KINGSVILLE, Texas – Following an unexpected week off after their two games against No. 5 West Texas A&M were postponed, the No. 22 Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team will get back to work at home against the Cameron Aggies, who will be in town to take on the Javelinas first on Friday at 6 p.m and again on Saturday at 4 p.m at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
"When you get in a routine," said coach Johnny Estelle, "especially for athletics and basketball in particular, that disruption sometimes could be a negative, but it also could be a positive because it gives you the chance to fine tune some things."
At 9-1, the 2020-21 Hogs have matched the best start in program history and their 9-1 LSC record is their best since they were also 9-1 in league play in 1995-96. The Javs have been past 9-1 in their program's history, with the program's best start to a season coming in 2006-07 when they began the year 13-1, but against the Aggies, they'll have a chance to reach 10-1 in conference play for the first time ever.
The chance to accomplish this feat will come on TAMUK's home court, where they've won their last nine games and 21 of their last 23 dating back to the end of the 2018-19 campaign. In the six games the Hogs have played inside the SPEC in 2020-21, their average scoring differential is better than 20 points and four players are scoring at a rate over 10.0 points per game. On defense, the Hogs have held their six opponents to a shooting percentage under 40 percent.
The leader of the Javelinas' home scoring barrage has been junior Jordan Wilson (Blytheville, Ark.), who's averaged 13.2 points per game in Kingsville. In his team's last home outing, a 70-56 victory over St. Mary's, Wilson recorded his first double-double as a Javelina, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds. The junior's 51.9 shooting percentage in the SPEC also makes him one of seven Javelinas shooting better than 50 percent on ther home floor.
Fifth-year coach Andrew Brown will be bringing his Aggies to Kingsville attempting to spoil's TAMUK's perfect home record. Brown has been in charge of the Cameron men's basketball program since 2016 and he led CU to a 17-12 record in his first season at the helm and that record included a 78-71 win over the Javs on Dec. 17th. Brown, however, has never seen his team beat the Javelinas in Kingsville and when the two squads met for the only time in 2019-20, the Hogs ran up their second-highest point total of the year in a 92-85 victory at Aggie Gym.
The most dangerous scoring threat in a Cameron offense that owns a higher points per game average than TAMUK is junior guard Brock Schneider. Schneider had 22 points against the Javs a season ago and he currently owns the LSC's fifth-best scoring average at 20.3. The highlight of his season so far was a 31-point night against Oklahoma Christian on Jan. 7th, which helped lead CU to its only win so far this season.
"Coach [Brown] does a great job," said Estelle. "He's always done a good job putting together a good group of young men that play the right way. They're good in transition, they have several guys who can break you down off the dribble. They're a good shooting team. That's one thing about coaching in a great league with good coaches, every team presents a different set of issues."
A live broadcast of both Javelina men's basketball games against Cameron will be available through Javelinaathletics.com, as well as live stats and a postgame recap. Fans can keep up with Javelina men's basketball throughout the season by following @JavelinaMBB on Twitter and Instagram, liking Texas A&M University-Kingsville Men's Basketball on Facebook, subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel and visiting Javelinaathletics.com. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy.
