SAN ANGELO, Texas – The No. 5/6 Angelo State men's basketball team will take a trip up to Lubbock in search of its ninth consecutive victory on the season against Lubbock Christian on Thursday, December 10 at 8 p.m.
Recently rising to No. 5 in the D2SIDA media poll and No. 6 in the NABC coaches poll, the Rams enter the game with an 8-0 overall record and will be looking to build off its exhibition game with Division I University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Prior to the UTRGV exhibition, ASU put up 108 points on Northern New Mexico College while the defense held the Eagles to 65 points. Angelo State holds an 18-4 advantage in its series with LCU and took their last meeting 71-65 during the 2012-13 season. The LCU Chaps will be looking to extend its five game win streak. The Chaps are fresh off a 93-75 win against fellow Lone Star Conference member West Texas A&M. The Chaps currently sit at 6-1 on the season.
ASU is currently sitting second in the nation in scoring margin outscoring teams by 23.5 points per game. The Ram's high scoring offense is ranked seventh in the nation averaging 97.4 points per game. ASU also leads the Lone Star Conference in both of these categories. The team's free throw ability has also been top notch thus far leading the LSC with a .755 percentage. Defensively, the Rams claimed the third spot nationally in overall team blocks and the number eight spot in total team rebounds.
Tre Bennett currently leads the ASU offensive barrage averaging 18 points a game and leading ASU in most of the scoring categories. He dropped in 13 points against NNMC and led the team with 26 more in the UTRGV exhibition. He has taken the top spot on the squad with a 3-point field goal percentage of .472 and is currently making 2.8 of his average 5.9 attempts per game. The point Guard has done an excellent job this season spreading the ball around as he leads the Rams and is third in the LSC averaging 4.2 assists per competition.
Shelton Boykin follows closely behind Bennett averaging 16.6 points per game. He led the Rams attack last week against Northern New Mexico. The junior totaled 17 points against NNMC and has scored double-digits in every game this season. Against the Eagles he was 7-13 from the field shooting .538 percent and was perfect from beyond the arc (2-of-2). He pulled down six boards and added a block to his numbers. Boykin leads the team's defense recording an average of 1.6 steals per game.
Stedman Allen and Quay King round out the offensive fire power for Angelo State. Allen is third in currently third on the Rams high scoring offense with average of 15.9 points per game and has put up double figures in six of his eight games. King (2.3) has been proficient from beyond the arc and is second in made 3-pointers per game. The outside shooter averages 10.1 points per game and total of 16 points in the last two match-ups.
Solidifying the defense, Omari Gudul is the team leader in the rebound category tallying 8.7 per game. He grabbed 13 boards during the Rams exhibition game and has hit double-digits in five games this season. Gudul also leads the defense with 23 blocked shots this season and averages 2.6 per game. Against NNMC the senior pocketed a season high two steals.
Thomas Tshikaya and Prince Foster have also played big rolls for the Rams defense this season. Tshikaya had a stellar performance against Northern New Mexico pulling down double-digit boards (10) against the Eagles. He is second on ASU recording 6.6 rebounds per game. The French native also tallied a block and a steal for that night. Offensively, the big man added an assist and dropped in 3-4 shots from within the arc for a total of six points. Foster has assisted the team's defensive efforts with an average of 1.1 blocks and 1.2 steals per game, which is a team second in both categories. The junior out of Miami, Florida led ASU with three blocks in its exhibition game and added a steal in its last two games.
Thursday's game against LCU will be carried on 1260AM KKSA with Jeremy Bryant on the call.
