St. Edward's men's basketball opens February fourth in the Lone Star Conference standings behind Angelo State, West Texas A&M, and Lubbock Christian but trails Texas A&M-Kingsville in the East Division for the second seed in the LSC Tournament by its divisional schedule.

The Hilltoppers continue the back end of their divisional schedule with another crack at Texas-Tyler, who defeated St. Edward's 75-71 in January, and an opportunity to sweep Dallas Baptist after beating the Patriots 74-71 in the first meeting. 

Texas-Tyler hit a rough patch following its wins over St Edward's and St. Mary's and have lost six of its past seven games. 

St. Edward's struggled to start against Texas-Tyler in its first meeting, falling behind 16 early. The Hilltoppers closed the gap but couldn't get over the hump, missing a shot to tie the game in the final minutes. 

Texas-Tyler presents some challenging strengths for St. Edward's, ranking second in the conference in offensive rebounds, third in scoring defense, and first in 3-point percentage defense. The Hilltoppers lean into the variance of 3-point shooting, ranking third in the conference in 3-pointers made in a pass-heavy offense that ranks second in the LSC at 78.6 points per game. 

The Patriots are excellent at contesting spot-up opportunities and containing the pick-and-roll but can be vulnerable in transition or defending off-ball screens, which the Hilltoppers run at a high volume. 

Texas-Tyler gets most of its offensive punch out of the pick-and-roll and average efficiency out of post-ups and isolations. While it ranks 15th in scoring, it does have the conference's fourth-leading scorer in Rashun Williams, who averages 17.1 points per game. The 6-foot-7 guard is a matchup problem who can use his size to post or come off screens and his versatility to create advantages in the pick and roll. 

Dallas Baptist has some identical statistical markers to St. Edward's, moving the ball for open shots without turning it over to rank third in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio. However, the Patriots do so at a slower pace, ranking third in 11th in the LSC in points per game. 

Dallas Baptist spaces the floor and runs more ball screens than St. Edward's, throwing in dribble hand-offs for variety. The Patriots have three players averaging double figures, though Ricky Lujan has missed the past two games. Cameron Kahn is averaging 12.1 points per game, using his strength to get into the paint, patience, and a variety of ball fakes to finish. 

Ta'Jay Dunlap averages 11.4 points per game and is tied for the team lead with 61 assists. He gets downhill using his quickness, where he can shoot over the top of defenses with a nice floater. He can also play off-ball with the ability to space the floor. 

St. Edward's has three players in double figures, led by JEFF GARY's 13.8 points per game. However, freshman center SEAN ELKINTON is averaging a team-high 14.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game in conference play, shooting a blistering 61.4 percent from the field, connecting on 35 percent of his 20 3-point attempts and 70 percent of his 40 free-throw attempts. 

The young Hilltopper core of Elkinton, BLAKE NIELSEN, and GAVINO RAMOS are getting their second look at opponents while serving as rotational mainstays. MASON HIX recently broke through with some bench scoring. 

The Hilltoppers host Texas-Tyler on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. and Dallas Baptist on Monday at 3:00 p.m.