COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team will host Tarleton State on Thursday. The Texans defeated the Lions back in January. It will be the final home game for the Lions this season.
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (17-7, 9-6 LSC) vs. Tarleton State (22-3, 13-2 LSC)
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/b/147049
LIVE VIDEO: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/tamucommerce/
LIVE AUDIO: www.ketr.org
TICKETS: http://lionathletics.com/sports/2016/11/18/2016-17-basketball-ticket-information.aspx
The Lions are coming off of a 77-59 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday. Head coach
Sam Walker was proud of how his seniors performed on Senior Day. Senior
De'Andre Carson led the Lions with 20 points.
"It was a great game from De'Andre and it was great for him to go out on Senior Day and have a great game," Walker said. "He had family here and people from back home. It was a good way for him to have Senior Day. And then of course, 64 of our 77 points came from our seniors. Senior Day was big for them."
The Lions now host Tarleton State in their final home game of the season. TSU is 22-3 on the year and leads the Lone Star Conference. Walker hopes the home court advantage helps his team one final time.
"When you are going to play Tarleton State anywhere, having it be your last home game and talking to your guys about this being the last game they play on this floor, it's got to help a little bit," he said. "They are a great team. They have been the class of the conference here for the last decade, if not more. They are going to come in hungry and ready to go. They are the No. 1 team in the region. We've got our work cut out for us but we like our chances at home and we like our chances in our last home game."
The Texans are ranked No. 1 in the South Central Region and have the stingiest defense in the conference, giving up 64 points per game. Walker knows the team will be hard to game plan against because of all the players they have.
"They have all the intangibles," he said. "They are long. They shoot the ball well. They can score on the inside, they can score in transition, they can score from the perimeter. They are an intelligent team and a well-coached team."
The Lions lost to the Texans 81-63 on the road earlier this season. Walker is confident his team will have a good showing, because his team has not lost twice to the same opponent all season. He hopes the trend continues on Thursday.
"We have a team that I feel is tough," he said. "We've been very good when we've had our backs against the wall. We have been very good against opponents that have beaten us the first time. I think we've got a lot of that going for us as far as intangibles. And it has been a great rivalry over the years."
After the game, the Lions will have a week until their final two games of the year. Walker understand the premium of having a few days to rest with the conference tournament just around the corner.
"We will have a week off but it will be a travel week so it's not as big of a break as it looks on the calendar," he said. "But it will be good for us. We have been working hard. After grinding it out against each other for a while it will be good to kind of have days where we can just shoot and get our legs back underneath us going into the stretch run on that road trip and the conference tournament."
