October 25, 2023
Adam P. Ledyard |
Blake Arbogast - ETBU Head Women's Basketball Coach
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MARSHALL, Texas – A moment that will be remembered for a lifetime will take place for the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team on Thursday night. Opening up the 2023-24 season with a NCAA Division I exhibition game, ETBU will face NCAA Division I National Champion Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La. It will be the first game for the national champions after they claimed the championship in March.
"We are excited. This speaks volumes for our program and previous players that have put this program at a level that a NCAA Division I national champs respect to play," says head coach
Blake Arbogast. "This will be a great experience for not only our program but for NCAA Division III women's basketball."
This will be the third time that ETBU has faced a NCAA Division I program in an exhibition game in the past four years. ETBU upset McNeese State in 2020-21, 68-67, and last year played Lamar University falling, 69-43.
ETBU will have a new look this year as all five starters from the 20-win team last year have graduated.
Bridget Upton led the starters with 11.3 points per game followed by
Mollie Dittmar's 9.5 points and
Brooke Webster's 8.7 points per game. This team will have to find a new identity as they have nine returners that saw playing time combined with 10 newcomers with seven being freshmen.
Last year, the team averaged 68.4 points per game and only gave up 57.7 points with a +10.7 scoring margin. They shot .417 from the floor and made 154 three-pointers (33 percent). They were also a .734 free throw shooting team and had a +8.2 rebounding edge.
LSU will be the toughest opponent they play all year and it doesn't get any easier for ETBU after that. They will face play five teams that were in the NCAA Tournament last year. Of those seven non-ASC games, two teams were ranked in the top 10 last year and two others were regionally ranked. Christopher Newport University was the national runners-up and Trinity University finished ranked sixth. Rhodes College won their conference tournament and Elizabethtown just finished out of the top 25. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps also went to the NCAA Tournament and won 16 games.
ETBU will turn to senior players and
Hannah Matthews,
Jayla Hall,
Erin Berry,
Michaela James, and
Payton Hicks. Four of the players saw playing time off the bench with Matthews starting one game and James 14. Hicks is a senior transfer from Mary Hardin-Baylor where she averaged 6.7 points per game.
It is believed that this is the first time a reigning national champion from 2000 on has taken on a NCAA Division III program to start the season. There are several other NCAA Division III programs facing NCAA Division I programs like Baylor, Wisconsin, and UW Green Bay, but Thursday will mark the first time a national champion has taken on a NCAA Division III program.
Thursday will also bring a test like non-other in all the players careers facing the likes of preseason All-Americans Angel Reese, Hailey Van Lith, and Aneesah Morrow. It will be a game that will be remembered by ETBU. Tip off time in Baton Rouge will be at 7:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on the SEC+ Network.
Quick Facts
ETBU is 66-14 under
Blake Arbogast
9 players return from last year's team
10 newcomers come to ETBU this year
No starters return from the ASC Tournament Championship game
ETBU had a perfect regular season in 2020-21 at 24-0 finishing 25-1 in the CoVID year
ETBU has played for two ASC Tournament Championships in three years
2 NCAA Division I transfers in
Hannah Matthews (Tarleton State) and
Payton Hicks (UT Rio Grande Valley)
About ETBU
ETBU is a Christ-centered insititution educates students by integrating biblical faith and learning to develop mind, body, and soul through community engagement to prepare graduates to be Christian servant leaders in their calling to God and humanity. They are located in Marshall, Texas, in the tri-state area of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas know as the ArkLaTex. ETBU is 30 minutes from the Louisiana border and Shreveport, La. The ratio for student to faculty is 15:1 with an average undergraduate class size of 20.
They have four core commitments in Embracing Faith, Engaging Minds, Empowering Leaders, and Enhancing Community.
Embracing Faith- Ensure the integration of biblical faith in curricular and co-curricular experiences including opportunities while embracing our Baptist heritage.
Engaging Minds- Equip students through excellence in teaching, research, and scholarship to explore God's truth and provide the knowledge and skills for academic success, degree completion, employment opportunity, and lifelong learning.
Empowering Leaders - Develop and deploy Christian Servant leaders for their callings to God and to humanity.
Enhancing Community - Create an environment conducive to the development of the whole person through relevant facilities, resources, and services which allows a diverse and growing community to utilize their God-given gifts both locally and globally.
Known Awards for ETBU
#1 in Texas – ETBU School of Nursing by the registerednursing.org and rncareers.org
#5 Best College Dorms in Texas out of 67
#6 Top Christian College and Universities in Texas
#10 in Best Value Schools (Regional Colleges West)
Named as at Tree Campus USA by Arbor Day Foundation
Named one of the Most Beautiful Christian Colleges and Universities
Named as one of the Nation's Top Teacher Prep Programs for Early Reading Instruction
NCAA Division I Exhibition Games | WBB
Under head coach
Blake Arbogast, this will be the third NCAA Division I exhibition contest in four years. ETBU is now 1-1 in NCAA Division exhibition contests with a win over McNeese State in the 2020-21 season. Las year, they traveled to Beaumont, Texas, and played Lamar University in a tight contest.
Overall, at ETBU, three sports have taken on NCAA Division I programs in women's basketball, men's basketball, and women's soccer. ETBU is 2-9 since 2012-13 in NCAA Division games as women's soccer defeated Alcorn State, 4-1, in 2017, and then women's basketball earned the win over McNeese State in 2020-21.
In ACHA Club Hockey Division II, ETBU has faced several NCAA Division I club hockey teams including big schools like Baylor, Colorado State, LSU, Oklahoma State, Southern Methodist, Texas A&M, Texas Christian, University of Texas, Texas State, Arkansas, Colorado, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Washington. In ACHA club hockey, ETBU is 3-9 vs. SEC programs and 47-14-1. ETBU also has a ACHA Club Hockey Division III program that is in their third year who have also beat Houston and Texas Tech.
ETBU WBB vs. NCAA Division I - Exhibition
2022-23: vs. Lamar University L, 69-43
2020-21: vs. McNeese State W, 68-67
ETBU MBB vs. NCAA Division I – Exhibition
2020-21: vs. Grambling State L, 68-59
2019-20: vs. Grambling State L, 102-70
2018-19: vs. Sam Houston St. L, 85-64
2017-18: vs. Oral Roberts L, 93-66
2012-13: vs. Northwestern State L, 118-77
ETBU Women's Soccer vs. NCAA Division I
2023: vs. Grambling State (Exh.) L, 1-0
2022: vs. Alcorn State L, 2-1
2021: vs. Louisiana Tech (Exh.) L, 9-0
2017: vs. Alcorn State W, 4-1
ETBU Club Hockey Division II vs. Big Name Schools
SEC Schools
Arkansas: 1-5
Kentucky: 0-1
LSU: 2-0
Mississippi: 0-4
Big 12 Schools
Oklahoma State: 2-0
Texas: 10-4
Texas A&M: 11-7-1
Texas Christian: 24-3
Power 5 Schools
Colorado: 3-1
Louisville: 0-1
North Carolina: 1-0
Southern Methodist: 12-1
Texas El Paso: 3-4
Washington: 0-1
Six Years of 20+ Win Seasons
For six years straight, ETBU has won 20+ games in each season starting in 2017-18. ETBU became a member of NCAA Division III in 2001 for basketball and had only five winning seasons in their first 16 years. In 2017-18, Rusty Rainbolt became the new head coach revamping the program. He led the program for three seasons from 2017-18 through 2019-20 posting a 68-18 record. In his first season, he guided ETBU to their first-ever American Southwest Conference Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. They went 25-7 and finished in the Elite Eight just missing the Final Four losing to #2 Wartburg College, 65-61. ETBU then went 23-4 in 2018-19 and 20-7 in 2019-20.
Blake Arbogast took over as the head coach in the 2020-21 season during CoVID after a year as the assistant coach under Rainbolt. In his first year, ETBU went 25-1 with a perfect 23-0 regular season. There wasn't a NCAA Tournament that season due to CoVID. He followed that with a 21-6 year in 2021-22 and a NCAA Tournament appearance winning their first-round game over Rhodes College. Last year, ETBU was 20-7 and played for the ASC Tournament Championship for the second time in three years just missing the NCAA Tournament.
Past Six Years
Year Record ASC ASC Tournament NCAA
2022-23 20-7 13-5 (2
nd) 2-1 (runners-up) NA – regionally ranked
2021-22 21-6 15-3 (2
nd) 1-1 (3
rd) 2
nd Round (1-1)
2020-21 25-1 15-0 E (1
st) 2-1 (runners-up) COVID
2019-20 20-7 13-3 E (2
nd) 1-1 (3
rd) NA – regionally ranked
2018-19 23-4 13-3 E (2
nd) 1-1 (3
rd) NA – regionally ranked
2017-18 25-7 13-5 E (2
nd) 3-0 (champions) Elite 8 (3-1)
Total 113-32 82-19 10-5 4-2
History – National Rankings | Past Six Years
In four of the past six years, ETBU has been nationally ranked by D3hoops.com. ETBU has reached as high as #2 in the nation during the 2020-21 CoVID season and the beginning of the 2021-22 season. ETBU was ranked twice under Rusty Rainbolt and has been twice under
Blake Arbogast. In total, ETBU has been ranked 31 total weeks in the past six years.
Year Highest Ranking Weeks Ranked Last Ranking Final
2021-22 #2 11 #21 (Week 11) RV
2020-21 #2 6 #2 (only 6 polls) #2
2018-19 #13 13 #20 RV
2017-18 #11 1 #11 #11
Tough Schedule
Strength of schedule is a major factor in NCAA Division III to get into the NCAA Division III Tournament. With the location of ETBU in the south and less NCAA Division III programs than are in the Midwest and Northeast, along with the competition of the teams in the south, every year a hard schedule is put together for a chance to make the NCAA Tournament. If you do not win the ASC Tournament, your chances of making the NCAA Tournament can become slim. ETBU made the NCAA Tournament in 2021-22 because of the SOS but last year just missed out on with 20 wins and being the ASC Tournament runner-up. With the fourth seed winning the tournament last year, it bumped a spot in the bid pool for ETBU.
With all that, ETBU has put together another tough pre-ASC schedule with seven games and overall will play five teams that were in the NCAA Tournament last year. Of those seven games, two teams will be ranked in the top 10 and two others were regionally ranked last year. Christopher Newport University was the national runners-up and Trinity University finished ranked sixth. Rhodes College won their conference tournament and Elizabethtown just finished out of the top 25. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps also went to the NCAA Tournament and won 16 games.
Traveling Tigers
This year, ETBU will most likely surpass 10,000 miles traveled to play opponents. The estimated amount is 9,833 miles to each destination and does not include travel to and from locations for practice and meals. ETBU's longest round-trip trip will be to California at 3,112 to Claremont, Calif., from Marshall, Texas. This does not include the time on a bus traveling to Dallas for a flight to the destinations.
Road Trips
Location Team Miles from Marshall Plane/Bus
Baton Rouge, LA LSU 290 (580) Vans
Newport News, VA CNU, EC 1,227 (2,454) Plane
Claremont, CA CMS, PP 1,556 (3,112) Plane
Austin/Belton, TX CTX, UMHB 353 (706) Bus
Richardson, TX UTD 167 (334) Bus
Clarksville, AR UO 310 (620) Bus
Abilene, TX HSU, McM 331 (662) Bus
Longview, TX LETU 25 (50) Vans
Alpine/Brownwood, TX SRSU, HPU 1,315 – round trip Bus
Total 9,833 miles
