COVERAGE LINKS | GAME NOTES

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - Henderson State will leave the Duke Wells Center for the final time this regular season when it takes on Arkansas Tech inside Tucker Coliseum Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7:30 p.m.

REDDIES REPORT (8-17, 7-13 GAC)
Henderson State comes into Thursday's contest after splitting its final regular season Oklahoma road trip against East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma State. The trip started out with the Reddies getting revenge on ECU with an 89-86 victory before SE claimed revenge against HSU, 93-68. Zyon Patterson totaled at least 20 points and 13 rebounds in both games, including a career-high 38 points against the Tigers last Thursday.

Patterson has been on a scoring tear lately, tallying 20 or more points in three straight games while having scored in double figures in 10 consecutive outings. The recent scoring outburst has the Crossett, Arkansas, native averaging a team-high 15.5 points per game, which is tenth in the league. With 388 points on the year, Patterson needs just 24 more points to become HSU's highest single-season scorer since Chris Parker (473) during the 2019-20 season. The senior's current 15.5 ppg average, if maintained over the remainder of the season, would be the highest scoring season on a points-per-game basis since Kaylon Tappin in 2017-18.

Thursday will feature one of the best scoring offenses in the GAC pitted against the best scoring defense. Henderson State is averaging 78.2 points per game, which is second in the GAC. Arkansas Tech sports the league's best scoring defense at 65.2 points per game. While Tech also boasts the best opponent field-goal percentage at 42.5 percent, HSU holds the second-best team field-goal percentage (47.1%).

In the season's first meeting back in early December, Arkansas Tech squeaked past Henderson St. at the Duke Wells Center, 68-65. After Tech held a five-point advantage at the break and a 13-point lead with less than 10 minutes to go in regulation, the Reddies cut the lead down to one with a minute remaining before ATU was able to ice it with a pair of free-throws late in the contest. Tomislav Miholjcic led the HSU offense that afternoon, scoring 20 points on eight field-goal attempts while also going a perfect 8-for-8 at the charity stripe.

SCOUTING ARKANSAS TECH (20-6, 16-4 GAC)
Arkansas Tech comes into its senior night riding a five-game winning streak. This season, the Wonder Boys are 11-2 at home, including being 8-2 in GAC competition inside Tucker Coliseum. Tech's already-top ranked scoring defense in the league at 65.2 points per game moves to 63.8 points when playing against conference teams.

With two games remaining in the regular season, Arkansas Tech is still in the running for an out-right regular season GAC Championship. At 16-4 in league play, ATU sits one game back of first-place Southeastern Oklahoma State. The Wonder Boys will need to win out while having SE lose its remaining two games. If the two teams close the regular season with the same record, both Tech and the Savage Storm will be Co-Champions while Southeastern will take the No. 1 seed in next week's GAC Tournament courtesy of a tiebreaker.

While Arkansas Tech has been led this season by its defense, ATU does hold the offensive edge from behind the three-point line, shooting a conference-best 40.1 percent beyond the perimeter as a team. Leading the attack from long range is the GAC's leading scorer Taelon Peter, who is shooting 46.0 percent from deep, while having made the second most three-pointers of anyone in the conference (64). Against Henderson in the first go around, Peter matched his season-low in GAC play with 12 points.