PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico men's basketball is set to begin conference play with a pair of road games.

The Greyhounds will face St. Edward's on Dec. 1 with tipoff slated for 6:30 p.m. MST and St. Mary's on Dec. 3 beginning at 2 p.m. MST. Doc Elder will be calling the games courtside on 105.9 FM KSEL Country. Before ENMU travels to play the Hilltoppers and Rattlers, please take a look at the Starting Five:

1.) Five Straight - Brent Owen and the Hounds are winners of five straight games after grabbing victories over Northern New Mexico and the University of the Southwest. Against the Eagles, Errol White earned his third double double of the year with 18 points and 16 rebounds. White was joined by Eze Dike (13 pts) and Jahcoree Ealy (10 pts) in double figures. In the battle with USW, Dike scored 27 points to guide the team to a 5-1 record – the best start for the program since 1996-97.

2.) Dwayne's Dishes - In both games versus NNMC and USW, Dwayne Chester III recorded four assists. He leads the team with 18 total on the season and ranks in the top-three among LSC players in assists per game. Against the Mustangs, he picked up five steals over 19 minutes of play. The sophomore from Atlanta is averaging 3.5 points and 3.8 rebounds over 25.3 minutes per outing.

3.) Dropping Treys - In Saturday's win over USW, Eastern hit nine three-point shots. The Greyhounds have scored at least five in four different games this season, including 11 against New Mexico Highlands on Nov. 12. Five players have hit at least three this year (Eze Dike – 11, Błażej Czerniewicz – 8, Grehlon Easter – 4, Junior Hodnett – 4, and Jason Holman – 3). ENMU is shooting .369 from behind the arc and has hit 38 as a team.

4.) Serious Series – St. Edward's controls the series history against Eastern New Mexico as they have won the last five meetings between the two programs. The Greyhounds do have a pair of wins over the Hilltoppers, but the victories came in 1983 and 1995 at neutral sites. Last season, SEU beat Eastern in Portales, 85-66. The history favors ENMU against St. Mary's as the Hounds hold a 3-1 advantage. The teams last met in 2019 when Eastern New Mexico beat StMU, 76-69, in San Antonio. The two foes have never played each other in Portales and it will stay that way as Brent Owen and the team head to San Antonio for the Saturday afternoon matchup.

5.) Defend the Arc – St. Edward's has five players who have connected on at least one three-point make per game early in the season. Mason Hix leads the program with 15 makes on 30 attempts, but the player to keep an eye on is Jeff Gary who is a transfer guard by way of Mercer where he ranked high among Southern Conference hoopers and holds an arena record for most three point makes (8) in a single game. Gary has hit 11 shots from deep range, but is even more lethal from the charity stripe where he has hit all 30 of his attempts. He leads the group with 14.8 points per game through the first six games.