COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team will begin their longest road trip of the season on Thursday as they travel to Portales, N.M. to face Eastern New Mexico University. 
 
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (7-1) at Eastern New Mexico (4-5)
WHERE: Greyhound Arena in Portales, N.M.
WHEN: Thursday, December 8 at 8:30 p.m. CST
LIVE STATS: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=150741
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.goeasternathletics.com/watch/?Live=612
 
The Lions come into the Lone Star Conference contest with a 1-1 conference record and an overall record of 7-1. A&M-Commerce bounced back from a narrow loss against Cameron to win over Midwestern State on Saturday. A&M-Commerce coach Sam Walker liked the way his team responded after their first loss.
 
"I thought we did a good job of rebounding after a loss," Walker said. "You really don't know what you have until you lose a game and you see how your team reacts. I thought we reacted really well. We probably played our best game that we have played all year. These guys just don't like losing. It gives me a sense of confidence that we have the ability to really put a complete game together. Hopefully we can grow from that moving forward."
 
The Lions held Midwestern State to 60 points in Saturday's game. It was the lowest score the Lions have allowed this season. Walker was pleased with his team's defense.
 
"We hadn't really gotten everybody on the same page to really have a collective thought defensively. And that's something we have to do," he said. "When you're playing as small as we are, we have a lot of minutes with four guards out there on the floor. They have to have collective thought if they are going to disrupt the timing of their opponents. I think we've been doing that but we haven't been doing it consistently throughout the entire game. And this last game we did."
 
The Lions now face a battle-tested team in Eastern New Mexico. Although they are 4-5, Walker was impressed with their team after watching film, and he knows it is always a stiff challenge to play ENMU on their home floor. The Greyhounds are coming off two losses in their first week of conference play, but both were difficult road games against top LSC opponents. They took West Texas to the wire on Saturday.
 
"We watched Eastern New Mexico on film and they are a very impressive bunch," Walker said. "They are better than their record. I think they have really good pieces that maybe aren't playing as one unit right now. But I think their coach does a phenomenal job and they will put it all together. And they are 4-5 and haven't played at home. If we hadn't played a home game yet, I don't know what our record would be but I guarantee you it wouldn't be 7-1."
 
The game will be the first true road game for the Lions this season. They played two games away from home in Stephenville over Thanksgiving weekend, but both games they played were on a neutral site. Walker looks forward to seeing how his team responds to playing a team on their home court.
 
"We are going into uncharted territory for us because we have never been on the road," he said. "We've taken our team away from the Field House but those were neutral site games. And this team has never played a home game. They have played nine games this year and six of them have been on a neutral site and three of them have been road games. It's going to be their first home game and our first game playing somebody in their own gym. I think both teams are going to learn a lot about who they have."
 
Walker knows each game in conference play is going to be a tough matchup. He knows if his team wants to lead the pack at the end of February, they need to be able to win conference games on the road. He hopes it starts in Portales.
 
"It should be a really good game," Walker said. "I do not think that this is going to be an easy one at all. But we are prepared to go to New Mexico this weekend. We'll see if we can steal a couple road games."