COMMERCE– The No. 18 Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team finishes its three-game home stand with a matchup against Tarleton State.
 
WHO: No. 18 Texas A&M-Commerce (13-1, 6-0 LSC) vs. Tarleton State (8-6, 4-2 LSC)
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
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The Lions are coming off of two wins last week. The Lions defeated A&M-Kingsville on Thursday and Angelo State on Saturday. Head coach Jaret von Rosenberg was proud of his team for withstanding some early blows from both teams and winning both games.
 
"I think both teams we played against really came out and punched us in the mouth early," he said. "We were able to withstand that. We understand that we have to play every possession and find a way to get back into both of those games. We really stayed in the Kingsville game early even though they came out and did well on the offensive end and came out and scored some points. But we played every possession and kept playing and were able to get back into the game and ultimately ended up winning both games."
 
The Lions faced a 17-point deficit against Angelo State early in their game. von Rosenberg knew his team would find a way to get out of the slump. He liked the shots his team was taking. He knew it was only a matter of time before they would see the ball go into the basket.
 
"Angelo jumped out on us and stopped us from scoring and they had their way against us offensively for the first eight minutes," he said. "We started the game like 1-for-10. I liked six or seven of the shots we took. I thought they were good shots with what we were trying to do. And that's basketball. Sometimes the shots just don't go in even if you get a good one. And their shots were falling, you have to credit them offensively for getting good shots and making them. Defensively, we didn't give them much resistance there early. I told them to keep getting good shots and to keep trying to guard and contest their shots. They went some scoring droughts and we took advantage of it by being able to hit some shots."
 
Defense has been the focus for von Rosenberg and his staff. He wants that side of the ball to be the Lions' bread and butter. After another good defensive week from the entire team, the Lions were awarded some individual accolades. Dorian Armstrong was named Defensive Player of the Week, something that wasn't a surprise to his head coach.
 
"Dorian has been Defensive Player of the Week multiple times," von Rosenberg said. "He had the matchup against Trey Sumpter against Kingsville. And he really set the tone on making things tough for him. Now, his rebounding numbers and his steal numbers probably won him that award, and that's all great. But what he does in his individual matchup to keep guys from touching the ball, that's what makes him such a good defender and that is what we rely on to be successful."
 
The Lions now face Tarleton State in another tough Lone Star Conference matchup. The Texans are 8-6 on the season, but von Rosenberg knows records can be misleading. TSU is 4-2 in conference play, and their losses came by a combined total of three points. von Rosenberg knows his team will have to execute to win the game.
 
"They are extremely dangerous," he said of TSU. "Ever since I have started coaching college basketball, I have been watching Coach Reisman's success and have admired him from afar with what they have done and put together. They are good year in and year out. They have a good team this year. They lost a couple of games early and that happens. Sometimes you make shots and sometimes you miss and that is the difference between winning and losing. It is not necessarily how you execute.
 
"It is going to be very challenging. They are coming in here expecting to win and our guys expect to win. I told our guys yesterday how much respect I have for them and how much they need to have for this team coming in tomorrow. Looking at records will get you beat. They are very capable of coming here and winning. We have to be ready to play for 40 minutes."