Date	Time	Opponent	Location	Venue	Links
Thursday, February 22	7:30 p.m.	St. Mary's	San Antonio, Texas	Bill Greehey Arena	Stats | Video | Game Notes

 
CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M travels to San Antonio on Thursday, Feb. 22 for a Lone Star Conference crossover matchup with the Rattlers of St. Mary's. The Buffs (24-1, 18-0 LSC) and Rattlers (11-13, 7-11 LSC) are scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m. at the Bill Greehey Arena.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
A live stream will be available for the game provided by the St. Mary's athletic communications department through the Lone Star Conference Digital Network. Fans can buy a yearly pass for $140 that grants access to all broadcasts for the LSC including previous years or a $30 monthly subscription. Live stats will also be provided for fans to stay up to date.
 
NABC TOP 25 POLL
The poll saw no change at the one through three spots with WT grabbing all 16 first-place votes followed by Nova Southeastern and Fort Lewis. Minnesota State took over the No. 4 spot after ranking fifth last week, and Gannon jumped up two spots to No. 5.
 
WT is one of five South Central regional programs ranked with the Buffs leading the way at No. 1. Fort Lewis (3^rd), Colorado Mesa (6^th), DBU (8^th), and Colorado School of Mines (21^st) earned spots in the poll. Lubbock Christian received votes in the poll.
 
SCOUTING ST. MARY'S
The Rattlers enter Thursday's contest with an overall record of 11-13 and 7-11 in Lone Star Conference play. St. Mary's comes off a 95-81 victory over UAFS in San Antonio. First-year head coach Bubba Meyer took over the program ahead of the 2023-24 season and has produced an 11-13 record in his first season.
 
On the season, StMU averages 82.3 points per game on 45.6 percent shooting from the field while giving up 81.5 points per game to opponents. Four players average double-digit scoring for the Rattlers paced by Davion Coleman's 14.0 per contest. Tyler Caron (11.7), Laclan Bofinger (11.6), and Keith Dinwiddie (10.0) also average double figures. Bofinger leads the team with 8.8 rebounds per game while Jalon Johnson paces the team with 115 assists.
 
THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series with St. Mary's 19-2 including 8-2 in San Antonio. Tom Brown is 2-1 against the Rattlers in his tenure at the helm of the Buffs. Thursday marks the first time Bubba Meyer has faced WT in his career.  
 
W, 85-67 – Canyon, 2023
L, 98-100 – San Antonio, 2022
W, 96-77 – San Antonio, 2019
W, 67-55 – Topeka, Kan. (NCAA), 2001
W, 74-60 – Stephenville, 1999
 
THE BROWN ERA
Head coach Tom Brown enters his 10th season at the helm of Buffalo Basketball, building the program into one of the elite NCAA Division II schools in the nation.  He has guided the Buffs to seven consecutive NCAA Tournaments including the Buffs first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship game in 2021. Under Brown, the Buffs are 260-58 since he took the reins in 2014 for an incredible winning percentage of 81.8%.  Brown registered his 250^thcareer victory on Jan. 13, 2024, after the Buffs defeated UT Permian Basin, 77-69, to become just the second coach in program history to reach the 250-win plateau. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
West Texas A&M men's basketball rolled past Western New Mexico on Saturday at the First United Bank Center, 100-78. With the win, the Buffs improve to 24-1 overall, including 21 straight wins, to remain the only undefeated team in the Lone Star Conference at 18-0. Three Buffs reached double-digit scoring on Saturday afternoon highlighted by a game and season-high 27 from Zach Toussaint's team-high. Larry Wise followed Toussaint with 25 points while Kieran Elliott added 13. Elliott also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds while Wise and Ahamed Mohammed added eight each.  
 
RECORD WATCH 
Zach Toussaint is moving his way up the ladder in the program's 3-point career leaderboard.  The Johnsburg, Ill., product ranks second all-time with 358 threes after passing former Buff Jordan Evans (2015-2018) in the Buffs' win over Arkansas Fort Smith on Nov. 30. Larry Wise also moved into the top 10 of 3-point shots made, ranking seventh with 175 made threes. David Chavlovich (2014-18) is the program's all-time 3-point leader with 388. 
 
Toussaint and fellow senior Larry Wise both broke the 1,000-point mark last season. Currently, Toussaint ranks fourth with 1,694 after passing Joel Murray in the Buffs' win over Cameron on Feb. 1. Wise continues to move up the scoring list as the Waxahachie, Texas now ranks seventh with 1,501 points.
 
Toussaint is also the program's all-time games played leader after breaking the record on Jan. 27, 2024 against UT Tyler.  
 
ON THIS DAY: FEB. 22
Thursday's game marks the 26^th time the Buffs have played on this date and first since 2020. WT is 13-12 all time on Feb. 22 but just 5-5 in its last 10 on this date.  The Buffs last met St. Mary's on this date in 1938 where WT defeated the Rattlers 38-33 in San Antonio.
 
W, 93-72 – Texas A&M-Commerce, 2020
L, 66-67 – Texas A&M-Commerce, 2018
L, 82-83 – Texas A&M-Commerce, 2014
W, 60-56 – #5 Midwestern State, 2012
L, 79-82 – Midwestern State, 2006
 
BEVO FRANCIS TOP 50 WATCH LIST
On Thursday, West Texas A&M senior Larry Wise advanced to the Top 50 for the 2023-2024 Bevo Francis Award presented to the top player in Small College Basketball, awarded by SmallCollegeBasketball.com. The honor is awarded to a deserving player whose university is affiliated within NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA Division I, NAIA Division II, USCAA and NCCAA.
 
The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character, and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.
 
On March 15th, the Top 25 players will be announced. On April 5th, the finalists of this year's award will be announced, followed by the Bevo Francis Award winner being crowned on April 8th.
 
TREVOR HUDGINS TOP 25 WATCH LIST
Small College Basketball announced West Texas A&M senior Zach Toussaint was named to the Trevor Hudgins Top-25 Watch List. Toussaint becomes the first Buff to be named to the watch list after the award was announced in November 2023.
 
The Trevor Hudgins Award will be presented annually to the senior who has had the finest overall four-year career within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be overall career statistics and achievements, team achievements, awards, and personal character. The player must have played his entire career at the small college level. This will be the highest award given to a four-year player within Small College Basketball.
 
LSC PRESEASON FAVORITE
WT was voted to repeat as Lone Star Conference regular season champs with 703 total points including 34 of the possible 45 first-place votes. Angelo State came in second in the preseason poll with 675 points and nine first-place votes. St. Edward's (600, 1 fpv) came in third followed by Lubbock Christian (564, 1 fpv) and DBU (522) to round out the top five. Texas A&M-Kingsville, voted to finish sixth, tallied 497 points with St. Mary's following at 443 and Eastern New Mexico at 377. Midwestern State (298) and UAFS (282) finish the top 10. Texas A&M International (278), Western New Mexico (216), UT Permian Basin (208), Oklahoma Christian, (183), UT Tyler (176), and Cameron (93) rounded out the poll.
 
THE LONE STAR
The 2023-24 LSC basketball schedule will feature 16 men's teams in two divisions with each team playing a double round-robin schedule within their division. Additionally, teams will play eight crossover competitions against teams from the opposite division for a total of 22 conference games.
 
The LSC Basketball Championships will feature an 8-team field in 2024 with seeding based on the 22 conference games. The East and West Division winners automatically qualify for the LSC Tournament but are not guaranteed a top two seed. The championships are set to take place March 7-8-9-10, 2024, at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
 
2022-23 REVIEW
The Buffs come off another successful campaign after finishing 27-7 in 2022-23 and claiming the program's sixth-consecutive Lone Star Conference Tournament title. In the LSC Championship game, Zach Toussaint drained a pull-up jump shot with three seconds left to give WT a 64-63 win over No. 19 Angelo State. After receiving the automatic qualifier, the Buffs were selected as the top seed in the region and hosted the regional tournament. After a 78-56 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville and a 69-59 win over No. 23 Angelo State, WT matched up with No. 21 Black Hills State for a spot in the Elite Eight. The game came down to the last tenth of a second as Damion Thornton's game-winner was waved off as the Yellow Jackets advanced with a 68-67 victory.
 
UP NEXT
WT stays on the road for a Saturday, Feb. 24 matchup with St. Edward's in Austin. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. inside the St. Edward's Recreation and Athletics Center.
 
FOLLOW THE BUFFS
Fans can follow and stay up to date on all the Buff action on online and on social media.  Follow the Buffs on Twitter (@WestTXD2Hoops), Instagram (@WTAMU_MBB), and Facebook (/WTAMUMBB).