Texan Men’s Basketball travels to Orlando for Sunday matinee against UCF – Tarleton State University Athletics

STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Men’s Basketball heads to the southeast for a tilt against the UCF Knights on Sunday at noon CT at the Addition Financial Center.
 
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Austin Lyon and BJ Taylor. Kyle Crews will have the call on the Tarleton Sports Radio Network. Live stats will be provided by StatBroadcast available on tarletonsports.com. Follow @tarletonmbb on Instagram, X and Facebook for live updates, highlights and content.
 
Bubu Benjamin has been a scoring machine this season. Benjamin has scored 20-plus points in four games this season. The Canadian broke is career-high for the third time this season with 29 against Dallas Christian. Benjamin posted 21 points in the season opener at SMU and then broke his career high again against Iona with 22 in the Bahamas.
 
Ronnie Harrison Jr. posted a career-best 27 points against Hofstra, the second most by a Texan this year. He followed that performance with 22 points in the finale against Indiana State. Harrison notched seven in the first half and 20 in the second. He accounted for 20 of the 30 Texan second half points against Hofstra. The sophomore also added seven boards and accumulated a team-best three steals. The junior college transfer shot 10-for-18 from the floor and six-for-eight from the charity stripe. He knocked down his first triple of his collegiate career in the first half.
 
Twice this season, junior college transfer, Chris Mpaka has recorded five blocks in a game. Last time out against Dallas Christian, The big man posted five blocks, tying his season best. In just his third game as a Texan, Mpaka posted five blocks in a game, the second most in a game in Tarleton’s D1 era. The forward also posted his first double-double as a Texan with 15 points and 11 boards. He matched his scoring high after scoring 15 over the weekend against Sam Houston. Mpaka and Bubu Benjamin are the only Texans to notch a double-double or at least ten rebounds. The Congo native is first in the WAC and 25th in the nation with 17 blocks.
 
A Texan has played in all 40 minutes of a game 10 times this season. Tarleton has had six different players accomplish the feat for a total of ten times. Ronnie Harrison Jr., Bubu Benjamin, Jordan Mizell, Nick Krass, Izzy Miles and Joseph Martinez. Four players (Benjamin, Mizell, N Krass and Martinez) have played all 40 minutes in two games this season. Bubu Benjamin has played 40 minutes on 11/29 & 11/30. Nick Krass and Jordan Mizell played 40 minutes in back-to-back games earlier this season.
 
Freshman Keitenn Bristow got his first taste of collegiate basketball with nine points in 22 minutes against Dallas Christian. The 6-7 forward missed the first nine games due to a lower body injury. Bristow is the only Texan to have been named a Texas Mr. Basketball finalist during his prep career. The 5A Player of the Year was a prized recruit that the Texans won last year.
 
Tarleton will play its 17th Power Four conference opponent on Sunday. The Texans are 1-15 in those matchups, with a victory against the ACC’s Boston College. Tarleton has won the turnover battle six times including against three ranked opponents,  #3 Kansas, #20 Michigan, #3 Gonzaga. The Purple and White recorded 20 or more turnovers four times and committed less than ten on three occasions. TSU has trailed by less than nine at the end of the first half in 10 of those contests and lost by less than nine in four of those. This includes trailing by just five at half last time against Florida State.
 
In the first NET rankings of 2024-25, the Texans rank 27th in SOS. Tarleton is the second highest ranked WAC school, trailing only Seattle U who is ranked 21st. The average NET ranking of Tarleton opponents is 54. Tarleton’s NET ranking is 352.
 
Head Coach Billy Gillispie is chasing the 200-career win mark, needing six more to eclipse the milestone. This is the second meeting all-time between Gillispie and former NBA player and UCF coach Johnny Dawkins.
 
Tarleton State will have eight days before its next contest. The Texans will continue their final non-conference road trip of the season with a pair of contests at UTEP and Oklahoma State on Dec. 16 and Dec. 18.