ENMU teams open season in Colorado

Eastern New Mexico University’s basketball teams are slated to open the regular season this weekend in a South Central Region crossover event at Durango, Colo., matching teams from the Lone Star Conference against foes from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Both Greyhounds squads play host Fort Lewis and New Mexico Highlands, in reverse order. The men face Fort Lewis at 7 p.m. on Friday and NMHU at 4 p.m. on Saturday, while the women take on Highlands at 1 p.m. on Friday and the Skyhawks at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Men – Daven Vo, an assistant under Brent Owen from 2021-23, has replaced him this season after spending last year as an assistant at Colorado-Colorado Springs. The Hounds went 22-10 (15-7 Lone Star Conference) in 2023-24, won the LSC tournament for the first time since 1993 and reached the NCAA Division II South Central Region tournament for the first time since 2004.

He returns only three players from that squad, including two who were active in 6-foot-5 senior forward Mario Whitley (10.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg last season) and 6-9 junior forward Jose Murillo (8.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg). Murillo, a native of Mexico and graduate of Albuquerque’s Highland H.S., also shot 65 percent from the field and recorded 149 blocks.

Also back is freshman guard Alex Alfaro, who redshirted last season.

ENMU, picked for seventh overall in the LSC in preseason, lost a pair of exhibition games to talented Division I teams in Arizona in late October – 117-54 to No. 10 Arizona and 87-57 against Western Athletic Conference favorite Grand Canyon.

Vo wants his team to play a faster style this season.

“We’re still trying to figure things out,” he said. “We did a good job of playing hard and being physical in the exhibition games.

“I think we’ve got good size. Even though we gave up a lot of points to Grand Canyon and Arizona, I think we’ll be a good team on defense.”

Vo is high on senior guard Cougar Downing and junior guard Isaiah Randolph, both transfers. Dowing averaged six points in 27 games last year at Arkansas-Little Rock.

The Hounds have also added some size inside.

“I’m really optimistic about our team,” Vo said. “Our biggest question mark is whether we can take good shots.”

After this weekend, the Hounds have a six-game homestand that features rival West Texas A&M (November 23) and two other conference opponents.

Women – Second-year coach Blake Huber also has a revamped roster. The lone returnees from last year’s 11-17 (7-15) squad are 6-foot senior forward Ishuana Hunter (14.4 ppg, 8.3 rpg in 18 games), 5-3 sophomore guard Jaz Salon (8.3 ppg, 2.5 apg, 45 3-pointers) and sophomore guard Daci Smith of Roswell (1.9 ppg).

Redshirt sophomore forward Julieta Ceja of Mexico sat out last season with an injury after making 22 starts and averaging nearly seven points in 2022-23.

I think we’re going to be a lot different team this year,” second-year coach Blake Huber said. “We’ll try to get up and down the floor quicker.

“I feel a lot better (going into this season). Last year, we played a lot of close games but we didn’t have enough strength or size. If we can stay healthy and progress, we should be better.”

Huber said he’s tried to add size, and thinks the Hounds have done so with 6-4 senior forward/center Trinity Hudson and 6-2 forward Niyah Johnson, transfers from Arkansas-Little Rock and Abilene Christian, respectively.

“We’ve got some good pieces back, and I think we did a good job in recruiting,” Huber said. “We’ll be a little bigger and stronger than last year.”

While Huber said he likes the team’s depth, staying healthy will be a key to success.

“No. 2 is with the pace we want to play, we want to create turnovers and still limit our turnovers,” he said. “No. 3, we want to find our best shot possession in and possession out.”