KINGSVILLE, Texas – In each of the last two seasons, the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team has accomplished something never done before in program history.
During the 2019-20 season, the Javelinas piled up 16 Lone Star Conference wins, the most in school history, and they also reached 20 wins for the first time in more than 20 years and earned the sixth NCAA Tournament bid in program history.
In 2020-21, the Javelinas crafted the highest win percentage in program history with a mark of .833 and they also defended home court to the tune of an 11-0 mark at the Steinke Physical Education Center. Those numbers helped the Javelinas capture the LSC's South Division Championship.
Now, with the 2021-22 season on the horizon, the Hogs have rested and reloaded and are preparing to try and put together another history-making campaign.
"Last year we had a great year," said coach Johnny Estelle. "We've had a really good couple of years, but at the end of the day, that doesn't do anything about the future. We have to take care of what is in front of us today and what that means is being the best version of us today."
The Javelinas first two matchups of the season will take place on the road, first with a Friday matchup against the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers that will take place at the King Center in Rapid City, S.D. at 8 p.m. The team's next stop will be in at the Chicoine Center in Chadron, Neb., where they'll be taking on the Chadron State Eagles at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
Among the players forming the core of this edition of Javelina men's basketball are four returning all-conference players. Senior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) and juniors Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas), Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) and Jordan Wilson (Blytheville, Ark.) formed the program's first-ever all-conference quartet and the efforts of Chayer and Avery were also recognized with spots on the All-LSC Defensive Team.
Avery's second season in Kingsville saw him become the first Javelina since Wendell Mulkey in 2009 to earn an All-LSC First-Team spot and his average of 14.3 points per game was the program's best since Rashad Basey's mark of 16.5 in 2013-14. He saved his best performance for the first round of the conference tournament, when he helped the Javs oust Angelo State with a 32-point night, the highest single-game point total by a TAMUK player in nearly a decade.
Chayer spent his third year in Kingsville collecting a pair of LSC Player of the Week awards, leading the Hogs in shooting percentage and blocking 23 shots, tied for third-most in the league. He was one of anchors for a defense that allowed the fewest points per game in the conference while posting the best scoring average of his career and logging a pair of double-doubles.
For Flowers, it was his second consecutive season on all-conference roster and he accomplished that feat by starting every game in 2020-21 and leading the team in minutes played and made threes. Wilson's selection followed a successful first year in Blue and Gold in which he finished as the squad's second-leading scorer and rebounder.
"We have a lot of guys back that played significant roles on last year's championship level team," said Estelle, "and I think that has boiled over to this year. You can have a lot of guys back, but if they haven't experienced winning at a high level, it can be difficult to get program headed where it needs to head. We only have two new guys and they've done a great job coming along and doing their part and adding to the family."
Joining the Javelinas' long list of returners are newcomers C.J. Smith (Mansfield, Texas) and Xaiver Armstead (Waco, Texas), both of whom made their first impression by scoring in double figures on Nov. 1st when the Javs battled the Texas A&M Aggies.
Smith's night in College Station saw him log a game-high 17 points and six assists, as well as five steals and he showed off the skills that helped him lead Western Texas College to a 38-19 record in two seasons there.
Armstead tallied 14 points against the Aggies and flashed some of the ability that he showed in two seasons at McLennan College, where he scored 1,016 points, twice was named to the all-region roster and was the leading scorer on a pair of Highlander teams that ran up a combined total of 49 wins.
The man guiding this group is Johnny Estelle, who returns for his eighth season as head coach and who has led the Javelinas a 36-12 record over the last two years. Estelle's eighth season beings with a major milestone in sight, as Estelle needs just two more wins to become the fifth Javelina coach ever to reach 100 victories. He would be joining a group that includes Bill Carter, Jerry Hopkins, Ted Carley and Pete Peterson.
Both the Hardrockers and the Eagles have become familiar foes for the Javelinas, who will be visiting both schools for the second time in four years. TAMUK has a combined record of 6-1 against these two teams, which each of those games coming within the last five seasons.
In 2019-20, the Hardrockers and Eagles both came to Kingsville and the Hogs edged out a one-point win over each squad. Against SDM, the Javs eliminated a seven-point deficit in the final two minutes for a 70-69 victory that included 21 points from Flowers in his Javelina debut.
"We have played these guys a lot," said Estelle, "but I like playing them because they are a conference-level team. Their style makes them a very deep team and there aren't many teams in our conference that play like that, but also they're regional opponents. Our year isn't going to be won or lost this weekend, but it's the first game of the season that basically sets the tone for the rest of the year."
Fans can follow all the action from Javelina men's basketball's first weekend of regular season by visiting Javelinaathletics.com, where links can be found live coverage of both games, including up-to-the-minute stats. 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.
