Texas State Men’s Basketball Opens New Year Against Chanticleers

Coastal Carolina dropped its first ever SBC game on the road Saturday at UTA. The Chanticleers are 0-5 in road games this season with non-conference losses to Alabama, Auburn, BYU and Wake Forest. Their last win was by three points at home over North Carolina Central.

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State men’s basketball team begins its 2017 portion of the schedule on Monday at 7 p.m. in Strahan Coliseum against Sun Belt Conference newcomer Coastal Carolina. It will be a battle of two of the top 25 active winningest coaches in Division I with Danny Kaspar (510) and Cliff Ellis (796) combining for career 1,306 victories.

The Bobcats head into the game with an 8-5 record, 1-0 in the SBC and riding a three-game winning streak while the Chanticleers are 5-9 on the season, 0-1 in conference play and have lost three straight.

Last Time Out

Texas State won its third straight SBC opener with a nine-point victory over Appalachian State. With the opening bucket of the game, Kavin Gilder-Tilbury became the 21st Bobcat to net 1,000 career points. He finished the game with 21 points and currently has 1,019 in his career. The Houston native also blocked four shots to set a new career-high.

Nijal Pearson had a solid game with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting and converted both of his free throw attempts. Also finished with double-digits points was Ojai Black with 10 along with a game-high five assists.

The victory over the Mountaineers was the fifth in the month of December for Texas State. It is the most wins in the month of December by the Bobcats since the 1997-98 season.

Scouting Coastal Carolina

Coastal Carolina dropped its first ever SBC game on the road Saturday at UTA. The Chanticleers are 0-5 in road games this season with non-conference losses to Alabama, Auburn, BYU and Wake Forest. Their last win was by three points at home over North Carolina Central.

Elijah Wilson leads the team in scoring at 14.9 points per game. The second team preseason all-conference selection has made 72 field goals with 41 coming from beyond the arc. He has connected on 37.3 percent of his shots, 35.0 percent on three-pointers and 76.7 percent at the free throw line.

Jaylen Shaw enters the game averaging 13.2 ppg with a 43.8 field goal percentage. He leads the squad with 4.6 assisters per game, 20 steals and an 88.4 percent accuracy at the charity stripe.

Leading CCU with 7.5 rebounds per game is Demario Beck. He also contributes 9.6 ppg offensively. Both Colton Ray-St Cyr (5.6) and Amidou Bamba (5.1) retrieve over five rebounds a contest.

As a team, the Chanticleers are averaging 73.6 ppg but are being outscored by 1.6 per contest. They have made 42.0 percent of their shots, 34.8 percent on long-range attempts and 65.6 percent at the free throw line. CCU is grabbing 42.5 rpg which is 6.3 more than opponents retrieve.

All-Time Series

Monday will be the second meeting between the two programs. Texas State won the only previous contest on Nov. 30, 1996, in the Cardinal Varsity Club Classic in Muncie, Indiana by the score of 74-58.

Live stats, video and audio will be available for the game. Bill Culhane will call the game on 1300 The Zone (1300 AM) or 103.1 FM out of Austin and on KTSW 89.9 FM out of San Marcos.

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://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=153679
• Video: http://txstatebobcats.com/watch/?Live=1129
• Audio: http://txstatebobcats.com/watch/?Live=1176
• TXST Game Notes: http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/txstate.sidearmsports.com/documents/2017/1/1/14_Coastal_Carolina.pdf?id=4621