SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State men's basketball team returns home to face Western New Mexico on Thursday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m. and Eastern New Mexico on Saturday, January 21 at 4 p.m.
The Rams will be seeking to build on its 10-4, 2-4 LSC record with this week's pair of home games. ASU's defense continues to remain in the national top ten in both blocked shots per game (7th) and defensive boards per game (4th). The team's offensive attack also maintains its top ranking in the conference as it averages 38.1 percent from beyond the arc and 73.6 percent from the charity stripe.
Western New Mexico will enter this week's match-up looking to recover from a three game slide. The Mustang's last loss came at the hands of Cameron University with a final score of 75-61. WNMU is currently sitting 2-13 overall and 2-7 in the Lone Star Conference. The Rams lead the Mustangs, 4-1, in the all-time series between the two institutions with the last meeting between the two taking place during the 2014-15 season. This last match-up with WNMU resulted in an 85-52 victory for the Rams. This is the Mustang's inaugural season as a member of the Lone Star Conference.
On Saturday, the Rams will then take on the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds, which is sitting at 7-10, 1-6 LSC. ENMU will travel to San Angelo after a trip to Kingsville, Texas to face Texas A&M –Kingsville on Thursday, January 19.  The Rams swept the series between the two teams last season (2-0) and trail the Greyhounds, 35-36 in the all-time series. This week, ENMU will be searching to recover from a two game losing streak with its last loss coming in a tight, 104-108, overtime game.
The Rams will be looking to LSC three-point leader Quay King, along with Lorenzo Dillard and DeVonte' Pratt to lead the offensive attack. King has remained the conference's 3-point leader for the past several weeks and has climbed to second in the nation in 3-pointers made per game (4.23). The senior team leader is currently averaging 20.6 points per game. Defensively, he has assisted with a team third 4.8 boards per game.
Dillard follows scoring a team second 14.9 points per game. The point guard leads the squad with 4.5 assist and a team second 17 steals per match-up. Completing the group, Pratt has scored in double-figures in the past three games for ASU and is averaging 9.6 points per game. The senior leads the Rams with 18 total steals on the season.
Heading ASU's stout defense will be Thomas Tshikaya, Justin Hollins, Brandon Williams and Michael Thomas. Tshikaya currently leads the team grabbing 8.9 rebounds per game. He has also turned in a team second 20 total blocks thus far. Offensively, the big man is third on the team dropping in 11.1 points per game. Hollins, who is ranked 14th nationally in blocked shots, has tallied a LSC leading 27 blocks per contest. Williams is averaging 4.9 boards per game, which places him second on the team. His 10.6 points per game has also greatly assisted the Rams offensive production. Finally, Thomas has pulled down an average of 3.6 rebounds per game and has chalked five blocks on the year.
The Rams will also look to Chase Riley, Shaquan Rhoades, DeVaughn Jenkins and Napoleon Onyeje Jr. to provide great support off the bench. Â
Both games will be broadcasted live in high definition on RamTV (Suddenlink 6 & 106HD) and on 1260AM KKSA with Jeremy Bryant on the call.
