streak to help the team to a 9-1 start that season, the best start in program history.
- At least seven different Islanders have grabbed a rebound in every game this year.
- In the last two games, Paul is 18-of-20 (.900) from the free throw line.
- A&M-Corpus Christi is 19-0 over the last two seasons when holding the opposition to 70 points or less. The Islanders are 19-0 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 dropped three banners pregame against UTRGV, including the 2022-23 regular season title, conference tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance
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