TAMU-T continuing success in second season

TEXARKANA, Texas — Nestled away on the campus of Texas A&M University-Texarkana is one of the top National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics men’s basketball teams in the country.

The Eagles are 7-0 overall and 2-0 in Red River Conference play, while being in their second season as a basketball program.

Ryan Wall is in his second season as the Eagles head coach and is ready to make a deep postseason run with their year’s squad. Wall has been in the league coaching for seven seasons.

“It’s always good to win,” Wall said. “It’s great for these young men and how hard they’ve worked since September. Things have been on and off, due to COVID.” TAMU-T is the No. 20 ranked team in the country in all of NAIA basketball.

“We have a few guys returning from last year’s team,” Wall said. “We have a lot of new faces on this year’s team. It’s nice to watch guys from all over the country and gel together. It’s good to see different personalities and egos put to the side. They all want to win.

“It’s good to see these kids doing their thing.”

The Eagles host Jarvis Christian on Thursday before heading to Hawkins, Texas, on Saturday to face the Bulldogs.

“We had a pretty good first year,” Wall said. “We made it to the Red River Conference championship game and lost by four points to Louisiana State University-Shreveport.

“That was a good start for the guys that were here last year. It was great to start the program off on the right foot. This group is continuing that and they’re also pushing forward more a little bit. Our hopes here are to win a championship.”

Wall and his staff will use the geographical location of the TAMU-T campus and also the program to continue to get championship-caliber players to his basketball team.

“The community is awesome,” Wall said. “Obviously, COVID hinders a little bit of it but last year, the community came out and were very supportive of the guys. That’s a great feeling for these student-athletes. I know guys want to come play for a community that supports them. Texarkana is a really great place to be. Dallas is two hours away, Little Rock is two and half hours away and Houston is four hours away. We’re in a location where you can get anywhere you want fast.

“Our faculty and administration do a great job of supporting our program as well. They come to all the home games, to make sure the guys know they support them. The facilities are also top-notch. They did a great job of building the Patterson Center.”