TYLER, TEXAS – The University of Texas at Tyler men's basketball will stay on the road on Saturday afternoon for a 5 p.m. game against Western New Mexico in Silver City, N.M.
 
The Patriots second road contest in as many outings will also serve as the longest road trip of the year for a UT Tyler squad that will enter the contest with a 10-4 overall record and a 2-3 record in LSC play. UT Tyler has dropped consecutive games for the first time all season in their two most recent outings, and will meet a Western New Mexico squad that is 9-4 on the year and 2-1 in LSC play.
 
A BRUTAL STRETCH
 
Head coach Louis Wilson and the Patriots are caught in the midst of a brutal combination of difficult opponents and travel. UT Tyler dropped back-to-back games for the first time all season in their last two contests, a 74-69 loss at home against #1 Lubbock Christian and a 71-56 road loss at Texas A&M-Commerce.
 
Lubbock Christian, Texas A&M-Commerce, and Saturday's opponent Western New Mexico have a combined 38-8 overall record on the year, making for what is undoubtedly one of the most difficult weeks of basketball for any team in the LSC this season. Combine the tests all three of those program's impose with a trip to a hostile environment in Commerce, Texas on Tuesday and an 893-mile trip out to Silver City, N.M. on Saturday, and you have as difficult of a week as there is in Division II basketball.
 
A win on Saturday would provide clear momentum ahead of another full week of basketball for the Patriots next week with Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday games on tap. All three of those contests are scheduled to take place inside the Herrington Patriot Center, providing some relief in what will be the most difficult two-week stretch of the season for the Patriots.
 
PATRIOTS IN THE RANKINGS
 
The Patriots stayed in the no. 6 spot in the latest edition of the D2SIDA South Central Region poll, and have appeared within the top 10 of the rankings in each of the last seven editions of the poll. UT Tyler rose to as high as no. 3 back on Dec. 13^th in the week five edition of the rankings.

Lubbock Christian and West Texas A&M both stayed put in the no. 1 and no. 2 spots respectively, while the Lone Star Conference occupied seven of the 10 available spots in the rankings for the second consecutive week.
 
A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
 
UT Tyler enters Saturday's game ranked sixth in the LSC in scoring offense (77.7 ppg) and fourth in the league in scoring defense (63.9 ppg). The Patriots have shot 47.4 percent (366-of-772) from the field this season, third best in the LSC, and have limited opponents to a 41.5 percent (321-of-773) field goal percentage on the year, fifth best in the LSC.
 
Graduate student Micah Fuller continues to lead the Patriots in scoring with an average of 13.6 points per game, and has posted 21, 23 and 11 point scoring totals in his last three games. Senior Da'Zhon Wyche posted a season-high 21 points in Tuesday's loss at Texas A&M-Commerce and is averaging 11.1 points a game.
 
The Patriots have averaged 68.2 points in games against Lone Star Conference competition and have the third best rebounding margin in games against conference foes at +4.2. Junior Milan Szabo continues to lead the team with an average of 5.6 rebounds a game, while Eysan Wiley is next on the rebounding list for the Patriots with an average of 4.9 rebounds per game.
 
 SCOUTING AND HISTORY WITH THE MUSTANGS
 
Western New Mexico is one of the many much-improved teams in the Lone Star Conference this season having gone 0-11 in an abbreviated 2020-21 schedule to 9-4 this season. The Mustangs are also coming off of a signature win on Thursday night over Texas A&M-Commerce, a 74-68 win over the Lions.
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The Mustangs are 2-1 now in LSC play following the win over Texas A&M-Commerce. Western New Mexico ranks third in the LSC in scoring offense (78.5 ppg), and has shot the fourth best team field goal percentage on the year (46.5 percent) in the LSC.
 
Jordan Doss ranks fourth in the LSC with an average of 16.8 points per game, and has gone for 37 and 17 in his last two outing against Oklahoma Christian and Texas A&M-Commerce. Olamide Peterson has been a versatile big man for Western New Mexico, leading the team with 5.7 rebounds a game and ranks fourth in the LSC with 1.3 blocks a game.
 
UT Tyler and Western New Mexico have met three times prior to Saturday's game, the latter two meetings which took place last season in Tyler. UT Tyler got the better of the Mustangs in both of those two games last season by 58-54 and 73-69 final tallies, but dropped the first game in the series between the two teams back on Jan. 25^th, 2020 in Silver City.