Texas State Men’s Basketball Hits the Road to Face UT Rio Grande Valley

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State men’s basketball team looks to extend its winning streak to three games and earn its first true road victory of the season Wednesday night. The Bobcats travel South to take on UT Rio Grande Valley at 7 p.m. in the UTRGV Fieldhouse.

Texas State enters the contest with a 4-3 record while the Vaqueros are 2-8 on the season.

Last Time Out

After a slow start for most of the first half, Texas State used a 37-4 run over an 12:28 spread between the first and second halves to take control of the game against Oklahoma Panhandle State. Nijal Pearson filled up the stat sheet for the second game in-a-row leading the Bobcats with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Maljhum McCrea was the only other player to reach double-digits against the Aggies with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Bobby Conley finished with seven points and recorded three steals to tie his career-high that he set two days earlier against McNeese State. Tyler Blount, Deris Duncan, Immanuel King and Nathan Josephs all netted six points apiece.

Coming off the bench, Nedeljko Prijovic grabbed 13 rebounds. It was the most by a Bobcat this season and the highest total in a game since Emani Gant had 14 at South Alabama on Jan. 14, 2016.

Scouting UT Rio Grande Valley

UT Rio Grande Valley is a member of the Western Athletic Conference. The Vaqueros will be playing their third game in five days on Wednesday after contests at Portland State (L, 87-74) and Portland (L, 90-89, 2OT) on Saturday and Monday, respectively. UTRGV’s two victories this season have been against Grambling State and St. Francis Brooklyn at the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Florida over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Nick Dixon leads the Vaqueros in scoring (18.5), rebounding (6.2), field goal percentage (57.9) and steals (1.8). He has made 39.3 percent of his three-point attempts but is converting 66.7 percent at the free throwline.

Antonio Green is averaging 17.4 points per game thanks to his three-pointer shooting. Of his 59 made field goals, 39 have come from beyond the arc. His trey total is the second most in the nation.

Handing out a team best 3.6 assister per game is Lew Stallworth. He contributes 8.8 ppg with a 42.6 field goal percentage. Mike Hoffman is the lone player on the team with more than two blocks this season with 13.

All-Time Series

UTRGV leads the all-time series 20-14. Texas State has won the last two meetings and seven of the last nine. When playing the Vaqueros on the road, the Bobcats are 3-11 with the last time being a 79-77 loss on Nov. 19, 2011.

Last season Texas State won 68-59 in Strahan Coliseum led by Kavin Gilder-Tilbury’s 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Also reaching double-figures in the game was Cameron Naylor (10) and Gant (13).

Live stats, video and audio will be available for the game. The game will be broadcast on Spectrum Sports (Ch. 85 & 323) in the Austin/San Antonio area with announcers Jonah Goldberg and Joe Bowling. Fans outside of the television viewing area can watch the game online through the WAC Digital Network.

On the radio, Bill Culhane will be on the call with the game being broadcast on 1300 The Zone.

Season tickets are currently on sale for the 2016-17 basketball season. They can be purchased online at www.txstatebobcats.com/tickets, over the phone at 512-245-2272 or by visiting the Mark and Linda Smith Ticket Office at Bobcat Stadium between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For the latest on Texas State men’s basketball, visit the official website of Texas State athletics at www.txstatebobcats.com, follow the team on Twitter at @TxStateMBB, Instagram at @TxStateMBB and like on Facebook at /TexasStateMensBasketball.

Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/utrgv/mbball/

WAC Digital Network: http://wacsports.com/watch/?Live=127

Audio: http://txstatebobcats.com/watch/?Live=1168

TXST Game Notes: http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/txstate.sidearmsports.com/documents/2016/12/6/08_UTRGV.pdf?id=4603