COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team enters the historic Rupp Arena on Friday night as the Lions battle No. 16 ranked Kentucky. 
 
WHO: A&M-Commerce at Kentucky
WHERE: Lexington, Ky. | Rupp Arena
WHEN: Wednesday, November 10 | 7 p.m. EST (6 p.m. CST)
RECORDS: A&M-Commerce is 0-2 on the season, while Kentucky is 1-0, having won over New Mexico State. 
RANKINGS: The Wildcats are ranked No. 16 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Polls. 
 
LIVE AUDIO: Lion Sports Network – KETR 88.9 FM, Commerce (http://www.ketr.org)
LIVE VIDEO: SEC Network+/ESPN+ | https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/eventCalendarId/401588943
LIVE STATS: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=485344&vislive=tame
GAME NOTES: TAMUC | UK
 
WATCH PARTY
• Lion Athletics is holding a watch party at Cork & Brew of the men's basketball team playing at Kentucky.
• All attendees can receive 25 percent off all drinks if they show a ticket of the women's basketball team's game against UNT-Dallas on Friday at 5 p.m. or a Lion Card.

TOUGH SLATE TO START 2023-24
• The Lions begin the 2023-24 season with three straight games against major conference opponents, which includes two nationally ranked teams.
• After playing the season opener at No. 15/19 Texas A&M on Monday, the Lions played at Texas Tech, the 2019 NCAA National Finalist, and face No. 16 ranked Kentucky on Friday.
• The first three games of the season for the Lions are against Quad 'A' opponents.
• The four-game road trip to start the season closes out at Purdue Fort Wayne next Sunday.
 
BIG RUN PULLS AGGIES AWAY FROM LIONS
• Early in the first half on Monday, the Lions went on a 11-1 run to pull to within one of No. 15/19 Texas A&M, but the Aggies answered with a 26-5 run in the rest of the first half to pull away for the first win of the season.
 
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST THE WILDCATS
• This is the first regular season meeting between the Lions and Kentucky. 
 
BREWER JR. EARNS PRESEASON ACCOLADES
• This preseason, Jerome Brewer Jr. was named to the preseason second team all-conference team by the Southland Conference.
• He was also named the preseason Southland Defensive Player of the Year by the Field of 68.
• Brewer Jr. led the team in scoring on Monday at Texas A&M, scoring 13 and also led the team with five rebounds. He added 11 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks at Texas Tech on Wednesday.
  
LOOKING TO BUILD UPON A STRONG 2022-23
• In their first season in NCAA Division I and the Southland Conference, the Lions went 13-20 overall and posted a conference record of 9-9 to finish fifth in the 10-team Southland Conference.
• In non-conference play, the Lions won true road games at Air Force and Hawaii as well as a neutral site win over Eastern Kentucky.
 
VON ROSENBERG PICKS UP WIN NO. 100
• By beating Nicholls at the end of last season, coach Jaret von Rosenberg became the sixth coach in program history to win 100 career games as the Lions' head coach.  
 
SEVENTH IN THE SLC
• For the second straight season, the Lions were picked seventh in the preseason Southland poll.
• Southeastern is the preseason favorite to win the Southland.
 
RE-TOOLED ROSTER
• The Lions return just three starters from last season's Southland Tournament team and add nine newcomers to the roster this season.
• Of the nine newcomers, six are transfers and three are freshmen.
• The transfers for the Lions include former NCAA Division I as well as junior college transfers.
• The newcomers include two from Alabama, Texas, Georgia, one each from Canada, Louisiana, Massachusetts.
 
ROBERTS AND DEMONIA MAKE SC TOP 10
• Last season, the Lions appeared on SportCenter's Top 10 plays twice and it happened on the same night, in the win at Nicholls.
• C.J. Roberts' game-winner appeared at No. 9, while Demarcus Demonia's game-tying alley oop dunk appeared at No. 3.
• Based on our research, this was the first occurence last season that the same team had two plays featured on the same night.
 
HISTORIC STRETCH FOR THE LIONS
• On their last road trip of the regular season, the Lions picked up a road wins at the 2021-22 Southland Champion, Nicholls and 2022-23 Southland Champion, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and took the Islanders to overtime in the season finale at home.
 
NEVER COUNT OUT THESE LIONS
• A&M-Commerce fought back from 10-point deficits in eight games against Division I opponents last season to either tie the game or make it a one-possession game.
• Of the seven comebacks, they went on to win four of those games.
• The Lions also came back from being down 11 to make it a one-point game against Texas A&M on Monday.
 

Opponent	Lg. Deficit	Result
at Northern Colorado	20	Tie game
vs. IUPUI	14	2-point deficit
at McNeese	15	Win
at New Orleans	12	Win
at Lamar	10	Win
vs. Houston Christian	14	Win
vs. New Orleans	16	3-point deficit
at UIW	18	3-point deficit

 
OVERTIME SURVIVORS
• The Lions went to overtime five times last season, which is tied with the 2017-18 for the most overtime games in a season.
• A&M-Commerce went 3-2 in overtime.
 
LIONS' MAKING STOPS
• A&M-Commerce finished the regular season allowing 73.2 points per game, which is fourth in the Southland.
• The Lions have allowed 69 points or less in 13 games.
 
NO..NO..NO..NOT TODAY!
• The Lions blocked 3.06 shots per game, which was third in the Southland.
• In 2021-22, A&M-Commerce finished second in NCAA Division II with an average of 5.7 blocks per game.
 
LIONS APPEAR IN NATIONAL RANKINGS
• In the preseason, A&M-Commerce is ranked No. 283 in the  KenPom rankings.
• A&M-Commerce is the fourth rated team in the Southland by KenPom.
 
A HISTORIC FIRST WIN
• A&M-Commerce collected its first win in NCAA Division I on November 14, 2022, prevailing in overtime over Air Force.
• The Lions trailed by as much six points in overtime, but sealed the win via a dunk by Demarcus Demonia.
• The Lions moved up nine spots in the KenPom rankings following the win.
 
ALOHA LIONS
• A&M-Commerce picked up a thrilling 53-51 win at Hawaii on November 30, 2022.
• The Lions led by as much as 14 points in the game, which was the largest Hawaii had faced up to that point this season.
• A&M-Commerce had the lead for nearly 33 minutes, while Hawaii had only trailed for only 19 minutes all season prior to the game.
• The Lions jumped up 20 spots in the KenPom rankings following the win over the Rainbow Warriors.
 
A&M-COMMERCE ENTERS SECOND YEAR IN NCAA DIVISION I
• The Lions begin the second season in NCAA Division I FCS this year. 
• It is also the second season for the Lions in the Southland Conference.
• A&M-Commerce will be eligible for the NCAA Tournament during the 2026-27
season.
 
SLC MEMBERS IN 2023-24
A&M-COMMERCE
Houston Christian
Incarnate Word
Lamar
McNeese
New Orleans
Nicholls State
Northwestern State
Southeastern
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi