(RV) West Texas A&M vs. Missouri Western
Date	Friday, October 31st | 7:00 p.m.
Location	St. Joseph, Missouri - Civic Arena
Follow Along	Listen | Live Stats
Watch	MIAA Network (Pay-Per-View)
Additional Links	Game Notes

CANYON, Texas – The Buffaloes open up their 2025-26 campaign on Friday night as they travel to St. Joseph, Missouri to take part in the D2CCA Tipoff Classic at Civic Arena. WT takes on the Griffons of Missouri Western State with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m.
 
NEW LOOK BUFFS
The always talented Buffaloes return just five players from last year's roster with three of them seeing playing time in 2024-25. Seven true freshmen join three transfers to round out the squad under 12th year head coach Tom Brown.
 
D2CCA TIPOFF CLASSIC
WT participates for in the D2CCA Tipoff Classic for the third consecutive year after hosting last year's event in Canyon. This year's D2CCA Tipoff men's field features Missouri Western, Northwest Missouri State, Pittsburg State, Minnesota State, Missouri-St. Louis and West Texas A&M.
 
OPENING THE SEASON
West Texas A&M opens their 104th season of men's basketball on Friday night in St. Joseph. The Buffs are 1,737-1,010 (.633) all-time including 285-75 since Brown and his staff came to Canyon in 2014.
 
2024-25 RECAP
The 2024-25 campaign saw WT made the NCAA National Tournament for a ninth-consecutive season where three freshmen made the LSC All-Freshman team. The Buffs also posted a 3.48 GPA in the classroom, tops in the Lone Star Conference for a second consecutive year. WT was named a recipient of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Team Academic Excellence Award as Brock Mishak and Nicholas Jett were named to the NABC Honor Court.
 
NABC DIVISION II PRESEASON POLL
The Buffaloes are receiving votes in the preseason edition of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II poll announced earlier this week. The South Central Region is represented by Dallas Baptist (3rd), Colorado School of Mines (10th), Black Hills State (17th), Lubbock Christian (25th), St. Mary's (RV), West Texas A&M (RV) and Colorado Mesa (RV).
 
SCOUTING THE GRIFFONS
Missouri Western will feature a new-look roster for 2025-26 as they graduated nine seniors, losing 14 of 15 members of last year's squad. The Griffons signed 13 new student-athletes during the preseason. In the signing class, MoWest signed five freshmen and eight transfers - three from junior college, one from the NAIA and four from NCAA institutions - three of whom followed Coach McKowen from Upper Iowa.
 
Devin Butler is the lone returner for the Griffs as the senior guard from Ridgeland, South Carolina saw time in 31 games with one start as the Virginia Military Institute transfer averaged 3.3 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.
 
The Griffons are coming off of a 18-13 mark during the 2024-25 campaign as they went 9-10 during MIAA action. Missouri Western advanced to the opening round of the MIAA Championships in Kansas City before falling to Rogers State, 59-56. 
 
Missouri Western has put together back-to-back seasons with 17 or more wins in men's basketball for the first time since the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, the Griffons look to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021.
 
MWSU HEAD COACH BROOKS McKOWEN
Brooks McKowen comes to MWSU from Upper Iowa University, where he spent 12 seasons guiding the Peacocks, amassing a 209-148 career record and three NCAA Tournament appearances. Upper Iowa competed for 10 years in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference before moving to the Great Lakes Valley Conference the past two years.
 
McKowen's teams have won at least 21 games in three of the previous four seasons, including a 21-9 mark in 2024-25, a 22-10 record in 23-24 and a program best 26-6 season in 21-22. The Peacocks have posted winning seasons in 10 of McKowen's 12 years on the sidelines. Known for their trademark fast-paced brand, the Peacocks have averaged at least 80 points per game in each of the last 12 seasons.
 
Prior to UIU, the Fairbank, Iowa native spent two seasons as the top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, Minnesota.
 
THE SERIES
Friday night marks just the fifth all-time meeting on the hardwood between West Texas A&M and Missouri Western. The series dates back to 1990 and each team has won a pair of contests. The first two meetings came in the NCAA Tournament (1990, 1994). Friday is the second meeting between the two in St. Joseph as the Griffons claimed a 78-61 win back on December 6, 1996. The last meeting came on November 28, 1998 in Canyon as the Buffs were victorious 83-69.
 
WT HEAD COACH TOM BROWN
Tom Brown, who enters his 12th season at the helm of the West Texas A&M men's basketball program, has built the Buffs into one of the elite NCAA Division II programs in the nation.  He has guided WT to nine consecutive NCAA Tournaments including the Buffs first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship game in 2021. 
 
Brown was hired as the 17th head coach in program history on April 16, 2014. In the past 10 seasons, Coach Brown and his staff are 268-62 (.812) and an average of 27 wins a season with appearances in the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four (2) and National Title game. During his time in Canyon, Brown is 285-75 (.792) overall and 155-43 (.783) in league action. 
 
SEASON OPENERS UNDER BROWN
WT has produced an 8-3 record in season openers under head coach Tom Brown including 3-0 at home. In season openers under Brown, the Buffs have outscored opponents 906-826 with their largest margin coming from a 100-70 victory over Texas A&M-Commerce in 2020.
 
W, 79-65 vs. #25 Ferris State
W, 88-73, vs. Illinois Springfield
L, 78-62, vs. #1 Northwest Missouri State
W, 72-63, vs. #4 Colorado Mesa
W, 100-70, vs. Texas A&M-Commerce
W, 99-89 (OT), vs. #6 Lincoln Memorial
W, 68-62 (OT), vs. Drury
W, 90-69, vs. Adams State
W, 86-72, vs. Azusa Pacific
L, 91-81, at Fort Lewis
L, 94-81, at Colorado State-Pueblo
 
LSC PRESEASON POLL
West Texas A&M has been tabbed fifth in the 2025-26 Lone Star Conference Men's Basketball Preseason Poll
 
Defending Regional Champion Dallas Baptist claimed 42 of the possible 51 first place votes for a total of 850 points to sit atop of the poll followed by St. Mary's (two first place, 724), Lubbock Christian (four first place, 720), St. Edward's (669) and West Texas A&M (two first place, 654) to round out the top five.
 
Angelo State and Eastern New Mexico tied for sixth with 592 points followed by Midwestern State (558), UT Permian Basin (468), Texas A&M International (one first place, 350), Texas A&M-Kingsville (330), Cameron (301), Oklahoma Christian (266), UT Tyler (260), Western New Mexico (193), UT Dallas (188) and Sul Ross State (88).
 
St. Mary's Damani Claxton was tabbed the league's Preseason Player of the Year. The Bronx, New York native averaged 17.1 points, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game last season. He made 45 3-pointers and shot 80.4 percent from the free throw line. Claxton was named LSC Newcomer of the Year and earned first-team All-LSC honors.