KINGSVILLE, Texas – The final month of the regular season for the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team starts with a battle against the Midwestern State Mustangs on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the D.L. Ligon Coliseum in Wichita Falls and then takes TAMUK to Lawton, Okla. for a fight against the Cameron Aggies on Saturday inside Aggie Gym at 4 p.m.
The Javelinas are trying to hold on to a spot in the Lone Star Conference tournament, which includes the top eight teams in the conference standings. This weekend will give the Javs the chance to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers. Currently, Johnny Estelle has his team in sixth at 11-9 and 4-6 in the LSC. The Hoggies are a game-and-a-half ahead of Eastern New Mexico and Midwestern State, the two squads that are currently tied for eighth. Cameron, at 8-12 and 4-7, owns the No. 7 seed.
Estelle and his student-athletes have had more than week to stew over their most recent performance, a 74-66 road loss against Angelo State, but staying two more games away from home might be the perfect tonic for the Hogs, who are 6-4 in games away from the Steinke Physical Education Center, a mark that doesn't include the team's exhibition win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi back in November.
Defense has been a hallmark for the Javs all season and they currently own the LSC's best scoring defense and have risen all the way to 20th in the NCAA in that category, conceding only 66.9 points per game. Kingsville also ranks in the top 25 nationally in three-point field goal percentage defense.
This defense will be trying to slow down a Midwestern State offense that averages the fourth-most points in the LSC and a Cameron attack that ranks eighth in that category. The tallest task the Javelinas will face in Wichita Falls will be attempting to slow down senior guard Brandon Neel, a feat that most teams in the Lone Star Conference, including TAMUK, have struggled to achieve. The Cincinnati native has put himself fourth in the league by averaging better than 18 points per game and he's in the midst of a streak of 13 games with 14 point or more. Neel enters Thursday riding consecutive 27-point showings and he's eclipsed 20 points in four of his last five appearances. When the Mustangs beat the Javelinas on Dec. 30th, he posted 19 points and 11 rebounds, his highest total on glass this season. Neel has also established himself as the team's leading rebounder.
Cameron doesn't have anyone with the resume of Brandon Neel, but J.V. Long has established himself as the team's top scorer with 10.4 ppg. He's scored 20 points in two of Cameron's last three games, with both performances leading the Aggies to victories, including an 84-62 drubbing of Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday. Long, who stands as the only Aggie averaging double figures in scoring, has also amassed the fifth-most assists in the LSC with 83.
Trying to match the offensive output of Neel and Long will be a Javelina offense led by Trey Sumpter, who leads the team, averaging 11.2 ppg. While Sumpter does top TAMUK's leaderboard, five other players average at least seven points per game, forcing teams to account for more than just one scorer. Kingsville's offense is attempting to break out of a funk that's seen them reach 70 points just twice over the last two months and both of those instances came in losses at the hands of St. Edwards. Over their first nine games, TAMUK hit that benchmark six times and these two games will be an opportunity to return to that form.
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