PUEBLO, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball team continues its 2024-25 season-opening four-game homestand this Saturday, Nov. 16 as the ThunderWolves play host to Texas A&M-Kingsville for a 12 p.m. non-conference contest at Massari Arena.
CSU Pueblo comes into the weekend sporting a 2-0 overall record after opening the 2024-25 season at home last weekend with victories over Cameron (83-64) and Midwestern State (80-60) as part of the South Central Regional Crossover held on the Pack's home court.
Coming into this weekend's action, the Pack are one of four remaining undefeated teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The other undefeated teams are Adams State (2-0), Black Hills State (2-0) and MSU Denver (2-0).
The 2-0 start to the season is the third in the last six seasons for the Pack as they also started 2-0 in both 2022-23 and 2019-20. The Pack hasn't started a season 3-0 since the 2014-15 season.
ABOUT THE PACK
Leading the way offensively for the ThunderWolves through the first two games of the season is senior guard
Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley), who is averaging 17.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game and is shooting 54 percent from the field, 50 percent from the 3-point line and is a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. He opened the season with 18 points and four assists against Cameron and then followed that up with 16 points and five rebounds against Midwestern State.
In addition to Muldrew, three other Pack players are averaging in double figures on the season as senior forward
De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School) is second in scoring at 12.5 points per game, but leads the team rebounding (8.5 boards per game) and is shooting 53 percent from the field and is 5-for-5 at the free throw line.
The third double-digit scorer is redshirt sophomore guard/forward
Jaden Kennis (Windsor, Colo./MSU Denver) as he is averaging 11.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game and is shooting 50 percent from both the field and 3-point line and has hit a team-best five treys, while the fourth double-digit scorer is sophomore guard/forward
Corbin Garver (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) as he is averaging 10.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
Two other Pack players are averaging 8.5 points per game on the season as fifth-year senior guard
Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) is averaging 8.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game and freshman forward
Jake Lafferty (Bruner, Mo./Sparta) is averaging 8.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game and is shooting 64 percent from the field.
As a team, the Pack, who is coached by sixth-year head coach
Matt Hammer, enters the weekend as one of the top scoring teams in the league as they are averaging 81.5 points per game and is shooting 48 percent from the field, 42 percent from the 3-point line and is second in the RMAC in free throw shooting at 81 percent. The Pack are also averaging 40 rebounds per game and leads the league in assists as they are averaging 20.5 per came and are also first in the RMAC in assist/turnover ratio at 1.95.
Junior guard
Denim Johnson (Omaha, Neb./Trinity Valley CC) leads the RMAC in assists as he is averaging 5.5 assists per game as he has dished out 11 assists in two games, including dishing out six assists in the season opener against Cameron. Cooper and Walter are tied for eighth in the league in assists as they are averaging 3.5 assists per game.
Defensively, the Pack are allowing 62 points per game and they are second in the RMAC in both field goal percentage defense (35.9 percent) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (22.9 percent) and are forcing 15.0 turnovers per game and is third in the league in turnover margin (+4.5).
CSU Pueblo hasn't allowed more than 64 points this season in a game and their opponents are making just 5.5 treys per game and are shooting just 63 percent from the free throw line.
ABOUT TEXAS A&M-KINGSVILLE
Texas A&M-Kingsville is the third straight member from the Lone Star Conference that the Pack is playing to open the season. The Javalinas come into play this weekend sporting a 2-0 overall record after opening the season with back-to-back wins at home over South Dakota Mines (54-31) and Chadron State (73-71 in overtime) in a South Central Regional Crossover event. Against Chadron State, junior guard Allen Singleton nailed a shot at the buzzer to defeat the Eagles.
TAMU-Kingsville, who plays at MSU Denver on Thursday before traveling to Pueblo, has two players averaging in double figures on the season. Leading the way for the Javalinas offensively is graduate student guard Isaiah Payne, who is averaging 13.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game and is shooting 43 percent from the field. Payne, who was named to the LSC's Preseason Player of the Watch List, averaged 9.7 points per game last season and was an Honorable Mention All-LSC selection in 2022-23.
In addition to Payne, sophomore forward Zyon Little, who is averaging 11.0 points and 3.0 rebounds and is shooting 50 percent from the field and 57 percent from the 3-point line off the bench. He is also shooting 86 percent from the free throw line.
A third Javalina, graduate student forward Nate Lacewell is third in scoring at 8.0 points per game, but is tied for the team lead in rebounding as he is averaging 4.5 boards per game and has blocked three shots.
As a team, the Javalinas are averaging 63.5 points per game and shooting 39 percent from the field, 28 percent from the 3-point line and 63 percent at the free throw line. The Javalinas are forcing 16.5 turnovers per game and have collected 14 steals in two games and have also blocked seven shots. Defensively, TAMUK is allowing 51.0 points per game and their foes are shooting 31 percent from the field, 31 percent from the 3-point line and 57 percent at the free throw line.
The Javalinas have had 10 players play 20 or more minutes on the season with 14 total players seeing action in the first two games.
In the Preseason LSC poll, the Javalinas were tabbed to finish 13th as they earned 198 points after posting a 6-21 overall record and a 4-18 mark in the LSC during the 2023-24 campaign.
TAMU-Kingsville is coached by Omar Gonzalez, who is in his second season leading the Javalinas and he has compiled an 8-21 overall record. Prior to becoming the program's head coach, he was an assistant coach for the Javalinas as he helped the program to four NCAA Tournament appearances and coached 22 All-LSC selections.
SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's game will Texas A&M-Kingsville will mark just the second-ever meeting between the two schools as the Javalinas won the only other meeting, 70-58, on Nov. 29, 2019 in Kingsville, Texas. In that game, the Pack were outscored 37-29 in the second half after trailing 33-29 at the half. Bryce Sanchious paced the Pack in scoring with 14 points off the bench, while Jaedon Bowles added 12 points and Tyson Gilbert tallied 11 points off the bench in the loss.
UP NEXT
Following Saturday's game with Texas A&M-Kingsville, the Pack will conclude its four-game homestand on Thursday, Nov. 21 with a 7 p.m. non-conference tilt against Barclay College.
