Tarleton State Texans men's basketball
| Tarleton State Texans | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
| University | Tarleton State University | ||||||||
| First season | 1961 | ||||||||
| Head coach | Eric Haut (1st season) | ||||||||
| Location | Stephenville, Texas | ||||||||
| Arena | EECU Center (capacity: 8,000) | ||||||||
| Conference | Western Athletic Conference | ||||||||
| Nickname | Texans | ||||||||
| Colors | Purple and white | ||||||||
| NCAA Division I tournament Final Four | |||||||||
| 2005*, 2015* | |||||||||
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| Conference tournament champions | |||||||||
| Lone Star: 2004, 2013, 2014 | |||||||||
| Conference regular-season champions | |||||||||
| TIAA 1984, 1989, 1990, 1991 Lone Star 2004, 2012, 2014, 2015 | |||||||||
| Conference division champions | |||||||||
| LSC North: 2004 LSC South: 2002, 2006, 2011 | |||||||||
The Tarleton State Texans men's basketball team, also known as the Tarleton Texans, represents Tarleton State University, located in Stephenville, Texas, in NCAA Division I as a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Through the 2019–20 season, the team competed in NCAA Division II as a member of the Lone Star Conference.
In 2019–20, a year after being named Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Year and first team All-Lone Star Conference, senior Josh Hawley was named the Lone Star Conference co-preseason Player of the Year and a Street & Smith preseason All-American. He closed out his Tarleton State career fourth all-time in scoring (1,578 points) and third all-time in rebounds (968), steals (168), and blocks (138).
The Texans made their Division I debut under first-year head coach Billy Gillispie for the 2020–21 season.
Through the 2024–25 season, the team played home games at Wisdom Gym on its campus in Stephenville. In the 2025–26 season, the team moved to the new EECU Center, having played its final home game in Wisdom Gym on March 8, 2025. In the same game, played Freddy Hicks became the first player for the team to score 1,000 points in the Division I era.