MIDWESTERN STATE AT WESTERN NEW MEXICO
Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017 | 8:30 p.m. (Central Time)
Drag's Court | Silver City, N.M.
Records: Midwestern State (10-4, 3-3); Western New Mexico (2-11, 0-5)
Radio: ESPN 95.5 FM
Watch: WNMUMustangs.com 
Listen: Mustangs Digital Network 
Live Stats: WNMUMustangs.com 
 
MIDWESTERN STATE AT EASTERN NEW MEXICO
Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017 | 5 p.m. (Central Time)
Greyhound Arena | Portales, N.M.
Records: Midwestern State (10-4, 3-3); Eastern New Mexico (7-8, 1-4)
Radio: ESPN 95.5 FM
Watch: GoEasternAthletics.com  
Listen: Mustangs Digital Network 
Live Stats: GoEasternAthletics.com 
 
ON THE COURT
Midwestern State hits the road for a pair of Lone Star Conference games in the "Land of Enchantment." The Mustangs take on Western New Mexico Thursday night in Silver City with a start time of 8:30 p.m. (Central Time) before closing the trip Saturday against Eastern New Mexico in Portales at 5 p.m. (Central Time).
 
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
1- Midwestern State is riding a Lone Star Conference best four-game winning streak into this week's road trip. The streak matches the longest of the season for the Mustangs, who opened the season with four-straight victories.
2- Midwestern State endures its longest road trip of the season as the Mustangs will log 1,453 miles including a 754-mile leg from Wichita Falls to Silver City, 384 miles from Silver City to Portales and 315 more from Portales back to Wichita Falls.
3- Midwestern State junior guard Devante Pullum earned Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors after averaging 21.5 points and 7.5 assists per game in wins over West Texas A&M and UT-Permian Basin. He is the second MSU player to earn weekly honors this season joining junior forward Igor Ibaka, who was tabbed LSC Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 29.
4- MSU makes its first appearance in Silver City since beating Western New Mexico 75-74 on Jan. 8, 1994 -- a span of 23 years. Midwestern is 7-0 all-time against WNMU.
5- The Mustangs have won nine of the last 10 against Eastern New Mexico in Portales taking the last two at Greyhound Arena by a combined 83 points.
 
ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
 
TEAM NOTES
 * Midwestern State dropped their last two games away from D.L. Ligon Coliseum falling to Tarleton State (64-56) and Texas A&M-Commerce (72-61) to start Lone Star Conference back on Dec. 1 and 3, 2016.
* The Mustangs rank 13th in NCAA Division II in field goal percentage defense holding the opposition to 39.2 percent from the floor. MSU has limited the opposition to 40 percent or lower in eight of 12 games this season.
* Midwestern State held the top two scoring teams to a combined 31 points under average in wins over West Texas A&M (-11/W, 84-78) and UT-Permian Basin (-20/W, 80-73) last week.
* MSU ranks 14th nationally forcing 18.43 turnovers per game. The Mustangs have forced at least 20 turnovers in seven games this season. The Mustangs forced 16 miscues against West Texas A&M and 21 versus UT-Permian Basin last week.
* The Mustangs have scored 287 points off of turnovers this season -- an average of 20.5 points per game.
* The Mustangs overcame a 20-point deficit (27-7 at 11:12/1st) to beat UT-Permian Basin 80-73. The 20-point deficit was the largest for an MSU squad to overcome since Midwestern trailed Trinity (Texas) 50-29 with 19:46 to play before rallying for an 86-79 win on Dec. 18, 2003 at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
 
PLAYER NOTES
#0- Senior guard Brandon Neel erupted for season highs while notching his first double-double with 22 points and 13 rebounds against UT-Permian Basin. Neel has scored in double figures in eight consecutive games and is averaging a team-best 17.2 points and pulling down 7.8 rebounds per game during Lone Star Conference play.
#3- Junior guard Devante Pullum erupted for consecutive career highs going for 21 points and nine assists in a win over No. 11 West Texas A&M then dropped in 22 points with six assists against UT-Permian Basin to earn LSC Offensive Player of the Week honors. The hot streak raised Pullum's season averages to 10.9 points and 4.6 assists a game.
#4- Junior guard Shawn Nottingham impacted MSU's 80-73 win over UT-Permian Basin Saturday grabbing five rebounds with two blocked shots and three steals in 19 minutes of floor time.
#10- Senior guard Pat Smith notched his ninth and 10th double-figure games of the season last week going for 11 points against West Texas A&M and 10 points and four assists versus UT-Permian Basin last week. Smith has knocked down a 3-pointer in each of his last nine games.
#14- Junior guard De'Quaan Haggerty appeared in four games this season knocking down his lone 3-pointers for his only points of the season against St. Gregory's on Dec. 16. He is the nephew of MSU head coach Nelson Haggerty.
#24- Sophomore forward Nemanja Krtolica averages 3.6 points and 4.6 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per game. The Banja Luka, Bosnia native averages just under two offensive rebounds per game.
#32- Senior forward Magnus Richards is averaging 10.5 points and 6.7 rebounds in 26.7 minutes per game during Lone Star Conference play. He has scored in double figures in three of six games during league narrowly missing double-doubles with identical 13-point, 9-rebound efforts against Texas A&M-Kingsville and West Texas A&M.
#35- Junior forward Nick Powell averages a solid 6.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game. He enjoyed a career-best 20-point, 8-rebound effort against St. Gregory's on Dec. 16.
 
SCOUTING THE WNMU MUSTANGS
* Western New Mexico has endured an 8-83 record (.088) since the start of the 2013-14 season.
* WNMU has lost their last 16 league games going 0-5 in their first year in the Lone Star Conference. The Mustangs dropped their last 11 games last season as a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference last winning 74-70 in overtime at home against Chadron State (Neb.) on Jan. 16, 2016.
* Western New Mexico is 2-5 on its home floor at Drag's Court this season boasting wins over Oklahoma Panhandle State (83-73 on Nov. 11) and NAIA Benedictine University at Mesa (Ariz.) (67-59 on Dec. 30).
* Western New Mexico's starting five of sophomore guard Jordan Enriquez (13.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg), sophomore guard Willie McCray (10.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg), junior forward Latrell Spivey (10.0 ppg, 10.1 rpg), freshman Eddie Giron (9.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg) and senior guard Emery Range (8.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg) combine to score 77.4 percent of the offensive output.
* WNMU ranks last in the Lone Star Conference in scoring offense at 64.9 points per game, ninth in scoring defense at 79.9 points a game and are last in rebound margin (-6.3).
* Junior forward Latrell Spivey is one of the top rebounders in the Lone Star Conference while averaging a double-double for the season. Spivey ranks second in the LSC and 27th nationally in rebound average (10.1), is second in the LSC in defensive rebounds per game (6.92) and third in offensive boards a contest (3.15).
* Spivey has posted four double-doubles this season and is averaging 7.6 points and 8.4 rebounds during LSC play.
* Sophomore guard Jordan Enriquez has scored in double figures in eight games this season including a campaign-best 25 points against Oklahoma Panhandle State on Nov. 11. He is the brother of WNMU head coach Matt Enriquez.
* Matt Enriquez is in his first season at the helm of the WNMU men's basketball program spending the last 14 seasons as a player and assistant coach in Silver City. Enriquez is a member of Western New Mexico's Athletic Hall of Fame scoring 1,591 points as a four-year letter winner from 2002-06. He was inducted in 2015.
 
ABOUT THE SERIES
* Midwestern State and Western New Mexico collide for the eighth time on the hardwood Thursday night in Silver City.
* MSU has won each of the previous seven meetings, but Thursday's matchup is the first meeting between the programs since the 1993-94 season.
* It's Midwestern's third trip to Silver City as MSU won the previous two encounters by scores of 102-87 on Jan. 20, 1993 and 75-74 on Jan. 8, 1994.
* MSU's first meeting with Western New Mexico came in the opening round of the 1981 NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City. Midwestern rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to score a 56-55 win paced by Ted Brigham (13 points), Ricky Cobb (12 points) and Mike Ray (10 points, 4 rebounds).
 
SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS
* Eastern New Mexico broke out of a five-game slide by claiming wins over Texas Wesleyan, Wayland Baptist and Western New Mexico to improve to 7-8 on the season.
* The Greyhounds snapped a 10-game conference losing streak while collecting their first LSC road win since 2014 with a 78-71 victory over Western New Mexico on Jan. 3 in Silver City.
* ENMU begins weekend play Thursday night against Cameron in Portales.
* The Greyhounds lead the Lone Star Conference and rank seventh in NCAA Division II snaring 15.63 offensive rebounds per game.
* Eastern New Mexico is third in the LSC and fourth nationally in free throw attempts (435) while making 266.
* ENMU also rates seventh nationally in total rebounds (645), 11th in turnovers forced (18.69) and 39th in total blocks (60).
* Junior guard Marquise Harris leads the Greyhounds in scoring averaging 15.0 points per game. He scored in double figures in each of his first 11 games this season and is coming off of a 16-point performance at Western New Mexico.
* Senior guard CoRnell Neal scores 14.9 points per game while leading the LSC with 2.2 steals per game. The transfer from Central Oklahoma boasts four 20-point performances this season while pitching in averages of 4.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds.
* Junior guard Joe Clarke is coming off of a back-to-back 20-point efforts going for 20 points against Wayland Baptist before scoring 22 at Western New Mexico to raise his season scoring average to 10.7 points per game.
* Junior forward Chris Lewis is ENMU's top rebounder averaging 8.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. He has snared 10-or-more rebounds in four games this season including 10 the last time out at Western New Mexico.
* Tres Segler is in his first season at the helm of the Eastern New Mexico men's basketball program after spending the last seven campaigns as an assist at Midwestern State. Segler was on the bench for five of MSU's Lone Star Conference championship squads, seven NCAA tournament qualifiers as the Mustangs reached the Elite Eight in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
 
ABOUT THE SERIES
* Midwestern State and Eastern New Mexico meet for the 47th time on the hardwood Saturday afternoon in Portales.
* The Mustangs lead the series which dates back to the 1948-49 season by a 31-15 margin.
* MSU has won its last 10 games against ENMU and 19 of the last 20 dating back to the 2006-07 season.
* ENMU's lone victory came by an 80-72 score on Jan. 14, 2012 in Portales.
* Midwestern has won its last four games in Portales and nine of the last 10.
* The Mustangs have won each of their last five games against Eastern New Mexico by at least 22 points with an average victory margin of 36.7 points.
 
THE HAGGERTY ERA
* Nelson Haggerty is in his sixth season at the helm for Midwestern State as one of the top young coaches in college basketball.
* Haggerty boasts a 131-40 mark (.766) leading the Mustangs to the NCAA Division II postseason in each of his campaigns at the helm and to  Lone Star Conference championships in four of his five seasons as head coach.
* Haggerty earned NABC South Central Region and Lone Star Conference coach of the year honors in his rookie season of 2011-12 piloting the Mustangs to their third consecutive Elite Eight showing. He repeated as LSC Coach of the Year while piloting the Mustangs to their fourth LSC title in his five seasons at head coach in 2016.
* With Haggerty on the bench (including two seasons as top assistant), MSU has advanced to three Elite Eights (2010, 2011, 2012) and to the NCAA Division II postseason six consecutive years.
* Haggerty was named HoopDirt.com Division II Coach of the Year on Jan. 10 after claiming wins over No. 11 West Texas A&M and UT-Permian Basin.
 
UP NEXT
Midwestern State resumes the Red River Rivalry Tuesday night against Cameron at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.