By Blake Penfield, Sports Writer
Moody Coliseum will host the men’s basketball team’s fifth game of the season Saturday against the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions.
The Wildcats are 3-1, meaning they already have half the wins they were able to muster in last year’s 27-game season.
ACU holds the fourth-highest shooting percentage out of the Lone Star Conference’s 14 teams, and the team is fifth in the LSC North.
Commerce’s head coach, Sam Walker, recently reached the 100-victory milestone. His success has been attributed to his unique coaching style—one that is exemplified by the coach’s penchant this season for a new starting lineup combination nearly every game.
Commerce senior guard Lamar Searight was selected as an honorable mention for the all-Lone Star Conference team last season and is currently ranked in the LSC top-ten in several categories including third in steals-per-game, ninth in assists-per-game and 10th in points-per-game. He has scored at least eight points in every game in his career and has the impressive distinction of scoring double figures in 26 of his 34 played games.
“They’re very talented. They were a playoff team last year, they have three starters back and their guard play is the best we’ve been up against all year. They also have one of the best coaches in the Lone Star Conference,” ACU head coach Jason Copeland said.
Copeland said the Wildcats will try to shut down Commerce’s offense by containing their guards to limit their scoring opportunities. Eliminating transition buckets for the Lions by being judicious with the ball will be crucial for slowing down their offense.
Attendance at men’s home basketball games averages at 438 people. However, this number may be misleading as the team’s second game took place during an ACU football game.
Copeland said he feels attending the basketball games can be more than just entertaining; It actually helps the team.
“It creates a great environment for our players,” he said.
ACU will play Commerce at 4 p.m. on Saturday and the match will be ACU’s first conference action.
The game that was supposed to take place Thursday against Dallas Baptist University has been rescheduled to Monday at 7 p.m. because of the snowy weather.
