ENMU sets basketball schedules

PORTALES — A pair of new eras in Greyhound basketball will get started next month, as the Eastern New Mexico University men’s and women’s programs released their finalized 2021-22 schedules.

The seasons will be the first for men’s coach Brent Owen and women’s coach Meghan De Los Reyes. Owen was hired in May 2020 after Tres Segler left for a non-coaching opportunity in the Dallas area, and De Los Reyes joined ENMU in August following Josh Prock’s move to West Texas A&M, which will visit in the Greyhounds’ Lone Star Conference home opener Dec. 2.

The university did not participate in the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the upcoming November exhibitions will be each team’s first game since March 2020.

The men’s schedule features 28 regular-season games and three exhibitions — at the University of Arizona Nov. 1, then neutral-site games at The Pit Nov. 13 against Fort Lewis and Nov. 14 against New Mexico Highlands.

“Scheduling is an incredibly important piece to building a successful program and we believe this schedule is exactly what we needed to steer our program in the right direction,” Owen said in a school release. “In looking at past schedules, I noticed immediately that we needed to do a better job of providing our fans with more opportunities to see us play at home. While that is not an easy task with our location, it was a must.

“We were able to put together a schedule that includes 13 contests in Greyhound Arena along with an additional home game that will happen in Clovis (Dec. 4, University of the Southwest) in which we hope to reach out to our 2,300-plus alumni who reside there.”

The women’s schedule includes 25 regular-season games, 12 at Greyhound Arena, and a home game among three exhibitions. The Greyhounds face the University of Arizona and the University of New Mexico on the road, then host Northern New Mexico Nov. 6.

“We start things off against two exceptional Division I opponents in the University of Arizona, coming off a national championship game, and the University of New Mexico,” said De Los Reyes. “We appreciate this tremendous opportunity to take on the best-of-the-best and the challenge of playing them both.

“We are looking forward to Nov. 6 when we get the chance to welcome our incredible fans back to Greyhound Arena for the first time before we head off to the LSC/RMAC Conference Challenge to play some really tough Division II teams to open the regular season."

The programs will have a Dec. 16 daytime doubleheader against Champion Christian College as its youth day, with area elementary schools provided free admission.

Both teams will play 20 games against Lone Star Conference opponents, with 16 counting toward conference standings. The teams will look for a berth in the LSC tournament March 3-6 in Frisco, Texas.

Full schedules are listed at goeastern

athletics.com