GAME NOTES

CANYON, Texas – The #4 Buffs of West Texas A&M open the 2018-19 season at the D2CCA TipOff Classic in Anaheim, California. The defending South Central Regional Champions will play in three games in three days starting with Drury on Friday, Nov. 2, at 11 a.m.

2018-19 SEASON PREVIEW
The Buffs return two starters from last year's team that finished 32-4 winning the Lone Star Conference Regular Season, Tournament and South Central Regional Championships. Ryan Quaid, who averaged 14.3 points and 9.9 rebounds per game during his junior campaign was named a Preseason All-American by The Sporting News. Gach Gach also returns for his senior season after averaging 8.6 points per contest while shooting 34.6% from three-point range last season.

WT added another guard with the addition of Brandon Hall, who played in 83 career games at Emporia State before coming to Canyon. Drew Evans and Jordan Collilns are both back for their junior campaigns and will be joined by freshman Qua Grant, Joel Murray, Brant West and Derrick Geddis.

WT HEAD COACH TOM BROWN
Tom Brown enters his fifth season as the head coach of the Buffs, registering an overall record of 96-35 (.732) with two NCAA Tournament Appearances including a run to the Final Four in 2017-18. He was named the Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year for the first time last season leading the Buffs to a 32-4 overall record and LSC Regular Season and Tournament Championships. He has led the program to 20-plus wins in the past three years.

2017-18 SEASON RECAP
The Buffs are coming off the program's 15th NCAA Postseason appearance in program history as they finished the 2018-19 season with an overall record of 32-4. WT claimed the Lone Star Conference Regular Season and Tournament Titles en route to making the program's first appearance in the NCAA Division II Final Four. It was their second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament under head coach Tom Brown.

BACK IN CALIFORNIA FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2016-17 SEASON
West Texas A&M competed in the D2CCA TipOff Classic during the 2016-17 season winning all three games by a combined 35 points. They defeated an Azusa Pacific team that received votes in the NABC Preseason Poll, 86-72, beind the 20-point performance of Jordan Evans. The Houston, Texas native was one of five Buffs in double figures. They proceeded to beat St. Cloud State the following day, 83-70, with Evans once against scoring 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 5-of-8 from three-point range. Jerrod Walton scored a game-high 24 points with David Chavlovich chipping i­n 19 of his own in WT's 94-86 victory over #23 Arkansas-Fort Smith.
 

A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
West Texas A&M has never faced any of its three opponents at this weekend's D2CCA TipOff Classic. Friday's contest will be the Buffs first game against a school from the Great Lakes Valley Conference since last year when they played Southern Indiana in Las Vegas, Nev. Lindenwood will be the first (MIAA) school WT has played since defeating Emporia State 84-68 in the Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic in 2015. Sunday's finale will be the first time a West Texas team has faced off against a PacWest since their last trip to California.

LSC PRESEASON POLL
The defending Lone Star Conference Champion Buffs of West Texas A&M were picked to finish second in the league's preseason poll announced on Wednesday, Oct. 24, during the LSC Basketball Online Media Day. The preseason poll was voted on by head coaches, sports information directors and media representatives from throughout the league.

Texas A&M-Commerce picked up 15 of the possible 28 first place votes for a total of 254 points followed by West Texas with 11 first place votes for a total of 238 points. Tarleton was picked fourth with 236 points followed by Angelo State (185 pts.) and UT Permian Basin (165 pts.) who also received two first-place votes. MSU Texas was sixth (149 pts.) with Eastern New Mexico (102 pts.) in seventh with Cameron (87 pts.), Texas A&M-Kingsville (86 pts.) and Western New Mexico (42 pts.) rounding out the Top 10.  Reggie Reid of Texas A&M-Commerce was picked as the Preseason Player of the Year after averaging 16.3 points and 4.2 assists per game in 2017-18 as a junior.

LIVE COVERAGE
Live stats and video WILL NOT be provided for the tournament but a recap of each game will be posted on GoBuffsGo.com.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS
As mentioned above, West Texas A&M will play against Drury, Lindenwood and Concordia (Calif.) for the first time. Below, Buff Nation can find a preview of each team.

DRURY
The Panthers of Drury return 14 letterman and all five starters from last season's squad that went 21-8 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Head coach Steve Hesser is in his 13th year and has a record of 302-114 during his career.

Drury brings back two all-conference players from last season in junior Isaac Johnson and Andrew Ballock. Johnson came off the bench to averaged 12.3 points per game while shooting 37 percent from three-point range. Andrew Ballock averaged 9.9 points per game as they both earned 2nd Team All-GLVC honors.

The Panthers were picked to finish second in the GLVC Preseason Poll released on Oct. 16 by the conference office. No. 1 Bellarmine was picked to win the conference receiving 12 first-place votes and 181 points.

LINDENWOOD
Lindenwood enters the 2018-19 season with the nation's top strength of schedule according to the recently released Massey Ratings. Earlier this season, the LIons were picked to finish eighth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll and MIAA Preseason Media Poll.

They return 81.4 percent of their scoring on a team that finished 16-13 in 2017-18. All-MIAA performers Chandler Diekvass and Brad Newman are the top returners as Newman scored a team-high 15.3 points per game in 29 starts. Diekvass can also score as his 1,02 career points are the 12th most in program history as he averaged 14.3 points per game as a junior.

CONCORDIA (CALIF.)
Concordia was picked to finish third in the PacWest Conference Preseason Poll released on Wednesday afternoon behind Point Loma and Azusa Pacific. Head coach Ken Ammann returns for his 18th season at the helm and has directed the Eagles to at least 20 victories in 14 of his 17 seasons. 2018-19 will be the second season that the Eagles have been eligible to make the postseason.

Last season's leading scorer, Brian Chambers, returns for his senior seasons after scoring 14.0 points per game as a junior. He earned 2018 Preseason All-PacWest Team recognition after leading the conference in steals last year.