COMMERCE– The No. 18 Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team will begin the second half of their Lone Star Conference season with two games this weekend. The Lions host Midwestern State on Thursday and Cameron on Saturday.
 
Midwestern State
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (15-3, 7-2 LSC) vs. Midwestern State (6-12, 3-6 LSC)
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: lionathletics.com/live
TICKETS: Click HERE
 
Cameron
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce vs. Cameron (7-11, 3-6 LSC)
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 27 at 4 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: lionathletics.com/live
TICKETS: Click HERE
 
The Lions are coming off of their first two-game losing streak of the year. They lost two close games to nationally-ranked opponents before coming home on Monday and getting back in the win column against Dallas Christian. The game allowed head coach Jaret von Rosenberg to play some of his young players and to get the bad taste of losing out of their mouthes.
 
"It was great to see our young guys and a lot of guys played well," he said. "The thing we talk about the most in a game like that, we want to see our assist numbers be very high. That means that we are making plays for our teammates and not just trying to go one-on-one. That was good. Some guys got to play some minutes that maybe don't in our eight-man rotation. That is always nice. We are really excited about the three freshmen that we have. Every chance we get to get those guys in a game and see them have success, it is really good for us."
 
The Lions also got to see senior Trey Washington return to the floor after missing the first half of the season because of an injury. von Rosenberg is glad to see one of the three returners from last year get back on the floor after missing so much time.
 
"His experience in the Lone Star Conference and his experience being here is huge," von Rosenberg said of Washington. "He has been very valuable to us even before he was on the floor. In the locker room, at practice every day talking to the guys. Coming off a foot injury, he just has to get healthy and that is the tough part. He is practicing every day trying to get back the speed of the game. He is trying every day to get back to the level that he was before he got hurt, which is a tough task. But he shows up every day with the right attitude and is trying to get healthy so he can help us."
 
The Lions are in second place in the Lone Star Conference at the halfway point of the season with a 7-2 record. After playing every team in the conference once, von Rosenberg reiterated what he said at the beginning of the year: the LSC is a tough conference to play in, no matter who the opponent is.
 
"It is a bear," he said. "We sit at 7-2 and a bunch of games easily could have gone the other way. And I mean into the loss column. You have to show up every game. That is the biggest thing. We have to look forward to Thursday and show up and play good basketball to give ourselves a chance to win."
 
The Lions have two home games to open up the second half of conference action. von Rosenberg knows it will be important to take care of their home games, because a five-game road swing is just around the corner.
 
"One thing I am proud of and something I hope we continue to do is take care of home court," he said. "We went 2-2 in the conference on the road but now we turn around and have five conference games on the road compared to four home games. It is very vital for us to take care of our home games. That is where we should have the most success and then go try and steal some on the road. We are looking forward to opening back up conference at home and we hope we can be ready to go and find a way to win the game against Midwestern on Thursday."