STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State Men’s Basketball is riding an eight-game home winning streak and back-to-back wins in Wisdom Gym against Grand Canyon ahead of their 7 p.m. matchup on Thursday night in Wisdom Gym.
For the first time in the D1 era, Texan Men’s Basketball will host a “Purple Out” game in Wisdom Gym. Early-arriving fans will receive a free purple shirt, commemorating the final Purple Out night inside Wisdom Gym. Fans are encouraged to wear Tarleton purple to show their support for the Texans.
The Texans (10-15 overall, 5-5 WAC) are a half game behind Seattle U and CBU for third in the WAC. Grand Canyon (17-7, 7-2) is 1.5 games behind Utah Valley for the top seed in next month’s WAC Tournament.
Tarleton State is on an eight-game home winning streak this season. The Purple and White are tied for the 26th longest active home win streak in the nation. The streak is the second longest in the WAC to GCU’s 11, and the longest by any D1 school in the state of Texas. The Texans are 8-1 at home this season. Their lone loss was the home opener to Sam Houston (11/7). Tarleton currently holds a perfect 4-0 record in Wisdom Gym during WAC play. Across the past three seasons, the Purple and White are 34-7 in the friendly confines of Wisdom Gym. Last season, the Texans were 8-2 at home in WAC play, and 7-2 the season before in conference play. Tarleton is 19-4 at home in WAC play the past three years.
Tarleton State has won the last two games in Wisdom Gym against the GCU Lopes. A season ago, the Texans and the Lopes entered 1-2 in the league fighting for a regular season conference championship. In the end, Tarleton State knocked off GCU 77-74, with the first court storm of the D1 era ensuing. Two seasons ago, the Texans routed the Lopes, 81-62 in Wisdom Gym.
GCU is 21-18 all-time in the state of Texas. The Lopes have lost their previous two meetings in the state dating back to last season’s back-to-back losses at Tarleton State and ACU.
Bubu Benjamin has been back in his groove as of late. After starting WAC play with three of the first four games with less than 10 points, he has scored in double figures in the last six. He averaged 15 points during that span with each of the last three scoring 15+.
The Texans lead the WAC shooting 74.7 percent from the free throw line throughout the entire season. In conference games, the Purple and White are shooting 80.2 percent from the line, leading the league by over seven percent ahead of Utah Tech (73.0). This season Tarleton has shot 90 percent or better three times, including twice in WAC play.
Karim Elgizawy earned his first collegiate start on 2/8 at Utah Valley. He became the ninth different Texan to make their first career start this season and the 11th different player to start.
The freshman had not played more 19 minutes in a single game and had only played 10 minutes in four games prior to his start. Elgizawy committed seven TOs while scoring three points. He made his Texan and collegiate debut on Dec. 29 against Florida A&M. The guard from Cairo, Egypt converted on a finger roll for his first point. He made his first triple of his career, his only attempt of the game in 17 minutes of action. Elgizawy was the youngest Egyptian on Egypt’s 2023 FIBA World Cup Team. Elgizawy played in Greece in qualification rounds and in the Philippines in the first round where he averaged 2.8 points per game across four contests totaling 48 minutes. He helped lead his team to the U18 continental championship-winning team in 2022 in Madagascar.
The Texans are 21-11 in the month of February during their D1 era. Last year, TSU was 8-0 in the month of February, part of their 11-game winning streak. The Purple and White won their last 10 games in February before their loss to Seattle on Thursday.
The Texans love playing at home and the numbers agree. Tarleton State is averaging 11.8 more points than their opponent in home games but score 19.8 points less than their opponent on the road. Tarleton averages 76 points at home to just 56 on the road. TSU shoots 48.9 percent from the floor at home and 39.8 percent on the road. The Texans force just over 14 turnovers on the road and 21 at home. Leading scorer Benjamin is averaging 18.7 points at home compared to just 13.4 on the road.
Tarleton State will host Seattle U on Saturday night at 7 p.m. to end the week. The Texans seek to avenge last week’s road loss at the Redhawk Center.
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