Rams visit Dallas for HBCUAC game at longtime rival Paul Quinn

By Alan Wiederhold
HT Athletic Communications 

DALLAS – Huston-Tillotson University's men's basketball team returns to the court Saturday when they visit Paul Quinn College for an HBCU Athletic Conference matchup. This will be the first basketball meeting between the two longtime NAIA rivals since both schools joined the HBCUAC in time for the start of the 2025-26 season.

The CONTEST: HT Rams (4-6, 0-3 HBCUAC) at Paul Quinn Tigers (5-7, 1-3 HBCUAC)
The ENGAGEMENT: Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 • 3 p.m. (after the conclusion of the women's game)
The OUTING: Health & Wellness Center (PQC campus • Dallas)
The YADA YADA: HT leads the series 21-17 over the last 20 seasons (PQC leads 12-7 in Dallas since the 2005-06 season)
The WATCH: Urban Edge Network • Presto NAIA Live Stats
The TICKET(s): Hometown Ticketing

The Rams head to Dallas in search of their first HBCU Athletic conference win as they face their longtime, in-state rival. HT has lost four consecutive games since the Rams' 75-68 win at home over UNT–Dallas on Nov. 15. A win over the Tigers would also give the Rams their second road win of the season. HT prevailed 91-86 in overtime in a non-conference win Nov. 11 at Texas A&M–San Antonio.

The Rams are one of the best teams in the HBCUAC in terms of ball control and turnovers, both on offense and on defense. HT's high-pressure defense forces 16.8 turnovers per contest, which ranks second in the conference behind Philander Smith (Ark.). In turn, the Rams' offense gives the ball away only 14.1 times per game, which ranks fourth in the league in turnovers per game.

HT also leads the HBCU Athletic Conference in free throw attempts per game, getting to the line an average of 28.1 times per contest. 

Shannon Robinson's 9.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game leads the Rams as they head into Saturday's game at Dallas. Fellow HT frontliner Cade Holzman averages 9.3 points per game, and 16.0 points per game over his last three contests.

 

The ALTERNATE SIDE:
Paul Quinn's Tigers are the best rebounding team in the HBCU Athletic Conference. They lead the league in total rebounding (42.9 per game), offensive rebounding (13.2 per game), and defensive rebounding (29.8 per game).

 On the other side of that coin – well not a coin, but a statistical tidbit – the Tigers rank 13th out of 15 HBCUAC teams in field-goal percentage (39.1 percent per contest) and made field goals (23.7 per game).

And while the Tigers lead the conference in rebounding, they also give up 41.5 rebounds and 14.0 offensive rebounds per game. Only two teams in the conference give up more total and offensive rebounds to opponents than Paul Quinn. So expect a lot of shots taken in Saturday's game.

Frontcourt players Mekhi Johnson (11.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game) and Isaiah McCallum (12.4 points, 5.1 rebounds per game) lead the Tigers into the game against the Rams; Johnson also shoots 55.1 percent from the field. The Tigers are 4-5 at home this season.

The TRUTH:
HT is 21-17 against the Tigers over the last 20 seasons. Both teams were longtime members and rival institutions in the Red River Athletic Conference before joining the HBCUAC this summer. The Rams and Tigers have split the season series in each of the last two seasons, with the home team victorious in each of those games.

The Tigers have won 12 out of the 19 meetings in Dallas since the start of the 2005-06 season. The Rams won the first meeting at Paul Quinn College's new Health & Wellness Center that was opened in time for the 2019-20 season, but have lost their last four visits to PQC's current home venue. (HT's entire athletic program sat out of the 2020-21 season during the height of the CoVID-19 pandemic.)

Paul Quinn College attracted national attention when the Health & Wellness Center was opened, due to the artwork on the basketball court that shows a picture of the Dallas skyline as it appeared in the 1920s. Other artwork throughout the arena honors the Civil Rights movement and it history, especially as it was experienced in Dallas.

The Health & Wellness Center was the first new building built on the campus in nearly 50 years, and the first since Paul Quinn College moved its operations there. The campus was previously the home of Bishop College, a historically black college affiliated with the American Baptist Home Mission Society.

Bishop College was founded in 1881 in Marshall, Texas, and relocated to Dallas in 1961. It closed in 1988, two years before Paul Quinn College relocated from Waco, Texas.

A NOTE FROM HT ATHLETICS:
The Huston-Tillotson University athletics department and its communications office is continually trying to recover and digitally archive its history. The department is particularly focused on archiving seasons prior to 2005, when the NAIA's member institutions were fully participating in its digital statistics database sponsored by DakStats.

Any athletics alumni, other alumni, present or former staff, former students, family members of students, or anyone else who has documents, video, or pictures that may be of interest to HT Athletics, and who wish to contribute to our ongoing history project, can email htathletics@htu.edu. Just in case the readers are wondering why the section on the all-time series only goes back 20 years.

– HT –