TYLER, TEXAS – The University of Texas at Tyler men's basketball team will close out regular season play this week with a trio of road Lone Star Conference games on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
 
The Patriots will travel to Lawton, Okla. on Tuesday night for a rescheduled contest against Cameron at 7:30 p.m., and will then head to Odessa, Texas and San Angelo, Texas on Thursday and Saturday for games against UT Permian Basin and Angelo State. UT Tyler begins the week with a record of 15-7, and a league mark of 6-6.
 
HEADING DOWN THE STRETCH
 
UT Tyler closed out their 2021-22 regular season home schedule last weekend with a Thursday night win over St. Mary's, and a Saturday afternoon loss against. St. Edward's. Seniors Da'Zhon Wyche (17), Micah Fuller (14) and Soloman Thomas (14) helped the Patriots to that 70-62 win over St. Mary's on Thursday as the three representatives with double-digit scoring figures.
 
UT Tyler stiffened up defensively in the second half for the second contest in a row, limiting the Rattlers to just nine made field goals in the second half to pull away with the win. That defensive pressure combined with a key 11-2 run midway through the second half allowed the Patriots to gain and the maintain a lead from the 13:01 mark and on after entering the halftime break tied at 34-34. Thomas scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half alone, while Wyche and Fuller combined for 25 of the 34 points for the Patriots in the first half.
 
The Patriots honored five seniors in Eysan Wiley, Zaire Mateen, Soloman Thomas, Da'Zhon Wyche and Micah Fuller as part of their annual Senior Day celebration prior to tip-off of Saturday's game, but couldn't overcome 10 made three-pointers by the Hilltoppers once action began. St. Edward's led 12-2 within the first five minutes of the ballgame, and never looked back, maintaining a double-digit lead from the 14:12 mark of the first half and on to end the UT Tyler four-game win streak.
 
THE CURRENT SITUATION
 
UT Tyler will now have just three games left on the regular season schedule this weekend to improve on their Lone Star Conference standing and continue to build on their resume to potentially earn a spot in the South Central Regional Tournament. The Patriots enter this week at the no. 10 spot in the LSC standings with a conference winning percentage at .500 (6-6).
 
The top 12 teams in the final regular season standings in terms of conference winning percentage will comprise the 12 spots available in the 2022 LSC Men's Basketball Championships. The top four seeds in that field will receive a first-round bye, while the no. 5-12 seeds will compete in first round action on Tuesday, Mar. 1 at the higher seed's host site.
 
UT Tyler will need to jump into the top 4-8 seeds in order to host that first round game inside the Herrington Patriot Center next Tuesday night, while the winners of those first round games will advance to the quarterfinals to face either the no. 1-4 seeds at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas on Thursday, Mar. 3^rd. Those quarterfinal match-ups and the semifinal games slated for next Saturday and Sunday will all take place inside the Comerica Center.
 
The winner of that tournament and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament will receive an automatic bid into the South Central Regional Tournament scheduled for Mar. 12-15 at the no. 1 seed's host site. The other six seeds available in the field will be at-large bids based on the regional advisory committee's rankings.
 
The first of three editions of those rankings came out last week and saw the Patriots ranked in the no. 8 spot. UT Tyler was one of six Lone Star Conference teams to appear in the initial top 10 of the regional rankings, in what will be the first of three rankings released by the committee prior to the announcement of the national tournament field on March 6^th.
 
The LSC occupied the first four spots in the initial rankings, as Lubbock Christian (no. 1), West Texas A&M (no. 2), Texas A&M-Commerce (no. 3) and Dallas Baptist University (no. 4) sit in the no. 1-through-no. 4 spots in the rankings.
 
FULLER IN THE RECORD BOOKS
 
Senior Micah Fuller recently moved into the solo fifth spot on the UT Tyler men's basketball all-time scoring list with 847 career points. Fuller is also just three free throw makes away from matching the previous school with 303 in a career, held by Brandon Weasby, who competed for UT Tyler from 2003-08.
 
Fuller has averaged 13.0 points a game in his 65 appearances for UT Tyler, and has made 300-of-339 free throw attempts for his career. He ranks second in all of Division II basketball this season with a free-throw percentage of 93.4 percent for the year.
 
SCOUTING AND HISTORY WITH CAMERON
 
 The Aggies are 4-16 overall on the year and 2-11 in Lone Star Conference play. They picked up a signature 89-85 double-overtime win less than two weeks ago against LSC frontrunner Lubbock Christian, and are 2-2 over the course of their last four games.
 
Colt Savage leads the team with an average of 14.4 points per contest and 5.3 rebounds a game. Brock Schreiner averages 12.9 points a game and Connor Slater averages 12.0 points a contest to round out the three Aggies that average double-digit scoring figures. Cameron averages 68.5 points per contest, and concedes over 80 points a game.
 
UT Tyler has won three straight entering Tuesday night's game against Cameron, including both match-ups last season. All three of those games in the all-time series between the two programs took place on Cameron's home floor.
 
SCOUTING AND HISTORY WITH UT PERMIAN BASIN
 
UT Permian Basin sits at 15-11 on the year, and is currently tied in the no. 10 spot in the LSC standings with UT Tyler with a conference winning percentage at .500 (7-7) percent. The Falcons are 8-6 on their home floor in 2021-22, and have won four out of their last six entering Thursday night's game.
 
The Falcons average 76.2 points a game, and are led by three individuals in double digit scoring figures on the year in Jordan Horn (16.6 ppg), Miles Daniels (15.5 ppg) and DaJuan Jones (12.9 ppg). UT Permian Basin averages the second best team shooting percentage on the year at 48.0 percent, but rank last in the LSC in opponent field goal percentage at 47.4 percent.
 
UT Permian Basin is 3-0 all-time against UT Tyler, including 82-80 and 76-68 victories last season.
 
SCOUTING AND HISTORY WITH ANGELO STATE
 
Angelo State sits in a tie for seventh place in the LSC standings, but appeared at no. 7 in the first NCAA South Central Region rankings last week with a record of 18-8 on the year. The Rams have won four out of their last games entering this week.
 
The Rams average the second most points a game in the LSC with an average of 78.8, but rank 15^th in the league in scoring defense (74.7). Tyrell Carroll leads the team in scoring with an average of 13.4 points a game.
 
UT Tyler and Angelo State have had just one prior meeting, an 88-82 victory for the Rams back on Jan. 30, 2020.