COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team travels to Canyon to open up the 2020-21 campaign with a non-conference game at No. 3 West Texas A&M on Wednesday.
 
WHO: A&M-Commerce at West Texas A&M
WHERE: Canyon | First United Bank Center
WHEN: 2 p.m. on Wednesday, December 26
RECORDS: A&M-Commerce went 18-12 in 2019-20. West Texas went 32-1 in 2019-20. This is the season opener for both teams.
RANKINGS: West Texas is ranked No. 3 nationally in both the NABC and D2SIDA national polls.

TELEVISION/LIVE VIDEO: Lone Star Conference Digital Network (Direct Link)
LIVE AUDIO: Lion Sports Network -- KETR 88.9 FM, Commerce (http://www.ketr.org)
LIVE STATS: Click HERE

LIONS OPEN SEASON LATE AT WT
• The CoVID-19 pandemic has had wide-ranging implications on basketball schedules everywhere, and the A&M-Commerce Lions are no exception.
• This marks the first time the Lions have started the season in December since opening the 1966-67 year with a 69-64 home win over Drury on Dec. 1, 1966.
• The last time the Lions started later than this was the 1933-34 season, when East Texas State Teachers hosted Southeastern State of Oklahoma on December 20 & 21 to start the season with losses of 36-21 and 38-21.
• After closing the 2019-20 season with the LSC Tournament loss to West Texas A&M, this marks the first time the Lions played the same opponent consecutively since closing the 2015-16 regular season with a loss to Tarleton, followed by a first round LSC Tournament knockout to theTexans.
 
ALL-TIME vs.  WT
• This is the 100th meeting between the Lions and the Buffaloes in a series dating back to the 1922-23 season.
• WT has a 65-34 lead in the all-time series.
• The Lions have not won in Canyon since two consecutive victories in 2014 and 2015.
 
FIVE LIONS LEAD THE PRIDE
• The Lions welcome back five returning players, with three who saw significant playing time in 2019-20 and two who are returning from injury.
• Redshirt senior forward Rodney Brown averaged 6.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game in  2018-19. He averaged 8.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in four contests in 2019-20.
• Redshirt sophomore guard Carson Tuttle averaged 5.3 points, 2.0 assists and 1.7 rebounds per game in 2018-19, then sat out in 2019-20.
• Redshirt junior guard Leo Lara played in 29 games with 15 starts as a sophomore in 2019-20, averaging 5.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 0.9 steals per game.
• Redshirt sophomore forward Alex Peavy played in 28 games with eight starts as a redshirt freshman in 2019-20, scoring 65 points with 53 rebounds and 12 blocked shots.
• Sophomore guard Carius Key played in 18 games as a freshman in 2019-20, averaging 2.4 points and 1.2 rebounds per game.
 
FOUR-YEAR EXPERIENCE ADDED
• The Lions added two players with four-year school experience to the 2020-21 roster.
• Devin Bethely comes to A&M-Commerce after a year at Tarleton, where he started in all 30 games he played, averaging 7.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game while  shooting 39.3 percent from the field. He averaged 11.5 points, 4.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds as a sophomore at Seward JC and was named second team All-Conference.
• Augustine Ene was a three-year player at Incarnate Word. He started in 40 games and averaged 6.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game in 81 contests, shooting 44.8 percent from the field.
 
JUCO STARS ENTER THE FOLD
• The Lions added four junior college players this season.
• Emmanuel Adeoye joins the Lions from Angelina College, where he redshirted in 2019-20.
• Dante Adams comes to the Lions from Eastern Oklahoma State College, where he averaged 16.3 points per game, shooting 47.8 percent from the field. He had 3.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 2.3 steals per game.
• Demarcus Demonia comes from Allegany College in Maryland. Demonia averaged 21.3 points and 11.9 rebounds per game in leading Allegany to district and regional championships a year ago. He led all junior college players in rebounds per game. He was a Third Team All-America selection as a freshman in 2017-18.
• JJ Romer Rosario joins the Lions from Polk State College in Florida. He scored 78 points and grabbed 61 rebounds in 14 games this past season. He also blocked 15 shots and shot 45.7 percent from the field.
 
YOUTH JOINS THE LIONS
• The Lions have five players in their first year of eligibility.
• Khaliq Abdul-Mateen (Cy Lakes), Donald Ghostone (Grand Prairie), Jordan Teal (Austin LBJ), Niv Rozenholtz (St. Legier, Switzerland), and Riley McIntyre (Austin Bowie) are playing in their first collegiate season.
 
SEASON FORMAT
• The Lone Star Conference has issued a 20-game regular season schedule, beginning in December.
• The NCAA Division II maximum number of games for 2020-21 is 22.
• The Lions will play 10 home games and 10 road games which count towards the LSC standings.
• Division opponents will play a home-and-home series on Thursday-Saturday, while non-division series are on consecutive days.
• A&M-Commerce is in the North Division with UAFS (Jan. 14 & 16), DBU (Feb. 4 & 6), Oklahoma Christian (Feb. 18 & 20), and Cameron (Feb. 25 & 27).
• Non-divisional home opponents this season are St. Mary's (Jan. 2-3), UT Tyler (Jan. 22-23), and Texas A&M-Kingsville (Feb. 12-13).
• Non-divisional road foes are St. Edward's (Dec. 18-19), Lubbock Christian (Jan. 8-9), and Angelo State (Jan. 29-30).
 
 
LSC TO USE POINT RATING SYSTEM
• The Lone Star Conference announced it will use a point rating system to determine its men's and women's basketball standings this year due to COVID-19 related schedule adjustments.
• The point rating system will replace winning percentage for the LSC's basketball conference standings, divisional standings and conference tournament seeding in 2020-21.
• The LSC will publish the point rating system rankings in mid-January and post weekly updates for the rest of the season.
 

7 points	W, .750+, road
6.5 points	W, .750+, home
6 points	W, .500+, road
5 points	W, .500+, home
4.5 points	W, .250+, road
4 points	W, .250+, home
3.5 points	W, sub-.250, road
3 points	W,  sub-.250, home
2.5 points	L, .750+
2 points	L, .500+
1 point	L, .250+
.5 points	L, sub-.250, road
0 points	L, sub-.250, home

 
 
CAREER PERCENTAGE LEADERS
• Head coach Jaret von Rosenberg is ranked third in school history in career winning percentage.
 

Rk	Coach	W	Record
1.	Bob Rogers	.769	113-34
2.	Will Hill Acker	.708	46-19
3.	Jaret von Rosenberg	.681	64-30
4.	Darrell Tully	.621	59-36
5.	Dennis Vinzant	.605	92-60
6.	Sam Walker	.585	285-202
7.	Norman Pilgrim	.547	152-126
8.	Paul Peak	.532	134-118
9.	Jim Gudger	.515	202-190
10.	Jerry Matthews	.440	99-126

 
MOVING UP THE RANKS
• Head coach Jaret von Rosenberg is now eighth all-time in wins at A&M-Commerce.
 

Rk	Coach	W	Season
1.	Sam Walker	285	17 (2000-17)
2.	Jim Gudger	202	14 (1969-82)
3.	Norman Pilgrim	152	11 (1957-67)
4.	Paul Peak	134	9 (1991-99)
5.	Bob Rogers	113	5 (1952-56)
6.	Jerry Matthews	99	8 (1983-90)
7.	Dennis Vinzant	92	8 (1937-45)
8.	Jaret von Rosenberg	64	3 (2017-pr)
9.	Darrell Tully	59	4 (1946-49)
10.	Will Hill Acker	46	3 (1928-30)