PORTALES, N.M. – No. 19 Eastern New Mexico comes into Saturday's contest against No. 17 St. Edward's with an impressive 12-2 (5-1 LSC) record. Before the matchup, please take a look at the Starting Five Preview:
1.) Last Time Out: Eastern New Mexico is coming off a 63-54 loss to No. 23 St. Mary's. Thursday night's matchup featured a tough, defensive-centered matchup. Both teams shot under 40% from the floor with the Greyhounds connecting on just 36.5% of their attempts. Eastern saw
Mo Austin and
Austin Abrams finish with 11 points each. The Greyhounds only made 4-of-15 shots from within two point range in the second half. ENMU also struggled keeping control of the ball as they turned it over 18 different times.
2.) Sharing The Rock: Austin Abrams (4),
Mo Austin (3), and
Cooper Jackson (3) all had three or more assists in last night's loss. Austin (60) and Jackson (50) lead the team in total assists. Eastern assisted on 13-of-19 makes from the floor against StMU. ENMU has marked 10+ assists in 13-of-14 contests this season. The most assists from the team this season were 21 during a road win over UT Dallas on Dec. 11.
3.) History with the Hilltoppers: St. Edward's leads the overall series against Eastern New Mexico, 6-4. ENMU is currently on a two-game winning streak over SEU but still trails the overall series. Eastern most recently beat the Hilltoppers, 96-85, last season. Three current Hounds scored 10+ points in the contest. Those players included
Cooper Jackson (12),
Treyvon Byrd (11), and
Jaden Clarke (18). The Greyhounds controlled the matchup from 2024-25 by making 54.3% from the floor, including a 64.5% mark during the second half. Eastern is 2-1 in games against St. Edward's in Portales. On the contrary, the team is 0-4 in games played in Austin.
4.) LSC Outlook: Eastern New Mexico is one of three teams in the Lone Star Conference with a singular loss in league play. DBU remains the only undefeated team in conference action with a 6-0 mark. Three other teams have just two losses. Eastern has the second highest overall winning percentage (.857) among conference foes. St. Edward's is currently tied for eighth with a 3-3 mark in LSC play. However, SEU's losses have come against three teams standing among the top seven records in conference action. The teams with wins over the Hilltoppers include Western New Mexico, Lubbock Christian, and West Texas A&M.
5.) Seeing SEU: St. Edward's leads the Lone Star Conference in assist/turnover ratio (1.49), field goal percentage defense (38.9), fouls per game (14.8), three point percentage defense (27.8), and turnovers per game (10.6). Two areas limiting the Hilltoppers is bench points per game (22.50) and field goal percentage (45.5%) – ranking eighth among the LSC in both categories. Despite being ranked in the middle of the conference in those statistical marks, SEU is among the top third in the Lone Star in nearly every other category. St. Edward's is 3-2 in single digit contests. They are led by Blake Nielsen who is posting 18.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per outing. They also benefit from a team leading 30 steals and 62 assists from Ryder Bradley. Four SEU student-athletes have started in all 17 contests this season. Another area to note is that five Hilltoppers have made 19+ three pointers this year.
