This Week in Rattlers Basketball
Sul Ross State • Wednesday, November 26 • 3 p.m.
Sul Ross State (2-2)
Head Coach: Xavier Webb (43-85)
at #RV St. Mary's (4-0)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (36-27)
Broadcast: FloCollege • Play-by-Play: Rob Shadow
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Staying Home: The St. Mary's Men's Basketball team keeps the home stretch going with a non-conference game against Lone Star foe Sul Ross State. The two teams will tip on Wednesday at 3, so sneak out of work early on the day before Thanksgiving and join the Rattlers inside Bill Greehey Arena.
Home Cooking: St. Mary's begins the season with its first seven games at home and 12 of its first 13 games will be played in San Antonio, as the two games of the River City Classic on Dec. 16-17 will be played across town at the NISD Sports Gym. It ties the school record for most games at home to open the year, knotting the seven the 1992-93 started with at home. That team finished 12-15 overall and 4-6 in the Heart of Texas Conference.
History with Sul Ross State: The Rattlers and Lobos rekindled their rivalry last season when Sul Ross State joined the Lone Star Conference. The two teams played 12 times in the 1936-1939 seasons, but did not face each other from 1963 to 1989, and from 2010 through last year. St. Mary's holds a 17-13 lead in the meetings and has won nine straight, dating back to 1961.
Holding the Lead: St. Mary's has trailed for only 4:35 over the first four games, leading wire-to-wire against both Regis and Southeastern State. The largest deficit for the Rattlers this season is two points, 25 seconds into the game against Colorado School of Mines.
Scoring with Clock Stopped: In the first four games, the Rattlers have shot 79.5 percent from the free throw line, outscoring opponents by 20 points at the charity stripe. The 79.5 percentage ranks 30th in the nation, quite a change from last year where the Rattlers ranked 285th out of 290 teams with a 62.7 percentage.
It's Been A While: The 4-0 start for the Rattlers is the first since the 1997-98 team began 6-0 and advanced to the NAIA Round of 32 with a 20-7 record. This is the eighth time in 92 seasons a team has started the year with at least four wins, and the record for the best start is 8-0 by the 1975-76 team that finished 22-6 and advanced to the NAIA District IV Playoffs.
Stifling Defense: The Rattlers forced three shot clock violations against MSU Denver on Saturday. It is the most since Bubba Meyer took over as head coach three years ago. Five other times in the previous two seasons the defense has forced two 30-second violations in a game.
Perfection: Graduate student Sebastian Mendoza became the first Rattler this season to not miss a shot from the field in a game (minimum four attempts), when he was 4-for-4 against MSU Denver on Saturday. Mendoza also hit both of his three-point tries for a season-high 10 points, surpassing his total from the first three games combined.Â
Stop, Thieves: St. Mary's currently ranks second in the Lone Star Conference and 18th in the nation in steals per game, averaging 11.5. DBU leads the league and the nation with 16.2 per game. Senior forward Eddie McPhee leads the team with 2.25 thefts a contest, while sophomore Lawyer Jones is second with 2.0.
D-D-D-Defense: The Rattlers also lead the league and rank sixth nationally in scoring defense, allowing opponents to score only 59.5 points per game. McKendree leads the nation, giving up only 45.3 points per contest. StMU ranked 40th a season ago, surrendering 68.7 points a night.
Crashing the Boards: Graduate transfer Olaverr (Nacho) Camacho leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 11th nationally with 4.75 offensive rebounds per game, and he is second in the league and 72nd nationally with 8.5 total rebounds per game. He trails only Lubbock Christian's Antonio Pusateri (9.0) in the league statistics. Camacho has had at least eight rebounds in each of the four games and has 34 on the year.
Preseason Honor: Senior Damani Claxton was honored before the first ball even tipped in the air, as he was named the Lone Star Conference Preseason Player of the Year in a vote by the league's head coaches, media, and sports information personnel. Claxton is averaging 18.0 points per game this season and has scored at least a dozen in all four contests. The guard is also a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line and is one of 33 (min. 2.5 made/game) to remain unblemished on the year.Â
Picked Second: St. Mary's was chosen to finish second in the 2025-26 Lone Star Conference race. DBU totaled 850 points and collected 42 of the possible 51 first-place votes to be the favorite in the poll. The Rattlers received 724 points and two first-place votes for second, while Lubbock Christian (4, 720) is third, St. Edward's (0, 669) and West Texas A&M (2, 654) round out the top five. It is the highest-ever predicted finish for the Rattlers since joining the LSC in 2019-20.
What's Returning: St. Mary's returns five letterwinners off last year's squad in Damani Claxton, Lawyer Jones, Eddie McPhee, Sebastian Mendoza and Wayne Wiggins. Those five players accounted for 54.2 percent of the team's scoring in 2024-25, as well as 38.1 percent of the rebounding, 58.7 percent of assists, 64.9 percent of steals and 48.6 percent of the blocked shots.
Getting Votes: The Rattlers received 46 votes in the Preseason NABC Poll. Five StMU opponents in 2025-26 are also appearing as DBU is ranked No. 3, Colorado School of Mines is No. 10, Lubbock Christian is No. 25 and both Central Oklahoma and West Texas A&M are receiving votes.
Made to be Broken: The 16 victories for the Rattlers last season in Lone Star Conference play established a new school single season record for conference victories. Both the 1996-97 (15-1) and 2014-15 (15-5) teams shared the previous record with 15 league wins.
What's New in 2025-26: The Rattlers added three freshmen (Ayden Clarke, Michael Grant, Raken Vargas) to the team this season in addition to a trio of junior college transfers (Justin Britt, Savon Myers, JJ Walton) and a pair of senior four-year transfers (Olaverr Camacho, Freddie Cooper).
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