COMMERCE - The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team wraps up the 2016 calendar year with a non-conference road trip, heading east to Magnolia, Ark., for a game at Southern Arkansas.

WHO: Texas A&M University-Commerce (9-2) at Southern Arkansas University (5-4)
WHERE: Watson Center in Magnolia, Ark.
WHEN: Saturday, December 31 at 3 p.m. CST
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/saumag/mbball/
LIVE VIDEO: http://livestream.com/accounts/10140781
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.ketr.org/
 

A&M-Commerce looks to shake off the rust from the 16-day break between games for the Christmas holiday, traveling to Southern Arkansas in search of a season sweep of the Muleriders. The Lions won the first matchup of the year at home by an 84-75 count on November 22.

Despite strong performances in December, A&M-Commerce will look to clean up some loose ends from the ECU loss in the last game out. The Lions saw Malik Albert score 36 points in the last game, but he fouled out in 26 minutes of the 94-84 loss at East Central. The Lions also missed 21 free throws, connecting on 32-of-53 attempts from the charity stripe. The two teams combined for 82 free throws on 65 fouls called. ECU also had a 48-34 advantage in rebounds, though that turned into only 12 second chance points.

The Lions are now sitting at third in the LSC in scoring average at 89.2 points per game. This scoring offense ranks 23rd nationally after games played Thursday. A&M-Commerce also leads the league in steals per game (10.5, 7th nationally), fewest turnovers (128, 68th nationally), and turnover margin (+6.7, 6th nationally).

Malik Albert leads the Lone Star Conference in steals, with 2.4 thefts per game. Albert has moved up to third in the Lone Star Conference in scoring and is one of two Lions in the top 10 in the league. Albert's averaging 19.0 points per contest and also ranks third in the league in shooting percentage at 49.3 percent.

Dorian Armstrong ranks in the top 10 in the league in a pair of categories. His 2.0 blocks per game average is second in the conference. He ranks eighth in the league in rebounding with 7.5 rebounds per contest.
 

Trey Seymore ranks eighth in the league in scoring at 15.5 points per game and ranks 11th in the league in rebounding at 5.5 boards per game. He also ranks 9th in the league in assists at 3.1 per game.

De'Andre Carson leads the league in three-pointer percentage. His percentage from long range took a hit in the loss at ECU, but he is still at the top of the table with a 47.7 three-point percentage.

The Lions have commanded the all-time series against the Muleriders, as the matchup is played for the 40th time. A&M-Commerce has a 26-13 lead in the series. The Muleriders' last win in the series was in the 2004-05 season. The Lions have won 15 consecutive meetings against their nearby foe.