SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State men's basketball team opens its Lone Star Conference play with a road game against an undefeated Texas A&M – Kingsville on Tuesday evening.
The Rams currently sit at 6-1 after hosting its Thanksgiving Classic tournament this past week. With tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m., the team will be looking to rebound after a close loss to Lubbock Christian on Saturday night. Heading into LSC play, ASU is boasting an 87 point per game and has outscored its opponents by an average of 15.3 points. The Rams are currently sinking a conference leading 50 percent of its shots inside the arch and 36.4 percent of their shots from 3-point range. Defensively, the team is averaging a conference third 39.8 boards per contest, and leads the conference with a 6.00 turnover margin.
The 7-0 Javelinas will play host to the Rams with hopes of remaining undefeated as it downed Texas A&M International in back to back games last week. Both teams have a common opponent in St. Mary's, to which both teams emerged victorious from their match ups in San Antonio. TAMUK is averaging 73.1 points per game and is nailing 46.1 percent of its short range jumpers. The Javelinas have outscored its opponents by a 12.7 point margin thus far.
ASU will look to scoring leader, Ja'Michael Brown, to head its offensive onslaught. Brown headed Angelo State's attack this week with 61 total points. This averaged the junior guard 20.3 points for the three game span. He was 24-46 from short range, 2-9 from beyond the arch and 11-17 from the stripe. This included a career high 30-point game versus St. Mary's and a team leading 24-point game against Lubbock Christian. This marked the first 30-point game of any Ram this season. Brown is averaging 16 points and leads the 4.1 assists per competition. In addition, he also led the squad with 11 assists and six steals, as well as pulling down 10 boards for the week.
James Kirksey and Daron Mims will also look to put up numbers for the Rams. Kirksey is currently second on the team with a 12.9 point per game average. The junior has also distributed the rock well for the Rams as he is second on the team with 3.3 per game. Kirksey is also grabbing a team leading 6.1 rebounds per game as well as leads the squad with 13 pocketed steals. Mims follows with an average of 11.6 points per game. He is knocking down 56.4 percent of his short range jumpers and had recorded 22 total rebounds.
On the defensive side of the ball, ASU will be seeking leadership from senior captain, Brandon Williams. The forward led Angelo State's defensive efforts this week grabbing a team high 19 board. This averaged him 6.3 boards per contest. The Houston native also led the Rams in the blocks department with five on the week. Offensively, Williams sunk a total of 33 points as he shot 50 percent from both inside and outside of the arch, as well as 80 percent from the tape. This aided the senior to his first double-double of the season in an overtime road win over St. Mary's. Capping his numbers for the week the big man added three assists.
Coming off the bench for ASU will be Will Adler, Antonio Singleton, Ran Tut and William Tchiengang. Adler and Singleton will look to maintain the offensive production for the Rams. Adler has marked a team leading 14 3-balls on the season thus far and is tops on the team with a 90.9 shooting percentage from the charity stripe. He has also tallied six steals on the season. Singleton is averaging slightly less with a team second eight 3-pointers. Tut (30) and Tchiengang (15) complete the as each has grabbed over 15 boards thus far.
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