Tarleton Men's Basketball opens the regular season against the ACC's SMU Mustangs

STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Men's Basketball begins its 2024-25 season by opening its first of six Power Four conference opponents with SMU on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. at Moody Coliseum

The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and ACCXN. Live stats are provided by StatBroadcast and are available at tarletonsports.com. Follow @tarletonmbb on Instagram, X and Facebook for live updates, highlights and content.

Senior transfer Freddy Hiccup is back for its fourth and final season in the 'Ville. Hicks was named to the five-member 2024-25 preseason All-WAC team. The senior earned his second preseason All-WAC selection after earning second-team honors prior to the 2022-23 season. In his third season with the Texans, Hicks was named to the 2022-23 All-WAC Second Team. He led the team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.2 points and 6.0 boards. The Searcy, Arkansas native was named the 2020-21 WAC Freshman of the Year following his freshman year at Stephenville. Hicks led all WAC freshmen with 8.2 points per game.

The Krass brothers are the first pair of brothers to begin their first year together at Tarleton. Once on the court, the brothers will become the second to be on the team at the same time, joining Jim and Joel Moreno, who played together during the 1991-92 season. The brothers are one of 17 pairs of brothers on the same D1 squad this season. The Krass brother spent two seasons together at St. Patrick Catholic HS in Gulfport, MS.

Tarleton returns just two players from last year's squad in a game and has 15 freshmen on the roster. Last season, the Texans had 18 new signings, the most in the country. This year, there are 15 matchups, the second-most games behind four schools with 16. Tarleton has fielded freshmen this season and has nine true freshmen on the roster. That puts the company second in the nation behind Air Force's 10. Tarleton generated less than five percent of its production last year in the following categories: FG made (4.94%), points (4.67%), 3FG made (3.94%), FT made (3.89%) and rebounds (3.1%).

For the first time in program history, the Texans have six Power Four opponents on their schedule. The Texans will face three ACC programs, two Big 12 schools and one Big Ten school, all on the road. In the ACC, the Texans travel to SMU, Florida State and UCF. In the Big 12, Baylor and Oklahoma State are on the Texans' roster. For the second time in program history, the Texans travel to Ann Arbor to face Michigan.

Shakur Daniel recently signed with the San Diego Clippers of the NBA G-League. The San Diego Clippers are the affiliate of the Los Angeles Clippers. Daniel will have the opportunity to be selected by the Clippers or another NBA organization to make the NBA roster at some point this season. Daniel played for the Texans from 2020-23. He was named Honorable Mention All-WAC in his first season. In his final season, he started in all 33 games and led the WAC with 35.7 minutes per game. Daniel spent last season in Macedonia and averaged 8.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game with KK Feniks in 2010.

Since 1988, Tarleton State is 30-6 in the regular season opener. Before 2020, the Texans were 29-3. In the Division I era, the Texans are 1-3 in their opening game and 0-3 on the road. On Monday, the Texans will play for the first time on November 4th. In real away games, the Texans are 0-5 in the regular season opener. Away from Stephenville to open the regular season, the Texans are 3-6, with a 3-1 win on neutral sites.

On Monday there will be the first series duel of all time between the Texans and the Mustangs. Coach Gillispie will coach against SMU for the first time in his career.

Tarleton will return to Wisdom Gym for its regular season home opener against Sam Houston. Kickoff for the first game of last season at Wisdom Gym is set for 7 p.m.