COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team will host its home opener on Tuesday against Oklahoma City.
 
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (2-0) vs. Oklahoma City (6-0)
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m.
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The Lions are coming off of two wins to start the 2017-18 season. They defeated Oklahoma Christian in overtime on Nov. 10 and then went down to the wire again on Nov. 11 against Newman. Getting his first two wins as a head coach, Jaret von Rosenberg was pleased with his team's determination, even though he knows there is still room to improve.
 
"In college basketball, it is hard to win games," he said. "We went on the road and faced adversity in both games. We played against two really good teams in Oklahoma Christian and Newman. They battled for 40 minutes with us. We were able to make enough plays. We didn't play clean by any stretch of the imagination but made enough plays down the stretch in both games to come out with two victories."
 
The Lions had a balanced attack, with four players averaging double figures over the first weekend. Von Rosenberg says that is how the offense is supposed to be run and was glad to see so many players get involved.
 
"It is kind of the way our offense is built; it is free flowing," he said. "It puts a lot of responsibility on everybody on the floor. They are going to have to touch the ball, dribble, pass, shoot. With that being said, if guys are willing to make plays for their teammates, you will see that production spread across. The biggest thing we talk about– and we are going to continue to talk about it– if you want to be in the game, it's not about how many shots you get. It is about your effort and intensity to execute what we want to do, especially on the defensive end of the floor."
 
The Lions are now set to face Oklahoma City, an NAIA team that is one of the top ranked in the country. Headed by former West Texas A&M head coach Vinay Patel, the Stars are undefeated so far this season in their own league.
 
"They are a really good team," von Rosenberg said. "Coach Patel used to be the coach at West Texas A&M. He has been in the Lone Star Conference for a long time. I've known him for a number of years. He does a good job over there. He has his team early in the season playing really well. They are undefeated in their regular season and are ranked in the country.
 
"We didn't want to play a team that wouldn't give us some opposition. We had 10 days off to kind of clean up some things from the first weekend. We are looking forward to a chance to compete and get after it and hopefully come out on top if we do what we need to do."
 
The Lions will then head on the road again for a tournament over the Thanksgiving weekend. While not wanting to look ahead, von Rosenberg knows this is when the season starts to pick up. After having 10 days off, the team will play three games in five days.
 
"We are trying to take advantage of every opportunity," he said. "We have practice today and then we have a chance to compete tomorrow. After tomorrow night, we will start thinking and honing in on the weekend. With the 10 day break, the games are going to start coming on top of us now. The multiple practices of implementing stuff and working on stuff is going to slow down as we start prepping for games. We will have practice, preparation, game, preparation, game. We are just trying to get better today and keep working on everything we are trying to do on both ends of the floor."