COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team continues its trek west as they get set to face Western New Mexico on Saturday. This is the first meeting between the teams in their respective histories. It is also the last Lone Star Conference contest for both teams in the 2016 calendar year.
 
WHO: Texas A&M University-Commerce (7-1) at Western New Mexico (1-7)
WHERE: Drag's Court in Silver City, N.M.
WHEN: Thursday, December 8 at 5 p.m. CST
LIVE STATS: http://wnmumustangs.com/custompages/livestats/xlive.htm
LIVE VIDEO: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/wnmu/
 
The Lions are coming off of a win against Eastern New Mexico on Thursday. It was the first true road game of the season for the Lions. A&M-Commerce head coach Sam Walker was pleased with the way his team fought.
 
"It is tough to win on the road, and especially tough to win on the road in the Lone Star Conference," he said. "I am proud of the way our team played. We took care of the basketball and that's very important, especially on the road. We hope to continue that against Western New Mexico."
 
The Lions were led by senior De'Andre Carson, who scored 18 points against ENMU. With a team full of new faces, Walker said that Carson has been invaluable with his leadership skills and how he has helped mentally prepare the team for the grind of Lone Star Conference play.
 
"De'Andre has really stepped up for us this season," Walker said. "He has been a great leader for our team, and even more so this year. He has played four years here in the Lone Star Conference. He knows what to expect and he has helped his teammates understand how tough it is in our league. He has been an outstanding player for us and he played very well against Eastern New Mexico."
 
The Lions now head to Silver City, N.M., in the southwest corner of New Mexico. Walker said the travel will be an added challenge, a challenge not many other conferences have to face. The Lions flew from Dallas to Lubbock and then rode a bus to Portales, N.M. After spending the night in a hotel, the team rode another bus an additional 400 miles to Silver City on Friday.
 
"It's one of the longest road trips in college basketball," Walker said. "I don't know if there is anyone that has to fly and then get on a bus and travel to get a long way to get to their destination and then travel across an entire state to get to their next destination then travel to another airport to be able to fly home. It's the best way we can do it. We've got the whole day Friday to travel to get to our next destination and we will strap them back on and lace them up and play again and then find a way to get ourselves back home."
 
In addition to the test of travel, the Lions are also facing an unfamiliar opponent. WNMU is one of two new members of the Lone Star Conference, and a team A&M-Commerce has never played before in its history. While it adds a little bit of work for the coaching staff to prepare for a new conference opponent, Walker says his players will be ready.
 
"This will definitely be new for us," he said. "We have never played them before. Western New Mexico has never been in the league. But with all the new players we brought in this year, everything is new to them. So as a coaching staff we have to put in a little more time but most of our players have been playing unfamiliar opponents for the entire season. We look forward to the challenge this brings and hope to replicate our result from Thursday."