The men’s basketball team will be in action Wednesday night in Moody against Texas A&M Corpus Christi after picking up their first conference road win against McNeese last Thursday.
This will be the second game played between these two teams this year. In the first matchup, the Wildcats went and played the Islanders in Corpus Christi and lost 72-60.
Sophomore guard Jaren Lewis and junior guard Drake Green led that game with 11 points each.
The men come into the second game against the Islanders at ninth in the conference with a 6-8 Southland record and a 12-13 overall record. But the Wildcats have won four out of their last five and our coming off their first conference road win of the season at McNeese State.
Corpus Christi comes into the game in third place in the conference with a 9-5 record in Southland play and a 16-9 overall record, and might be the only team playing better than ACU, having won seven straight.
Sophomore guard B.J. Maxwell talked about the confidence of the team heading back into Moody after its big road win.
“We are playing with a lot of confidence right now and we’re on edge,” Maxwell said. “Coming back to Moody Wednesday night we’re expecting to continue to play tough and be locked in. We feed off the energy and the vibe we get playing at home.”
Redshirt freshman center Jalone Friday leads his team in scoring heading into the game with 14.2 points per game putting him at 12th in the conference.
Lewis has the edge in rebounds for his team as he is averaging 6.6 a game.
The men will be up against two talented players in senior forward Rashawn Thomas and junior guard Ehab Amin.
Thomas is currently first in the Southland conference and 16th in the entire NCAA Div. I in scoring with 21.3 points per game and is also first in Southland in rebounding averaging 8.7 a game.
Amin is first in NCAA Div. I in steals averaging an impressive 3.44 a game. He also is fourth in the Southland Conference in scoring with 17.2 points per game. Amin is also approaching the Islanders’ single-season record for steals of 88.
“Stopping Rashawn Thomas is a major key, we are definitely going to focus in on him and Ehab Amin,” Maxwell said. “We have to continue to be us on both ends of the floor and make tough winning plays.”
A season ago, the Islanders visited Moody in a similar spot, ranked second in the conference. The Wildcats gave them everything they had, but the Islanders earned a 74-69 win in what was an instant classic. As of now TAMUCC is just two games out of first place.
The game will tip-off immediately following the women’s game as part of the double-header.
