HCU vs. UTRGV
HCU vs. TAMUCC
- Monday – January 20, 2025 (7 pm)
- Houston, Texas (Sharp Gymnasium)
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Houston Christian University closes out its four-game stay at home with a pair of games, each against one of the two top scoring offenses in the Southland Conference. The second half of the homestand starts with a Saturday afternoon tilt against league newcomer University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley on Saturday afternoon as the back-end of a doubleheader with the women. The stretch in Sharp Gymnasium concludes on Monday evening against Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
The Huskies are now 6-11 overall and stand 3-3 in league play after falling to defending SLC champ and current league leader McNeese 75-59 on Monday night in Sharp Gym. A slow start doomed HCU, as it fell behind 10-0 out of the gates and then went through another prolonged dry spell later in the first half. The Huskies cut the lead to 14 in the second half on back-to-back fast-break buckets by
Pierce Bazil, but the Cowboys quickly pushed their lead back up to 20 before crossing the finish line.
D'Aundre Samuels was the lone player in double-digits for the Huskies, his second straight such outing. He matched his season-high with 15 points while posting season-bests of five rebounds, five assists and matching a career-high with three steals.
Julian Mackey added nine points and
Bryson Dawkins chipped in seven and a team-high seven boards.
HCU is led by first-year head coach
Craig Doty, who was hired as the ninth head coach in school history back in March as the program is now in its 59th season. Doty brings 12 years of head coaching experience to the HCU sidelines, having coached on the NJCAA, NAIA and NCAA Division II levels while capturing three national titles along the way.
Julian Mackey continues to pace the Huskies in scoring, sitting at 15.1 points, 16 per in conference play. The senior transfer, who had a career-best 32 at ULM, has seven 20-point games on the campaign while eclipsing his career-high three times this season. He ranks fourth in the SLC in scoring and in free throw percentage, knocking down 79.2% from the charity stripe.
Bryson Dawkins is 15th in the SLC with his 12.2 points per game and also pulls down 4.5 rebounds, with those numbers rising to 15.2 points and 7.0 boards in league action.
Elijah Brooks continues to check boxes, averaging 9.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals per on the season.
Peyton Rogers leads the club in rebounding at 5.2 per night, a bump up to 6.8 per in conference play, while
D'Aundre Samuels' recent surge has him at 6.9 points and 2.3 rebounds overall and 8.3 points per in the SLC.
HCU and University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley have met 27 times all-time. The Vaqueros are in their first season in the Southland, and this is the third different conference that the two schools will have squared off in. The Huskies and then Pan American University were charter members of the Trans America Athletic Conference in 1978 and members together for one season. It would be 29 years later before the two became league foes once again in the Great West Conference from 2009-13 when the Broncs were known as the University of Texas-Pan American.
The two schools haven't met since the 2022-23 season when UTRGV swept the season series from the Huskies to take a 16-11 edge in the series. The Vaqueros won 95-82 in Houston on December 10 then again 100-90 in South Padre Island a week later. The last ten meetings in the series have been split evenly.
The Vaqueros come into Saturday's action at 11-6 overall and 3-3 in Southland play and are led by Kahil Fennell who is in his first season at the helm in the valley. UTRGV has a quartet of players in double-figure scoring and two more just under 10 for a team that is second in the league in scoring at 79.9 points per outing.
Senior 6'8 guard Hasan Abdul Hakim paces the Vaqueros at 13.3 points, up a bucket to 15.3 in SLC play, while also hauling down 6.8 rebounds and dishing out 2.9 assists. Cliff Davis, a 6'2 senior transfer guard from Northwestern State averages 12.3 points per game and five rebounds per night, while 6'3 DePaul transfer guard K.T. Raimey chips in 12.1 points. 6'4 Alcorn State grad transfer DK Thorn rounds out the group at 11.1 points. Howie Fleming Jr. adds 9.6 points to go with his team-leading 7.1 rebounds, while Trey Miller adds 9.5 points and a team-best four assists.
HCU is 3-5 all-time playing on January 18. The Huskies last played on this date in 2020, a 95-75 loss to Sam Houston State, and their last victory came in a 70-61 victory over Hardin-Simmons in 1986.
On Monday night the Huskies welcome Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for the 34th all-time meeting. The Islanders lead the series 23-10 and 17-6 in SLC play and have won three straight in the series. HCU's last win over TAMUCC came in Sharp Gym 90-78, nearly two years to the day on January 21, 2023.
Jim Shaw is now in his second season as the head coach and fourth overall on the island. He has TAMUCC sitting at 12-6 overall and in second place in league play with a 5-1 mark entering their game on Saturday evening in San Antonio at Incarnate Word. The Islanders not only lead the Southland In scoring at 82.2 points per game, but rank fourth in defense at 68.7 points allowed, a +13.5 margin, which is tops in the league.
TAMUCC is paced by 6'8 first-team All-Southland forward Garry Clark, who averages 14.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Isaac Williams, a 6'2 freshman guard, scores 12.8 points an outing while also chipping in 3.4 boards and team-highs of 4.2 assists and 1.4 steals. Owen Dease, a 6'8 junior, averages 9.9 points and 4.5 rebounds.
The Huskies are 8-6 all-time in games played on January 20, which this year happens to be both Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as well as Inauguration Day. HCU has never played a game when both of those fell on the same date. The last time HCU played on January 20 was last year in a 78-77 buzzer-beating win over Lamar in Sharp Gymnasium.
On MLK Day, the Huskies hold a 10-5 mark with the most recent outing coming last season in a 69-64 loss at Northwestern State. HCU is 1-2 all-time on Inauguration Day, falling at home to Baptist College (now Charleston Southern) 80-76 in 1977, winning at Huston-Tillotson 99-92 in 2001, and most recently dropping a 92-83 decision at home to Nicholls in 2021.
Saturday's game is scheduled for a 3:30 pm tip and is part of a doubleheader with the women, who face off against the UTRGV ladies at 1 pm. Following the completion of the homestand, HCU will embark on a four-game road swing with a first stop in the Big Easy for a game at University of New Orleans on January 25. The Huskies will not return home until Saturday, February 8 for a return game with the Privateers.
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