No. 9 Men's Basketball Begins Conference Play at Bill Greehey Arena

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
Thursday, December 4 • 7:30 p.m.
Western New Mexico (5-1, 0-0)
Head Coach: Mark Bunker (14-48)
at #9 St. Mary's (5-0, 0-0)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (37-27)
Broadcast: FloCollege • Play-by-Play: Noah Torr

Saturday, December 6 • 3 p.m.
Sul Ross State (2-3, 0-0)
Head Coach: Xavier Webb (43-85)
at #9 St. Mary's (5-0, 0-0)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (37-27)
Broadcast: FloCollege • Play-by-Play: Rob Shadow

 

Starting Conference Play: The St. Mary's Men's Basketball team remains at home for the beginning of Lone Star Conference play, hosting Western New Mexico (5-1) on Thursday evening and a rematch with Sul Ross State (2-3) on Saturday afternoon. Thursday will be Deck the Halls night at Bill Greehey Arena, with a free hot chocolate station and several festive activities. The games will also be the annual Jingle Mart contests. Bring an unwrapped toy or gift for children for the South Texas Alliance for Orphans for kinship families.

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.

Unblemished November: For the seventh time in school history, the Rattlers were undefeated in the month of November (minimum two games played). The 5-0 start matches the 1982-83 team for most wins in the 11th month of the year.

Top-Ten: In the December 2 NABC poll, the St. Mary's team moved up four spots to No. 9, the team's highest-ever ranking during the NCAA Division II era. In 1969-70, the Rattlers earned a high ranking of No. 4 and were inside the top-10 for the final eight weeks of the season at NAIA. The 1974-75 team also spent the final seven weeks in the top-10. 

History with Western New Mexico: St. Mary's holds a commanding 10-2 lead in the all-time series with the Mustangs and has won seven straight, dating back to 2006. The Rattlers are a perfect 7-0 against WNMU in Bill Greehey Arena and have won all five games since joining the Lone Star Conference.

History with Sul Ross State: Squaring off for the second time in 10 days, the Rattlers stretched its lead to 18-13 in the series with an 89-44 victory on Wednesday. The win was the 10th straight in the series, dating back to 1961. The teams rekindled their rivalry last season when the Lobos joined the Lone Star Conference, though the teams first met on the hardwood back in 1936.

Holding the Lead: St. Mary's has trailed for only 4:35 over the first five games, leading wire-to-wire against Regis, Southeastern Oklahoma State and Sul Ross State. The largest deficit for the Rattlers this season is two points, 25 seconds into the game against Colorado School of Mines.

Triple Threat: Michael Grant became the first true freshman to hit three three-pointers in a game since Jaron Presley hit four on both Dec. 14, 2019 and Feb. 29, 2020 in his first season. Grant scored a career-best 15 points in the win over Sul Ross State on Wednesday, sinking 3-of-7 from the three-point line.

Scoring with Clock Stopped: In the first four games, the Rattlers have shot 80.2 percent from the free throw line, outscoring opponents by 21 points at the charity stripe. The 80.2 percentage ranks 21st 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 5-0 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 sixth time in 92 seasons a team has started the year with at least five 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.

Stop, Thieves: St. Mary's currently ranks third in the Lone Star Conference and 17th in the nation in steals per game, averaging 11.6. DBU leads the league with 16.8 per game, while top-ranked Nova Southeastern leads the nation with 17.0 a night. Senior forward Eddie McPhee and sophomore Lawyer Jones are tied for the team lead with 2.20 per game, which ranks eighth in the Lone Star.

D-D-D-Defense: The Rattlers also lead the league and rank third nationally in scoring defense, allowing opponents to score only 56.4 points per game. McKendree leads the nation, giving up only 52.8 points per contest. StMU ranked 40th a season ago, surrendering 68.7 points a night.

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. 

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.