TYLER, TEXAS - The University of Texas at Tyler men's basketball team will head to Canyon, Texas for their first contest of the 2021-22 season against a nationally-ranked opponent in a 4 p.m. meeting with #11 West Texas A&M.
 
Both teams enter the Saturday afternoon match-up ranked within the top five of the latest D2SIDA South Central Region Rankings as the Buffs entered the weekend at no. 2 and the Patriots in the no. 5 spot. UT Tyler is 9-1 on the year and entered the receiving votes category of the latest NABC Division II Top 25 Poll for the second this season on Tuesday afternoon heading into the weekend's action.
 
The Patriots are one of just three remaining undefeated LSC teams in conference play with a record of 1-0, having competed in just one of their three scheduled conference games due to COVID-19 protocols within opposing teams.
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
UT Tyler started out the 2022 calendar year and the Lone Star Conference schedule in dramatic fashion last Sunday afternoon, coming from behind to move to 1-0 in conference play with a 69-68 win over Midwestern State. The Patriots never led at any point in the second half of action after falling behind 42-35 at the halftime break until Micah Fuller and Paul Djoko combined to knock down three straight three-point attempts, that latter of which proved to be the game winner.
 
That game winner from Djoko with just 16 seconds left on the clock came in the midst of two key defensive stands for the Patriots that prevented the Mustangs from scoring, and allowed the final three-point make from Djoko to bring the game to it's 69-68 final. UT Tyler used the three-point shot throughout the evening to counteract a poor shooting performance from the field in the second half, knocking down 50 percent (11-of-22) of their three-point opportunities for the game.
 
Graduate student Zaire Mateen led the Patriots with 16 points on the night, scoring in double-digits alongside Da'Zhon Wyche and Micah Fuller, who each had 10 points. Milan Szabo led the rebounding effort on the night for the Patriots with seven, while Micah Fuller and Eysan Wiley each hauled in four rebounds each.
 
PATRIOTS IN THE POLLS
 
 UT Tyler returned to the receiving votes category in this week's edition of the NABC Division II Top 25 Poll with a total of four votes. The Patriots have now received votes in the NABC poll in two different weeks, and earned the program's first ever national ranking at the Division II level back on Dec. 15^th at no. 25 in the D2SIDA Men's Basketball National Poll.
 
The Patriots also moved up a spot to no. 5 in the latest edition of the D2SIDA South Central Region poll, and have appeared within the top 10 of the rankings in each of the last five editions of the poll. UT Tyler rose to as high as no. 3 back on Dec. 13^th in the week five edition of the rankings.
 
A STACKED LEAGUE
 
The Lone Star Conference has once again proven itself as an elite men's basketball league across the Division II landscape this season, and even with the wave of postponements sweeping across the conference since the beginning of conference play, the strength and the depth of the league has seemingly never been greater. 12 of the 17 teams have navigated the early stages of the season with records better than .500, and seven of the 10 top teams in the South Central Region hail from the LSC according to the D2SIDA South Central Region poll.
 
The wave of postponements throughout the beginning stages of the LSC schedule have made for a cloudy early season conference race, as two teams (Texas A&M-Kingsville, Western New Mexico) have yet to compete in a league game due to postponements, and four teams have been limited to just one contest. Lubbock Christian, UT Tyler and Texas A&M International are the only three teams to remain unbeaten in LSC play outside of the two squads that haven't yet competed in a game, however all three teams have been able to compete in just one conference game thus far.
 
Being able to simply play in a game has proven challenging enough for all of the LSC's competitors, but taking advantage of opportunities against the best teams in the league when available has never been more important. UT Tyler will have that opportunity on Saturday against #11 West Texas A&M.
 
THE BIGGEST TEST TO DATE
 
It will be no secret that Saturday's meeting with the Buffs will be head coach Louis Wilson and company's biggest test to date following their 9-1 start to the season. The Patriots have gotten off to the best start in program history, proven to be statistically one of the top teams in the Lone Star Conference, and have put themselves squarely in contention for postseason consideration.
 
A meeting with West Texas A&M, on their home court, will provide the Patriots with as tough of a test as the Lone Star Conference can offer on Saturday afternoon. The Buffs are 11-0 inside the First United Bank Center this season, and 75-9 on their home floor under head coach Tom Brown.
 
Brown led the Buffs to three straight 30-plus win seasons from 2017-20 and three consecutive South Central Region Titles entering this year. West Texas A&M finished as the Division II National Runner-Ups last year, and have claimed four straight LSC Regular Season Championships.
 
Both UT Tyler and West Texas A&M share a common loss to UAFS, while the Buff's only other defeat on the season came back on Nov. 18 to the current no. 1 ranked team in the country in Lubbock Christian by a 73-66 final.
 
A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
 
UT Tyler enters Saturday's game as the top ranked scoring offense (81.6 ppg) and top three-point shooting percentage (40.5 percent) in the Lone Star Conference. The Patriots also sport the best rebounding margin for the year (7.3), and have outrebounded all but one team so far in 2021-22.
 
Three Patriots average double-digit scoring figures, led by graduate student Micah Fuller, who has scored in double-digits in nine out of his 10 games this season. Fuller averages 12.8 points a game, while Da'Zhon Wyche (11.1) and Eysan Wiley (10.0) rank second and third on the team respectively in scoring.
 
The Patriots rank third in the LSC in scoring defense (62.0 ppg), and rank 11^th nationally with an average of 17.8 turnovers forced per game. UT Tyler sits sixth in all of Division II basketball with a scoring margin of +19.6, and 13^th in the country in three-point field goal percentage (40.5 percent).
 
Milan Szabo leads UT Tyler with an average of 6.7 rebounds per game, and has scored 10 or more points on five different occasions in 2021-22. Fuller ranks third in Division II basketball with a free-throw percentage of 96.0 for the season, having connected on 48 of his 50 attempts for the year.
 
SCOUTING AND HISTORY WITH THE BUFFS
 
UT Tyler and West Texas A&M have met just one time prior to Saturday afternoon's contest back on Feb. 20, 2020. The Buffs defeated UT Tyler by a 73-62 final tally inside the Herrington Patriot Center, making tomorrow's clash in Canyon the first time the Patriots have visited West Texas A&M on their home floor.
 
The Buffs slid back to no. 11 in the latest NABC Top 25 Poll following a 75-69 loss against UAFS on Dec. 31. West Texas A&M rebounded after just their second loss of the 2021-22 season with convincing 91-56 and 79-69 victories over Oklahoma Christian and Texas A&M-Commerce, the latter of which came on Thursday night against a Lion squad that entered the First United Bank Center receiving votes in the national polls.
 
West Texas A&M also sports three options that average double digits in Zach Toussaint (14.9), Larry Wise (13.9) and Julius Brown (12.4). The Buffs rank fifth in the LSC in both scoring offense (79.9 ppg) and scoring defense (63.5 ppg), and limit opponents to the second lowest field goal defense percentage (39.3 percent) in the league.