Hounds get set to open conference play

PORTALES - The Eastern New Mexico men and women's basketball teams will hit the road today, opening their Lone Star Conference schedule at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in what should be strong early season tests for both squads.

Tipoffs are 4:30 p.m. (MST) for the women and 6:30 p.m. (MST) for the men.

For the men, they will have to tall order of trying to slow down a 7-1 Falcons team that is averaging 101 points per game while holding opponents to only 86. The Greyhounds (4-3) don't want to head into the contest feeling like they need to outscore the high-powered UTPB offense, with the game plan focused on defense.

"Team defense, its going to be a team effort with everyone in the gaps and mid-line," said starting guard CoRnell Neal, the reigning LSC offensive player of the week. "They play a lot of one-on-one, so its got to be a lot of team defense."

Greyhound head coach Tres Segler echoed his point guard's remarks, saying, "I really don't go into a game thinking that way. There is no arrogance in it at all, but I want to play the way we play. Just like any sport, if we can make them adjust to us were doing a little bit better. On the flip side, I want to take away what they do best and the best thing they do is score a lot of points. If we can grind the game up and make it a 70, 65 point game, already they are out of their comfort zone."

That is just the type of game the Greyhounds have had success in this season, averaging 78 points in the team's four wins this season. Only one of Eastern's games this season has been decided by double digits, an 83-61 setback to St. Mary's.

An opening LSC win over the Falcons would be a big step in the right direction for the Hounds, who opened the 2015-16 LSC season with five straight losses.

"We just want to start the conference hot," Neal said, "and turn some heads, because you know Eastern has not been on the top side of the conference recently."

Women's basketball - Unlike the stark contrast between the men's side, the women's teams are very similar this early in the season, both sitting at .500 and facing some of the same opponents with the same outcomes.

Having both lost to Fort Lewis while picking up wins against South Dakota School of Mines, the Greyhounds (2-2) are averaging 65 points a game while the Falcons (3-3) are averaging 56.

Greyhound head coach Josh Prock said, "If you look at the box scores, overall scoring, we are similar. I think we have a size advantage and need to take advantage of that. We have to take away their 3s, especially their transition 3s."

The Falcons attempt 25 3-pointers a game but so far they're only hitting at a 27 percent clip.

As for size, Eastern takes that category handily, with four players over six feet and many players fleshing out the roster at 5-10. UTPB, on the other hand, has one player over the six-foot mark, and most other players are around 5-foot-5.

Prock and his team aren't taking the smaller Falcons lightly though, knowing that once conference starts, everything is up in the air.

"It's the Lone Star Conference, I think anyone can beat anybody," said Prock. "There is not going to be an easy game and we just have to be ready. I feel we have as much talent as anybody - We just have to be willing to compete and get it done."