PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico men's basketball comes into Saturday's home matchup with UT Dallas with a 20-3 (13-2 LSC) record. Before the Greyhounds have a rematch with the Comets, please read the Starting Five Preview:
1.) Craziness in Canyon: West Texas A&M led against Eastern New Mexico by as many as eight points midway in the second half (11:16), but Eastern did not give up when their backs were against the wall. Instead, they bolted ahead and halted careless turnovers that hurt them in the early stages of the game. ENMU earned their conference-leading eighth win in-a-row with an 87-76 result over WT. The Buffs were held to just 24-of-62 (38.7%) from the field and lost the battle in the paint 44-26. Another area where Eastern dominated was scoring 25 points in fastbreak. ENMU came into the game leading the conference in fastbreak opportunities.
2.) Offensive Charge: It's no joke that any player for ENMU can score. All five starters are connecting for 11.5 points per game or more this season.
Jose Murillo leads the way with 16.1 points per game and has hauled in 9.1 rebounds per contest.
Mo Austin is boasting 15.4 points per outing and holds an impressive .548 shooting percentage. Senior
Cooper Jackson connects for 13.3 points per affair and leads the program with 29 makes from three-point range. Also scoring in double figures are
Austin Abrams (12.4 ppg) and
Treyvon Byrd (11.5 ppg). As a team, they are scoring 82.7 points per contest and hold a +11.0 scoring margin. ENMU makes 50.4% of their shots from the floor.
3.) National Recognition: Eastern New Mexico leads the Lone Star Conference in fastbreak points (18.13), field goal percentage (50.4), and rebound margin (+6.8).
Jose Murillo is first in the conference and third in the nation with a 65% field goal shooting percentage. Murillo also leads the LSC with 40 total blocks. He is second in the conference with 11 total double-doubles.
Cooper Jackson ranks third in the nation with 73 steals and teammate
Mo Austin is sixth nationally with 61. As a team they are second in the Lone Star in effective field goal percentage (.546), rebounding (37.78), and steals (10.0).
4.) Rematch Incoming: The two Lone Star Conference foes will be meeting for the second time this season. ENMU earned a 90-83 win over UT Dallas back on Dec. 11 in Richardson. Four Greyhounds scored in double figures against the Comets.
Cooper Jackson led the way with 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting and had a season-best eight assists.
Jose Murillo picked up a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Hounds shot a season-best 59% from the floor in the win and held UTD to go just 44.8% from the field. Eastern was dominate in the paint as they scored 60 points in the vicinity.
5.) What They Do Well: One area where UT Dallas excels is rebounding as they post 38.2 rebounds per contest. The Comets are first in the Lone Star Conference with 13.4 offensive rebounds per game. Another key stat for UTD is that they rank third in the LSC with a 1.26 assist/turnover ratio. The Comets are averaging 17.64 assists per contest. Peyton Dulin leads the conference with 4.7 of those assists. They are coming off a 75-63 loss to West Texas A&M in a game that saw UTD make 21-of-50 (42%) shots from the floor. The Comets had a double-double from Dulin off the bench as he had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
