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Texas State, the regular season champion of the Sun Belt Conference in 2021-22, travels to Washington State out of the Pac 12 Conference to kick off the 2022-23 college basketball season for each team. Texas State finished last season at 21-8 and 12-3 in the conference and earned an NIT bid. Washington State finished last season at 22-15 and 11-9 in the Pac 12. They earned an invite into the NIT and rolled all the way to Madison Square Garden before falling to Texas A&M in the semifinals. Game time for the opener is set for 7:30pm EST.
For two-straight seasons, the Texas State Bobcats have won the regular season title in the Sun Belt Conference but for two-straight seasons, they have been bounced in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament and failed to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. Head Coach Terrence Johnson enters his third season and returns two starters from last year's team, hopeful to finally get over the hump and earn that elusive automatic bid into the Big Dance.
“A lot of times, we tend to look at this stuff and are disappointed about the ending, but you have one national championship team, you have one NIT championship team and other than that, you have a lot of other disappointed teams,” Johnson told . “I try to put things in perspective. It takes me a while to get there, but at this point I’m usually there.”
Just 2 days out from the season opener!#EatEmUp | @DavionColeman1 pic.twitter.com/wpAzQwB2dT
— Texas State MBB (@TXStateMBB) November 5, 2022
While the Bobcats have lost three starters from their NIT squad, they still have returning talent. Point guard Mason Harrell returns after averaging nearly 12 ppg and hitting 40% of his three-point shots last season. He will provide senior leadership and offense to a team that needs it. 6-8 Nate Martin returns to man the middle for Texas State. He averaged a modest 4.5 ppg last season but will be looked upon to be a bigger presence this season. The big offseason additions for the Bobcats are two transfers from Florida. They added size with 6-9 forward Tuongthach Gatkek, who will be looked upon to man the starting power forward spot, as well as 6-3 guard Elijah Kennedy. Kennedy figures to be one of the team's prominent scorers after getting sparse playing time in a crowded backcourt at Florida. Ultimately, the success or failure for Texas State this season will come down to shot-making. These lost three double-digit scorers and will need some reserves and new ad ditions to step up to get this team another Sun Belt title.