COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team will face their first Lone Star Conference foe as they take on Cameron University on Thursday afternoon. This is the earliest date a conference game has been scheduled for the Lions since 2012.
 
WHO: A&M-Commerce (6-0) vs. Cameron (6-1)
WHEN: Thursday, December 1 at 1 p.m.
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
LIVE STATS: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=147040
LIVE VIDEO: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/tamucommerce/
 
The Lions enter the contest with a perfect 6-0 record after getting their first wins away from the comfort of home. They participated in a weekend tournament in Stephenville and picked up wins over Emmanuel College and Colorado State-Pueblo. Head coach Sam Walker liked the way his team played on the road.
 
"We played two really good opponents and had success against both," he said. "The beauty of where we are right now is that we are not playing nearly as good as we are capable of playing. We are not executing our plays as well as we can execute them. We are not defending consistently the way that we need to. We are still averaging close to 100 points a game and we're not really clicking on all cylinders offensively There is a lot of room for growth but we have our mindset the right way and we are working toward the right things."
 
The Lions showed their quick-strike ability in both contests, leading by double-digits in both games. The Lions are leading the Lone Star Conference in field goal percentage and are second in scoring. They also lead the conference in steals.
 
"When we rebound the ball well and when we guard and get deflections and steals and do things at the defensive end, it leads to easy buckets for us," Walker said. "We are exceptionally good in transition. There hasn't been a game where we haven't been good in transition. When we create those types of situations for ourselves, we are able to score a lot of points in a short amount of time."
 
Walker feels like his team is prepared to enter Lone Star Conference play. His goal was to enter December at worst 5-1 and his team responded to the challenge. When his team got to 5-0, they didn't get complacent. They continue to have the drive to keep the streak alive.
 
"When we got to 5-0 and the team we were playing, Pueblo, was probably the best team that we have played all year. We said, 'well if we lose we are 5-1 but we need to be 6-0 now,'" Walker said. "We kind of have that mentality. Now we say, 'we don't need to be 6-1, we need to be 7-0.' If we are fortunate to get a win tomorrow then it will be better to be 8-0 rather than 7-1. Winning is contagious and there is never a good time to lose. As we continue to win games, we will continue to get hungrier and hungrier and we will want to keep that streak going."
 
The conference schedule is starting early this year, thanks to two new additions to the LSC in Western New Mexico and UT Permian Basin. The four additional conference games provide a challenge to get a team ready to play conference games earlier. Walker thinks his team is up for the challenge.
 
"It changed the way we prepared throughout the year," he said. "We had to try and be a good team in December as opposed to trying to be a good team in January. We've sped up our process of how we want to grow as a team and how good we want to be at this time of the year. You don't want to peak too early but you also don't want to lose conference games. But as it always is in sports, everybody else has to do it too. Everyone else is starting conference early. We all have to be a part of that."
 
The team faces another six-win team in Cameron. Walker and his staff had a chance to watch the Aggies play when they took part in A&M-Commerce's tournament at the beginning of the season. Walker was impressed with the energy that the team played with every single possession.
 
"They just play so stinking hard," he said. "We haven't played anybody all year like them. Of all the teams we have played this year, nobody plays as hard as they do throughout every possession. They practice at that same level. I've talked to their coach and he says that is the way they practice every single day. They have a better level of consistency in terms of their effort than a lot of other teams do this time of year."
 
The Aggies are third in the conference in defensive average, holding opponents to 63 points per game. The Lions are averaging 96 points per game, second in the conference. Walker knows something will have to give and he expects a strength-versus-strength matchup where the team who executes better will win the game.
 
We are going to have to get the game into the 80s to win," he said. "A 75-74 game is going to play in their favor and an 85-84 game is going to play in our favor. We haven't shot the ball well. We are not shooting the three well. We are not shooting free throws well. We are leaving a lot of points out there. We've got to get to the free throw line more and we've got to stick our open shots and we've got to create a lot of offense with our defense."
 
The game will be a part of "Lion Education Day" as the Lions host numerous local school districts. All tickets will be $1 apiece at the gate. The men's game is part of a doubleheader as the A&M-Commerce women's team will play against Cameron starting at 11 a.m.