KINGSVILLE, Texas – The 2017-18 season is moving quickly as No. 23 Texas A&M University-Kingsville (9-2, 2-0 LSC) finds themselves lacing up for its final regional non-conference game of the regular season on Tuesday, December 19 when St. Mary's University (4-8, 1-1 Heartland Conference) enters the Gil E. Steinke Physical Education Center for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

After a gut-wrenching two-point loss at home to St. Edward's a couple of days ago, the Javelinas will square off with the Rattlers, marking their final game of the regular season against the Heartland Conference. Both teams enter with a scoring average of 73.3 points, however, a stout Hoggie defense that relinquishes just 65.9 points per game, ties the league-high standard of 183 turnovers, and rank second with 4.27 blocks per game can be the determining factor that favors Kingsville. 

Trey Sumpter still leads the team with 12.2 points per game, followed by Jacolby Harris's 9.7 points. Derrick Byrd and Caelan Neal add eight points per game and Will West – the team leader with 17 steals – contributes 7.5 points. After setting a new career-high of 14 rebounds last game, Robert Stevenson (6.3 PPG) becomes the team leader on the glass, grabbing 5.4 boards per game and is tied for first in the Lone Star Conference with 21 blocks this year.  

Although winners in three of their last four games, the Rattlers have lost five of their last eight and are 0-4 against LSC opponents this season. As stated earlier, StMU's 73.3 points per game are backed by a 45 percent clip from the floor and .375 from three-point range. Petar Radojicic leads the team with a scoring average of 12.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game while tallying six blocks and six steals this season. The rest of the supporting cast consists of Juwan Green and Will Ferguson who both average nine points per game, and a trio of upperclassmen in Skylar Brooks, DeMarco Enoch, and Freddie Williams who chips in eight points each. 

Live stats and a live stream will be made available for the Tuesday night game. Mark Inserra and Jim Carl will also be on the call which can be heard on KTAI 91.1 FM. Links to each media outlet can be found on the men's basketball schedule page on javelinaathletics.com. 

Become a member of the 6th Man Pack that features great benefits such as reserved chairback seating for home games and access to the 6th Man Pack Lounge at LSC doubleheaders for the 2017-18 season. The 6th Man Pack Lounge will be catered by Fatman's Meat Market. For more information on joining the team, contact the ticket office at 361-593-4030. 

Receive content for Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball by following @JavelinaMBB on Twitter and Instagram, like the official Facebook page of Javelina athletics (/JavelinaSports), and subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel.