Men's Basketball Starts 2nd Half at Home

Thursday, February 1 • Texas A&M International • 7:30 p.m.
Texas A&M International (10-9, 6-7)
Head Coach: Mac McConnell (55-88)
at St. Mary's (8-10, 4-8)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (8-10)
Arena: Bill Greehey

Saturday, February 3 • Texas A&M Kingsville (Youth Day) • 3 p.m.
Texas A&M Kingsville (5-13, 3-10)
Head Coach: Omar Gonzalez (5-13)
at St. Mary's (8-10, 4-8)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (8-10)
Arena: Bill Greehey

Opening Tip

•    St. Mary's Men's Basketball returns home to kick off the second half of Lone Star Conference play and is looking to split the season series with both Texas A&M International and Texas A&M Kingsville.

•    The Rattlers hold a commanding 25-13 lead in the all-time series with Texas A&M International, but have dropped the last two at home to move to 12-6 in San Antonio.

•    In the first meeting this season, the Dustdevils pulled out a 73-70 win in Laredo. The Rattlers shot better than the Dustdevils from both the field (50%-43.3%) and the three-point line (43.8%-26.1%), but TAMIU was 15-of-19 from the free throw line, while the StMU was just 3-for-9. Lachlan Bofinger notched a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Jalon Johnson led the team with 13 points and Tyler Caron chipped in 12.

•    With the overtime victory a month ago, Texas A&M Kingsville took a one-game lead in the all-time series, 66-65. The Rattlers hold a 34-27 edge in San Antonio, but have lost four straight at home to the Javelinas.

•    The Javelinas won 80-78 in overtime on Jan. 4, the second-straight game between the two teams to go extra minutes. The teams also played overtime in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Lone Star Conference Tournament. Back in January, Jalon Johnson scored 10 of his 16 points in OT and Franklin Agu recorded the first double-double of his StMU career with 10 points and 10 rebounds. 

•    The watch begins for senior Tyler Caron as he continues to move closer to the 1,000 career point milestone. Caron has 948 points, needing 52 more to become the 23rd 1,000-point scorer in St. Mary's history.

•    Since moving to the starting lineup six games ago, Franklin Agu has averaged 14.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Those numbers are up from 5.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists when he was coming off the bench.

•    At Angelo State on Thursday, the Rattlers recorded more offensive rebounds (21) than defensive ones (20). It is the first time this season and the first time since Jan. 1, 2023 against Texas A&M International the Rattlers grabbed more boards on the offensive end of the floor.

•    Lachlan Bofinger (392), Davion Coleman (398) and Jalon Johnson (391) are all within 10 points of collecting the 400th points of their careers. 

•    Six times this season, St. Mary's has scored 50 or more points in the second half. The Rattlers have scored 146 more points in the second half than the first, averaging 44.3 points after the break and 36.2 in the first half.

•    A season ago, the Rattlers scored over 75 a total of eight times. This season, the team has scored over 75 in 16 of the first 18 games of the year.

•    Lachlan Bofinger leads the Lone Star Conference (and is 17th in the nation) in offensive rebounds with 3.39 per game. He also ranks second in the Lone Star and eighth in the nation with eight double-doubles, trailing only Lathaniel Bastian's 11 (UTPB).

•    The Rattlers have the best bench scoring in the Lone Star Conference, as the team averages 32.00 points from the non-starters. That average also ranks as the 23rd-best in the nation.

•    Senior Diego Gonzalez tied for the third-most steals in a single game when he swiped seven against UAFS on Jan. 18. Gonzalez tied Ky Dell from Feb. 15, 2003 against Drury and was two off the record of nine by both Billy White (2002) and Isaiah Parros (2015).

•    The Rattlers have utilized eight different starting lineups in 12 games this season. Only Jalon Johnson has started all 18 contests, though six Rattlers have played in all 18.

•    The 14.00 offensive rebounds per game this season ranks 9th in the nation and leads the Lone Star Conference. Nova Southeastern leads the nation with 17.00 per contest.

•    Several Rattlers are closing in or recently accomplished career milestones:

    Franklin Agu: 12 rebounds shy of 100

    Lachlan Bofinger: 8 points shy of 400; 25 rebounds shy of 400

    Tyler Caron: 52 points shy 1,000; 7 rebounds shy of 400; 100th assist at ASU (101)

    Davion Coleman: 2 points shy of 400

    Diego Gonzalez: 1 steal shy of 50

    Jalon Johnson: 9 points shy of 400; 11 assists shy of 200

    Micah Jones: 100th StMU point at UTPB (103)

    Edward Manuel: 200th point at ASU (205)

    Seny N'Diaye: 12 points shy of 100; 3 rebounds shy of 150

•    In the overtime loss at Midwestern State, the Rattlers collected a school record 29 offensive rebounds (Division II era), breaking the previous record of 28 against Huston-Tillotson on Dec. 1, 2009. St. Mary's out-rebounded the Mustangs 62-to-33 in the game.

•    Senior transfer Davion Coleman earned the first-ever Lone Star Offensive Player of the Week honors after helping lead the team to a 2-0 start. Coleman averaged 25.5 points, scoring a career-best 29 in the win over Regis.

•    St. Mary's has made at least one three-pointer in 180 consecutive games, dating back to Jan. 14, 2017. The Rattlers are averaging 7.1 triples a contest and 10 different players have made at least one this year.