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CANYON, Texas – No. 5 West Texas A&M will play a pair of home games this weekend after the originally scheduled games against Midwestern State were postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Mustang program.
 
WT will play Oklahoma Christian in a Lone Star Conference contest on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 3 p.m. followed by another showdown against Western New Mexico on Sunday, Feb. 14 at 4 p.m.
 
A LOOK BACK AT TUESDAY'S WIN
WT picked up their eighth win of the season on Tuesday with a 98-80 non-conference victory over Western New Mexico. Four Buffs reached double figures including a career-high 23 from Jon'il Fugett. 
 
The junior guard went from 7-of-9 from the floor including a career-high five 3-pointers. Joel Murray had a game-high 26 points, marking the sixth time in the last seven games he has reached the 20-point plateau. Qua Grant added 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists. 
 
A LOOK AT OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN
Oklahoma Christian enters Saturday's contest 4-9 in Lone Star Conference play after picking up wins over UAFS and Midwestern State in February. Kendre Talley is in his first full season as the head coach of the Eagles after spending the 2019-20 season as the interim head coach. 
 
The Eagles are scoring 74.7 points per game led by freshman Elijah Elliot. The Houston native is one of five OC players to average in double figures with a team-high 16.2 per contest. He is shooting 38.4 percent from the floor, 32.4 percent from 3-point range and 66.2 percent from the free throw line. He has scored in double figures 11 times including a career-high 26 against Cameron on Jan. 9. 
 
Marco Foster, a freshman from Lancaster, is averaging 15.4 points per contest and has played in all 40 minutes in OC's past three games. He scored a career-high points in the Eagles' win over UAFS on Feb. 1 going 9-of-15 from 3-point range. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series 2-0 including a 81-65 win over the Eagles on Dec. 19, 2019 in Canyon.
 
ANOTHER LOOK AT WESTERN NEW MEXICO
Western New Mexico is in the midst of a playing four games in six days, all on the road against teams ranked in the Top 10. They will play Lubbock Christian for the second time tonight after dropping a 80-65 decision last night at the Rip Griffin Center. 
 
The Mustangs are led by junior guard Cash Williams, who had 24 points in WNMU's first meeting against the Buffs on Tuesday. He followed that up with a 22-point performance against Chaps on Friday going 8-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. 
 
Olamide Pederson is the top rebounder for the Mustangs at 7.3 boards per game. He has recorded five or more rebounds in five of six games this season including 10 against UT Permian Basin on Dec.15. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
WT extended their lead in the all-time series to 17-4 with their 98-80 win on Tuesday afternoon. The Buffs are 9-3 against the Mustangs in Canyon including a perfect 8-0 record in the FUBC. 
 
JOJO KNOWS
Murray is playing the best basketball of his career as the junior is scoring a conference-best 22.3 points per contest, which is also the 11th most in NCAA Division II men's basketball. He is shooting 50.0 percent from the floor, 27.5 percent from 3-point range and 78.0 percent from the free throw line. 
 
Tuesday's game marked just the second time in his career that the Rowlett native scored over 20 points without making a 3-pointer. It was also the fifth time in his career that he shot over 65 percent (min. 9 attempts) while reaching the plateau. 
 
DON'T PLAY WITH QUA
Grant's stat line this season is something that most teens would hope for their player in NBA 2K21. The junior guard, who is one three NCAA DII players to record a triple-double, is averaging 20.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists per contest. He has scored in double figures in all nine games for the Buffs this season including a season-high 28 in WT's win over UT Permian Basin. He also has four double-doubles, none more impressive than his 19-point, 14 rebound performance against Angelo State last weekend. 
 
BOOK(ER) EM DANNO
Kavon Booker scored a season-high eight points in Tuesday's win over WNMU including a monstrous put back dunk in the second half. The sophomore also had six rebounds in a career-high 18 minutes in the Buffs ninth straight wins over the Mustangs. 
 
CENTER OF THE BENCH
Hayden Blankley scored in double figures for the second time in his past three games with 10 points on Tuesday. The sophomore is averaging over 14 minutes of action over the past three contests where he is shooting 56.3 percent from the floor, 45.5 percent from 3-point range and 100.0 percent from the charity stripe. Torian Harris and John Brown have also played well of the bench and will be expected to continue to make an impact this weekend against MSU.
 
PARKER NIELSEN'S FAN CLUB
Prior to WT's game against Angelo State on Feb. 4, most of Buff Nation may not have been able to tell you who the 6-foot-3 guard from Prescott, Wisc. WAS and what number he wore. That has all changed as WT's No. 10 has started in three straight games for the Buffs.
 
In those three starts, Nielsen is averaging 6.3 points per game shooting 58.3 percent from the floor and 50.0 percent from 3-point range. He scored a career-high nine points against ASU on Feb. 4 connecting three times from downtown as the Buffs tied a program record with 21 3-pointers. 
 
ROGER THAT, RECORD BREAKER
Murray enter Saturday's contest tied with David Chavlovich for the most career steals in program history. The junior had a team-high three steals on Tuesday giving him 156 for his career and leaving him one shy of breaking the first of hopefully many program records. 
 
LET'S LOOK AT THE POLLS
The top five teams remained the same for the second straight week with Colorado School of Mines receiving 13 of the 16 available first-place votes. Northern State picked up two first-place votes in second with Northwest Missouri State in third followed by Lincoln Memorial in fourth and WT in fifth.  Lubbock Christian is ranked 9th with Texas A&M-Kingsville in 13thand DBU in 15th. 
 
The Buffs were ranked 10th in the D2SIDA Top 25 for the second straight week with Northwest Missouri picked first with 13 first-place votes. 
 
BUFFS IN THE NABC POLL
WT has now been ranked in the NABC Top 25 for a program record 53 straight weeks, the last 30 weeks coming in the Top 10. Since Brown took over before the 2014-15 season, WT has been ranked in the Top 25 in 57 weeks including 26 in the Top 5. 
 
BUFFALO CHIPS
Grant enters the weekend within striking distance of moving up to fourth on the all-time scoring list. He is six short of passing Reggie Ramey for fifth and 21 short of passing Jordan Evans into fourth. 
 
Murray became the eighth player in program history to reach 1,300 points following his 26-point performance on Tuesday. At his current pace, the junior could pass Price Brookfield for seventh on the scoring list before the end of the regular season. 
 
Murray continues to lead the Buffs in assists with 5.1 per contest. His 333 career assists are the sixth-most in program history, 15 away from passing Lionel Foster for fifth. 
 
The Buffs owns the fifth-best scoring offense in DII men's basketball at 95.1 points per game. They also rank first in the nation in turnover margin, third in turnovers forced and 3-point field goals per game. They also rank in the Top 10 in scoring margin and steals per game.
 
UP NEXT
WT hits the road for a pair of games against Cameron on Feb. 19 and 20. It will be their first trip to Lawton, Okla. since February 2019.