COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team remains on the road as they take on East Central University on Thursday. The game will be the final game for the Lions before the holiday break. After Thursday's game, they will return to action on Dec. 31.
WHO: Texas A&M University-Commerce (9-1) at East Central University (4-4)
WHERE: Kerr Activities Center in Ada, Okla.
WHEN: Thursday, December 15 at 6 p.m. CST
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/ecok/mbball/
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.ecutigers.com/watch/?Live=242
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.ketr.org/
The Lions are coming off of their first true road games of the season, scoring wins over Eastern and Western New Mexico last week. Head coach
Sam Walker was pleased with how his team played and how they took care of the basketball on the road.
"We had a really good weekend," he said. "We turned the ball over 17 times in the two games combined, which is what you have to do on the road. You have to protect the ball, keep it close and find a way to win. Luckily we got out to big leads in both games early on."
The Lions finished their first stint of Lone Star Conference games and came away with a 3-1 overall record. Walker likes where his team is and the confidence that was built getting the early conference wins, but he knows bigger challenges are in front of his team. He knows there is still a long road ahead for his team in conference play.
"It's good that we had some success early," Walker said. "But if we look at the standings, we weren't playing the teams at the top of the standings. We were playing the teams at the bottom of the standings. We did a good job of getting a couple wins but we've got to realize that some of these road games are going to get harder as we go on. We go to Angelo and Tarleton and West Texas and so forth. When we go to those places, it's going to be very hard to get wins. And we have to protect our home court at the same time."
The Lions face two non-conference opponents to finish the month of December. Both games will count toward regional standings. While neither is a conference opponent, Walker says the intensity and fight of his team needs to be at the same level as if it were a conference matchup.
"If we are going to accomplish the goals that we set at the beginning of the year, we've got to treat these games like conference games," Walker said. "They are road games against teams that will count in our regional rankings. They are both teams that are going to have winning records at the end of the year. And we are playing both games in places that are tough to play in. It will be a good learning experience for us. They are games that we need to win if we are going to stay in the hunt for the national tournament."
The Lions next opponent is East Central University. The Lions escaped with a one-point victory against ECU last season in Commerce. Their roster remained largely intact with returning players and Walker expects them to be even better this time around. The Tigers are riding a four-game winning streak.
"They are the preseason favorite to win the Great American Conference, and there is a reason why," he said. "They have the majority of their team coming back from last year. That was a very good team. They won the league last year. People picked them to win it because they are a good team and they are really good at home. It will be a really good test for us."
After the game, the team will have a 12-day break for the holiday season. Walker said it is a good thing for his players to get a short break after the grind of preseason and their first 11 games of the regular season. He believes his team will stay focused and return with renewed energy.
"They will be able to get away for a little bit. I think it's good for them," he said. "We've gone really hard for the last three or four months. That's the fun but also the hard part about basketball. The season starts in the middle of the school year so you spend a couple months preparing, you spend a couple months playing, you take a few days off and then you still have two or three more months to keep playing in January, February and hopefully March. It's a long season so it is a much-needed break and I'm glad our guys are going to have it. If we can get a win and get to 10-1, I will be very pleased with where we are and it will be a much-needed break for these guys."
