San Antonio, Texas – Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball travels just up the road to San Antonio for the River City Holiday Classic beginning on Tuesday.

The Javelinas (5-3, 2-1 LSC) will take on a pair of non-conference opponents in University of Missouri – St. Louis (7-4, 2-2 GLVC) and Rogers State University (6-4, 1-2 MIAA) inside the Northside ISD Sports Gym. Dallas Baptist University will also be at the tournament, but the Javelinas and Patriots will not face off against each other.

The midweek tournament will hopefully serve as a launching point for the Javelinas, who won back-to-back games for the first time all season after taking down Lone Star Conference foe UT-Permian Basin last week. The defense led the charge in that contest, allowing just 47 points on 29.8 percent shooting from the floor.

Spearheading the effort is junior guard Bryce Smith, who totaled a season-high seven steals against the Falcons. Smith currently tied for the top spot in the conference in steals per game with 3.3 while sitting in second for assist-to-turnover ratio (2.8). Senior guard Allen Singleton is not too far behind Smith, sitting just outside the top ten with 2.2 steals per game.

This week's contest will be a great test for the Javelina's team defense that is second best in the LSC in opponent field-goal percentage. Both Missouri-St. Louis and Rogers State shoot north of 45 percent from the floor while hitting around 35 percent of their shots behind the arc. The Javelina defense could look to create extra-shot opportunities with their defense however, as both the Tritons and Hillcats turn it over 12 times a game.

Tip-off against the Tritons is set for Tuesday at 3:00 pm while Wednesday's matchup against Rogers State is set for 5:00 pm. Fans of the Javelinas can watch the games live on the MIAA network or follow the game at JavelinaMBB on X.