🆚 Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi
📆 Saturday – January 31, 2026
⏰ 3:30 pm CT
🏟️ Hilliard Center – Corpus Christi, Texas
📈 LIVE STATS
📺 ESPN+
🗒️ Game NOTES
🆚 University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
📆 Saturday – February 2, 2026
⏰ 6:30 pm CT
🏟️ UTRGV Fieldhouse - Edinburg, Texas
📈 LIVE STATS
📺 ESPN+
🗒️ Game NOTES (Sunday)
Houston Christian University embarks on a four-game swing away from home when it travels down the coastline to take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday afternoon. The second meeting between the two schools this season is slated to tip-off at 3:30 pm from the Hilliard Center in Corpus Christi.
HCU will face University of Texas Rio Grande Valley for the second time in nine days when the two schools hook up on Monday night at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
The Huskies are coming off a thrilling 81-75 victory on Monday night over longtime rival University of the Incarnate Word. HCU rallied from a 17-point first half deficit and turned it into a 10-point lead late, outlasting the Cardinals to earn a split of the regular-season series. In another donnybrook between the two schools, the Huskies got career-highs from
Demari Williams and
Trent Johnson to race to the finish line and put the capper on a much-needed 3-1 homestand.
UIW jumped out to a 30-13 lead with 10:20 still to play in the first frame, but the Huskies cut the lead to 10 at the break. The tide began to turn as the second stanza started, with HCU slowly chipping away.
Kylin Green's sprawling finish on the fast break drew the Huskies to within a bucket with 13:38 on the clock. UIW's lead grew back to seven before HCU used a 7-0 run to tie things at 58.
After a bucket by Jordan Pyke put UIW back up a score, the ensuing possession found
Trent Johnson open on the wing in transition for a three-ball that gave HCU its first lead since the opening moments.
Demari Williams canned a triple of his own to give the Huskies a 64-61 lead that they wouldn't relinquish, and two dunks by Johnson in the closing minutes sent an already rowdy student section into a frenzy, as the Huskies had turned a 17-point deficit into a 10-point lead late.
Demari Williams went 13-14 from the stripe and finished with a career-high 24 points, breaking his career-best of 22 set in the earlier matchup with UIW in San Antonio.
Trent Johnson posted his first-ever 20-point game, going 3-5 from long range and 7-8 from the charity line.
Kylin Green had 12 points and six assists, while
Demarco Bethea added 12 points, eight boards and three steals for the Huskies.
UIW's Davion Bailey and Tahj Staveskie, the Southland Conference's leading scoring duo coming in at 18 points per game apiece, were held in check by the Huskies on this night with Bailey held to just eight and Staveskie needing an 10-point burst over the final 1:45 to finish with 16.
Craig Doty, the ninth head coach in program history, is now in his second season at the helm after guiding HCU to a 12-20 overall mark and 9-11 ledger in Southland Conference action in 2024-25. It was announced in early December that Doty has signed a contract extension through the 2029-30 season.
https://hcuhuskies.com/news/2025/12/9/mens-basketball-mbb-doty-signs-extension-through-2029-30.aspx
The Huskies doubled their success rate from the previous season, going from six total wins to 12 and from four victories to nine in conference play, finishing seventh in the league after being picked to finish last. HCU advanced to the Southland Tournament and saw
Bryson Dawkins named All-Conference as just the second player in program history to pick up SLC First Team honors.
The Huskies are currently 8-13 on the season and 4-8 in conference play, sitting tied with Incarnate Word a half-game behind Northwestern State for the final spot in the eight-team Southland Conference playoff field with 10 games still to play.
Elijah Brooks, who missed the first four games of the season and has not played since returning from the Christmas break, still leads HCU at 12.3 points per night while also chipping in 4.5 boards, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
Kylin Green is just behind him at 11.5 points to go with 4.0 boards while sitting second in the Southland Conference at 5.0 assists per night. He had a career-high 24 points in the loss over Thanksgiving week to Bellarmine and also registered a career-best 13 assists in the victory over ULM on November 13, the most in a game for HCU since Mike Moss had 13 against Chicago State in 2011.
Green flirted with a triple-double in the overtime home loss to Southeastern, finishing with eight points, nine boards and 10 assists. He had his third double-digit assist effort of the season with 10 in the last-second win over Northwestern State to become the first player with three in a season since Ricky Bennett in 2003-04. His six dimes vs. UIW put him at 104 to become the first HCU player to hit the century mark in a single-season since Ian DuBose had 111 during the 2019-20 campaign.
Since the Christmas break,
Demari Williams has provided a huge spark for the Huskies, first off the bench before then making his first start of the season at UIW. He has scored in double-figures six times in the nine games since returning from the holiday and in those nine games (eight starts) he is leading the Huskies in scoring (14.6 ppg) while shooting 51% from the floor, 41% from deep and 79% from the charity stripe.
Williams had a then career-best 19 points in the loss at then No. 3 Iowa State in the first game back (Dec. 29) and broke it five days later with his first-ever 20-point night, scoring 22 in the loss to UIW (1/3).
That high then fell as well in the homestand finale, as Williams led a huge rally against UIW (1/27) with his 24 points on a career-best 13-14 from the free throw line. Williams averaged 23 points and six rebounds on 15-23 (65%) shooting from the field in the two regular-season games against UIW.
While putting just two players in double-digit scoring in all games, the Huskies boasts a quartet of players notching double-figures in conference play. Williams (12.3) has passed
Elijah Brooks (11.5) for the team lead while
Demarco Bethea averages 10.4 and leads HCU on the backboards at 5.1 per in conference action. Bethea is one of six players averaging 3.4 rebounds or more in SLC play. Green rounds out the foursome at 10.7 points per game, with
Trent Johnson (9.2) and
Ryan Bartley (8.5) right behind.
D'Aundre Samuels has started the last five games for HCU, and on the four-game homestand, he averaged 11 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals.
Trent Johnson also had a strong homestand, opening it by going 7-8 from the floor and 3-4 from deep to set a new single game best with his 19 points in the win over East Texas A&M. That mark didn't last long as he registered his first career 20-piece in the win over UIW in the homestand finale.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, led by third-year head coach Jim Shaw, is currently 11-10 overall and 7-5 in the Southland Conference. The Islanders are tied with Nicholls for third in the league standings.
TAMUCC holds the advantage in the all-time series with the Huskies 26-11 after winning 81-65 in Houston on January 5, putting a trio in double-digits led by Mason Gibson and Sheldon Williams with 16 each.
The Islanders are seventh in the league in scoring at 73 points per, but are second-best in the league in defense, allowing just 66.8 overall, and 64.6 in league action.
A three-headed attack paces the Islanders, highlighted by 6'8 senior forward Sheldon Williams, the leading scorer and rebounder (11.6 ppg / 7.0 rpg) on the club. 6'1 senior guard Nick Shogbonyo averages 11.4 points while Gibson, a 6'0 grad transfer from Midwestern State rounds out the trio at 10.6 points, but goes for 11.9 and 44% shooting from the arc in conference play.
HCU and UTRGV have now met 30 times with the Vaqueros leading the series 18-12 overall after claiming a 68-51 win in Houston on January 24, the lone loss for the Huskies on the four-game homestand. Marvin McGhee III and Koree Cotton led the way with 17 and 16 points respectively for the Vaqueros, who turned a five-point game with 13 minutes to play into a win going away.
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 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. UTRGV is now in its second season in the Southland.
Kahil Fennell is now in his second season at the helm in the Valley and has the Vaqueros at 10-11 overall and 6-6 in the Southland heading into Saturday's game with Incarnate Word. The Vaqueros are currently neck-and-neck with Lamar and New Orleans in a tie for fifth in the SLC just past the midway point of the conference schedule.
UTRGV is led by Koree Cotton, a 6'6 junior transfer from Jacksonville State, who averages 13.6 ppg and 5.2 rebounds in Southland play. Filip Brankovic, a 6'8, 265 junior forward from Serbia, averages 13.1 and 4.4 rebounds in SLC action, while 5'10 sophomore guard Jaylen Washington chips in 10.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and a team-best 4.0 assists. Marvin McGhee III, a 6'4 grad transfer wing from Cal-Bakersfield, goes for nine points and 5.6 caroms. The Vaqueros rank sixth in the league in scoring (73.5) and are now fourth in scoring defense (68.8).
HCU holds a 9-3 record in all-time games played on January 31 with the last occurrence coming in 2018 during a 102-82 loss at Stephen F. Austin. The Huskies last won on the final day of January in 2005, a 118-90 rout of Paul Quinn College in Sharp Gymnasium.
The Huskies hold a 9-5 mark on games played on Groundhog Day. The last outing came in 2023, a 94-76 road loss to Northwestern State, with the most recent victory coming in 2019, a 73-72 nailbiter at home over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Houston Christian University plays at UTRGV on Monday night at 6:30 pm. The road stretch concludes next week with games at Southeastern Louisiana and McNeese.
#DawgsUp
