Live Stats (Thursday / Saturday)
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Game Notes
 
CANYON, Texas – No. 5 West Texas A&M returns to the court this week for a pair of divisional games against Angelo State. The Buffs host the Rams on Thursday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m. before making the return trip to San Angelo on Saturday, Feb. 6. 
 
Kent Johnson and Lucas Kinsey will have the call for Thursday's broadcast with both games being broadcast on the Lone Star Conference Digital Network. live stats will also be available at GoBuffsGo.com. 
 
IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME
WT will play a game this weekend for the first time since defeating UT Permian Basin on Jan. 16 at the First United Bank Center. During that contest, the Buffs host 54.5 percent from the floor and 89.5 percent from the free throw line. Joel Murray had a team-high 24 points with Qua Grant, Zach Toussaint and Jon'il Fugett reaching double figures. 
 
Thursday will be the first game the Tom Brown has been on the bench for the Buffs since Jan. 9 against DBU.
 
A LOOK AT ANGELO STATE
Angelo State enters the week at 5-6 overall and 4-6 in LSC play following a 68-65 victory over No. 17 St. Edward's on Saturday. The win over the Hilltoppers ended a three-game losing streak that dated back to early January.
 
The Rams are scoring 74.6 points per game shooting 46.1 percent from the floor, 30.0 percent from 3-point range and 71.4 percent from the free throw line. They also pull down 35.9 rebounds per game, 1.6 more than their opponents. 
 
Paul Williams has started in all 11 games for ASU this season and is averaging a team-high 14.2 points per game. The senior guard is shooting 40.9 percent from the floor and 85.2 percent from the free throw line. He has scored in double figures in seven straight games including a season-high 20 against Oklahoma Christian and St. Mary's. He also leads the team in assists 3.5 per game. 
 
Sam Baker ranks second on the team in scoring at 12.4 points per contest. He went over 20 points twice in the opening three games for the Rams including a season-high 27 points against Texas A&M-Kingsville. 
 
Devuaghn Thomas is pulling down a team-high 5.1 rebounds per game. The junior recorded a season-best 10 rebounds against OC. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series 49-24 including a 31-5 record in Canyon and 15-2 at the First United Bank Center. Brown is 10-3 against the Rams including 10 straight wins. 
 
 
LOOKING TO ADD TO THE STREAK
WT will put its 11-game road win streak on the line on Saturday when they make the trip to San Angelo. The 11 consecutive wins away from the FUBC are the most in program history and make them one of nine men's basketball programs to have a current streak of 10 or more. 
 
The current streak marks the first time they recorded 10 or more consecutive wins away from Canyon. Under seventh year head coach Tom Brown, WT has set program records for wins in a season, home win streak, road win streak and overall win streak. 
 
MAKING HIS WAY UP THE LIST
Murray moved up to eighth on the WT all-time scoring list during their game against UTPB on Jan. 16. passing NBA Hall of Famer Maurice 'Mo' Cheeks and former LSC Freshman of the Year Tez Dumars. 
 
Through 77 career games, the All-American guard has scored 1,231 points for an average of 16.0 per contest. He has scored in double figures 61 times including 26 games with 20 or more. He currently ranks second in the conference in scoring at 21.8 points per game while playing the third-most minutes per game. 
 
DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS
If you look at the stats, it seems like Grant enjoys playing the Rams no matter the venue. The junior guard has played ASU five times in his young career averaging 23.0 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game while shooting 52.5 percent from the floor, 32.0 percent from three and 73.3 percent from the charity stripe. 
 
Last season, the Waxahachie native recorded a 32-point, 11 rebound double-double in their first meeting followed by a career-high 15 rebounds on the road. He tied a career-high with 32 points in the LSC Semifinal en route to leading the Buffs to their third straight conference tournament title.
 
ZACH ATTACK
Toussaint has been given the launch codes to launch from downtown since he stepped onto campus in the fall of 2019. He shot 44.0 percent from 3-point range last season as a true freshman, the ninth-highest percentage in a single season in program history (min. 50 attempts). 
 
He is shooting 44.4 percent this season connecting on 16-of-36 attempts including tying a career-high with five against UTPB on Jan. 16. He has multiple 3-pointers in five of six games this season. 
 
FIRST TO 157 GETS THE RECORD
A school record could fall this weekend, with Grant and Murray within striking distance of David Chavlovich's career steal record. Murray enters the two-game set against the Rams with 149 steals, eight shy of passing Chavlovich's record of 156. 
 
LET'S LOOK AT THE POLLS
The top five in the NABC Top 25 remained the same for this week's poll with Colorado School of Mines picking up 12 first-place votes. Northern State and Northwest Missouri State both had two first-place votes. Lincoln Memorial is fourtth with WT in fifth followed by Findlay, Truman State, Mercyhurst, Colorado Mesa and Lubbock Christian. Texas A&M-Kingsville moved up eight spots to 14th with DBU in 15th and St. Edward's dropping to 25th. 
 
The Buffs were ranked third in the D2SIDA South Central Poll which means they dropped five spots to 10th in the National poll. 
 
BUFFS IN THE NABC POLL
WT has now been ranked in the NABC Top 25 for a program record 52 straight weeks, the last 29 weeks coming in the Top 10. Since Brown took over before the 2014-15 season, WT has been ranked in the Top 25 in 56 weeks including 25 in the Top 5. 
 
WELCOME TO THE #BUFFNATION AUSTIN
Austin Shelley is the first signing of the 2021 class for Brown and the Buffs after playing at Berwick College. He averaged 16 points game shooting 48.0 percent from the floor and 80.0 percent from the free throw line en route to being named to the All-Australian Team at the U18 School Sport Australia Championship in 2019. 
 
Both his parents, Carolyn and Phil, played professionally in Australia. His sister, Jaz, is a guard for the University of Oregon women's basketball team and his older brother played at Kentucky Wesleyan.
 
BUFFALO CHIPS
Entering the two games against ASU, Grant is 24 points shy of 1,400 for his career. The junior also needs 31 points to pass Price Brookfield and move into sixth on the all-time scoring list. 
 
With his six-assist performance against UTPB, Murray moved up to sixth in career assists passing Dawon Foreman. He is one of only seven Buffs in program history to dish out over 300 assists.
 
Jan. 16's game against UTPB marked the first time this season that the Buffs did not register a dunk. John Brown now leads the dunk counter with eight throw downs following a season-high three in their first victory over UTPB. 
 
The Buffs ranks first in the nation in turnover margin and second in turnovers forced. They also rank third in steals per game and ninth in scoring offense at 92 points per game. Grant's four double-doubles are the 12th most in NCAA DII men's hoops. 
 
UP NEXT
As of Wednesday afternoon, WT is scheduled to face Midwestern State on Thursday, Feb. 11, and Saturday, Feb. 13.