Fort Hays State men's basketball closes out a five-game homestand on Tuesday (Dec. 16) when it hosts Bethany College at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7:30 pm, which follows the women's game against Kansas Wesleyan. Fort Hays State enters the game at 6-3 overall.

The Tigers are looking for their third consecutive win, after taking three of the first four games in their current homestand. A loss against defending national champion Central Missouri (now ranked No. 4 in the nation) was the only hiccup in the first four games of the homestand. FHSU defeated Missouri Western to even up its conference record and most recently knocked off Northwestern Oklahoma State by 44 points in a Central Region matchup.

This is Fort Hays State's second-to-last non-conference game of the season, with a late-January game with South Dakota School of Mines as the only other remaining outside MIAA play.

The Tigers are have done a good job taking care of the ball so far this year, leading the MIAA in turnover margin at +4.1. FHSU does a good job sharing the ball offensively with a MIAA-best 18.4 assists per game. Combining the two, FHSU leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio at 1.8 and ranks seventh nationally.

Fort Hays State is one of the top teams defensively in the MIAA, as it leads the conference in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. FHSU allows just 66.9 points per game, while allowing teams to shoot just 41.7 percent overall. FHSU is second in the MIAA in steals per game (8.1) and third in blocked shots per game (3.3). The Tigers also lead the MIAA in defensive rebound percentage (.776).

Craig Nicholson leads the Tigers at 16.2 points and a MIAA-best 6.2 assists per game. He ranks 15th in the nation in assists per game. Dom Samac averages 11.0 points per game and ranks third in the conference in field goal percentage (.600). Samac was recently named the MIAA Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week on Monday (Dec. 15) for his double-double performance of 19 points and 13 rebounds against Northwestern Oklahoma State last week.

Royce Williams is just shy of averaging double figures in scoring at 9.9 points per game, while Achoki Moikobu is the top scorer off the Tiger bench at 9.3 points per game. Moikobu ranks fourth in the MIAA in 3-point field goal percentage (.500). Jake Stoppel is the top rebounder for the Tigers at 6.9 per game, which ranks fourth in the MIAA, while adding 8.8 points per contest. James Fleming is shooting 45.5 percent beyond the 3-point line and averages 8.2 points per game.