Tarleton basketball returns with WAC Awards

BY JAXON HANSARD

Sports editor 

The men’s and women’s Tarleton State University Basketball teams were able to acquire some Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Award season honors on March 11 before starting their post-season play in Vegas.

The women's team’s award winner was freshman center, Faith Acker. She was nominated for the WAC All-Freshman team, joining Abilene Christian University (ACU) guard Payton Hull, California Baptist University guard Khloe Lemon, Southern Utah University forward Ava Uhrich and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) guard Jayda Holiman.

Acker started 23 of the 25 games this season and has been controlling the paint, averaging 9.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game. Acker has been the second leading scorer and rebounding with 242 total points and 157 rebounds this season.

 Acker has also been an important piece for the women's defense averaging 1.0 blocks per game. Acker had four blocks against I-20 rival, ACU, in the Tarleton women's first division one postseason win at the WAC Vegas tournament. 

After the most successful season in the division one era of Tarleton men's basketball, Acting Head Coach, Joseph Jones, won WAC Coach of the Year. Jones took over as the Acting Head Coach on Nov. 19 when former Head Coach, Billy Gillespie, had to leave for medical purposes. 

Under Jones’ leadership, the Texan’s achieved the 20 season with 20 wins in program history and earned their highest seating in their WAC tournament history since becoming eligible last year.

Tarleton was projected to finish sixth in the WAC conference this season, but broke that ceiling and placed second. Jones is younger than Gillespie and has more of a “player’s coach” mentality that has resonated with the players this season. 

Defensive anchor, KiAndre Gaddy, was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Year and was a selection for the WAC all defensive team for his impressive shot-blocking and dominant rebounding. Gaddy set his tone with a career-high seven blocks against UTRGV early into the season. 

The defender also had eight games with 10-plus rebounds and led the WAC in offensive rebounds while also ranking in the top 10 in the nation for offensive boards with 3.8 a game. While only standing at 6’6”, Gaddy started all but one game this season as the center.

Tarleton was able to grab two more nominations with Emmanuel Innocenti of Ranzanico, Italy. The highly skilled Texan was nominated to the WAC All-Freshman and All-Defensive team. The All-WAC representative demonstrated many skills for Tarleton such as three-point shooting, ball handling, playmaking and most importantly, his exceptional defense. Innocenti is often tasked with guarding the opposing team's best player, while racking up steals and defensive rebounds in his freshman season for the purple and white.

Innocenti finished the season second in steals for the WAC with 1.9 per game, while being the defensive rebounding ying to All-Defensive teammate Gaddy’s offensive Yang and pulling 5.45 defensive boards per game against conference play. Those numbers landed him top five in the WAC for defensive rebounding. 

The Final WAC nomination winner was Texans leading scorer Jakorie Smith with a selection for the All-WAC first team. Smith made it clear that this season he was here to get buckets, scoring 34 points for a division one era record for Tarleton in its second game of the season at the SoCal challenge Sand division against Florida International University, following a 28-point performance in the first game. 

Smith's offense was incredible this year. Vaulting him into the top ten of multiple scoring categories such as field goal percentage, three-pointers made and free throw percentage, but also tied for fourth with steals in the conference at 1.85 per game. 

The Texans were well represented with WAC awards to end this remarkable season for both Texan basketball teams.  

Photo courtesy: Tarleton Athletics

All WAC first-team selection Jakorie Smith. Smith heating up his scoring in the fourth quarter

Photo courtesy: Tarleton Athletics

WAC Defensive Player of the Year, Kiandre Gaddy. Coming back to the floor after a timeout at Tennessee.