KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team began the 2021 portion of their schedule with consecutive wins over Texas A&M International and they'll try to ride that wave of momentum into a pair of showdowns with the UT Permian Basin Falcons, who will take on the Javelinas on Friday at 6 p.m. and on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
"We've got to get refocused," said coach Johnny Estelle, "[UTPB] has a very good team. Coach [Josh] Newman and I go way back and he's always been a winner wherever he's been."
The Falcons, at 6-1, are the only team in the Lone Star Conference with more wins than the Javelinas and they started the season by capturing their first six games before stumbling against Arkansas-Fort Smith on Sunday. Fast starts to the season have become normal for UTPB, as this is the fourth time in five years they've begun 6-1 or better. In their past four campaigns, the Falcons put together a combined record of 35-5 through the first 10 games.
One of the main reasons behind UTPB's early success has been an effective and aggressive offensive attack. They're currently in the top 25 nationally in scoring, shooting percentage and made threes.
No one has contributed more to those impressive numbers than senior Jordan Horn, who owns the LSC's second-best scoring average at 22.9. Horn has already topped the 25-point plateau five times, with a season-high of 32 coming against Western New Mexico on Dec. 15th. Horn's efforts have been complimented by those of fellow senior Trevion Lamar, who owns a points per game average of 16.9, 12th-best in the conference. His 35 points against Cameron on Dec. 18th are tied for the seventh-highest single-game total in Division II this year.
The Javelinas will enter Friday's matchup coming off arguably their best offensive showing in 2020-21. In an 84-46 trouncing of A&M International, the Hogs set season-highs in shooting percentage, both overall and from three-point range. They also ran up 51 points over the game's first 20 minutes, their highest total in one half of basketball this season.
The player with the hottest hand is junior point guard Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas). He's scored at least 10 points in five different games, already matching his total from a year ago. Avery had his best showing against the Dustdevils on Jan. 2nd, setting a new career-high with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
"Chauncey Thomas did a great job last year leading our team," said Estelle, "but also building in to Creighton Avery. He did a great job mentoring Creighton, but Creighton has unique abilities and talents and he's been a winner his whole life. He's done a phenomenal job leading our team and taking that next step."
The TAMUK offense has also benefitted from an average of 10.2 made threes per game, the 20th-highest rate in the nation. The team's most lethal shooters from beyond the arc to this point have been juniors Jordan Wilson (Blytheville, Ark.) and Ellis Jones (Houston, Texas). Combined, they've shot 22-of-42 on treys for a percentage of 52.3.
For complete coverage of both games this weekend, fans can visit Javelinaathletics.com, where there will be links to live stats and live video and a postgame recap. Fans can keep up with Javelina men's basketball 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.
