LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The defending undisputed Western Athletic Conference Champion and four-consecutive WAC Tournament Champion NM State Aggies (1-0) host the first meeting of the Rio Grande Rivalry, the Battle of I-25 against the New Mexico Lobos (1-0) on Sunday night at 7 p.m. in the Pan American Center. Both teams opened the season with a win on Friday night, with the Aggies beating Houston Baptist 91-69 while the Lobos downed Texas Southern 86-57 at Wise Pies Arena. It's a White Out at the Pan American Center and fans are encouraged to wear white to the game.
 
SERIES RECORD: This is the 215th meeting between the Aggies and the Lobos in the Rio Grande Rivalry, marking the longest series in the school's history that dates back to December 1904. The Aggies trail the Lobos in the series 96-118, with UNM winning 69-67 on Dec. 20, 2014 in Las Cruces and 62-47 on Dec. 3, 2014 in Albuquerque. The teams split games by winning on the other's home courts in 2013. UNM beat NM State 79-70 on Dec. 4, 2013 at the Pan Am Center, while the Aggies beat the Lobos 67-61 on Dec. 17, 2013 at The Pit. The Aggies hold a 58-45 advantage in games played in Las Cruces.
 
MEDIA COVERAGE: Friday's game can be heard live on the Aggie Sports Network and over the Las Cruces radio airwaves on KWML, 570AM with NM State Hall of Famer Jack Nixon on the call.
 
The game will be televised by AggieVision with Adam Young (play-by-play) and Patrick Knapp (analyst). The telecast will be carried by Comcast Cable in New Mexico and also air live on Fox Sports Arizona (DirecTV 686, Dish 415/5415), Fox Sports Southwest (DirecTV 676/Dish 416/5416),Fox College Sports, Altitude (DirecTV 681, Dish 413) and ESPN3
 
LIVE STATS ON THE WEB: Live stats are available for most games at www.nmstatesports.com at no cost all season long and.
 
ABOUT THE AGGIES: This is the second game of a five-game homestand for the Aggies, marking the first time since the 2003-04 season (under Hall of Fame Coach Lou Henson) that the Aggies have opened the season with five consecutive home games..
 
The Aggies begin the 2015-16 season after posting a 23-11 campaign in 2014-15 that included a 13-1 WAC record and the outright regular season championship.
 
The Aggies are also coming off winning a record fourth consecutive WAC Tournament. No other program in the history of the Western Athletic Conference has ever won more than two straight tournaments.
 
The Aggies are also coming off appearing in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments, and five in the last six seasons. The Ags are aiming to match the school record of five straight appearances set first from 1967-to-1971 under Lou Henson and then again from 1990-to-1994 under Neil McCarthy.
 
NM State has 11 straight wins on the parquet floor of the Pan American Center. The Aggies haven't lost since a 58-57 overtime loss to No. 24/25 Colorado State on Dec. 27, 2014. Since the start of the 2012-13 season, the Aggies sport a 45-4 record at the Pan Am.
 
In the last 56 contests played by NM State at the Pan Am, the Aggies are 52-4.
 
Sophomore Pascal Siakam was named by the media as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year. Last season's WAC Freshman of the Year, Siakam averaged 12.4 points, leading the WAC in field goal percentage (.572) and blocked shots (61, 1.8 per game). Siakam was named to the Preseason All-WAC First Team by both the coaches and media. He opened with 28 points and 11 boards against Houston Baptist.
 
Junior Ian Baker was named to the Preseason All-WAC First Team by both the coaches and media. Baker led the WAC in 3-point field goal percentage (34-58, .457) last season and was third in the league in steals.
 
NM State had 11 of its 12 suited players score against Houston Baptist. The last time the Aggies had 11 players in the scoring totals was on Nov. 26, 2014 in a 78-33 win over Florida A&M.
 
Of the Aggies eight returning lettermen, only one didn't play in at least 26 of the teams 34 games (or 76 percent of the games) last season. Tanveer Bhullar saw action in just 10 games after missing most of the season with a foot injury.
 
Of the 14 players on the NM State roster, nine are from countries other than the United States.  Four players are from Toronto, Canada, with two from France, one from Cameroon, one from Colombia, and one from Mexico.
 
MENZIES MARKS: Now in his ninth season at New Mexico State, head coach Marvin Menzies is the Dean of WAC Coaches. Menzies is writing himself into the annals of NM State history. With a record of 176-100, Menzies is third on the all-time win list for NM State Coaches. He's reached the 175 win mark faster than the two men in front of him on the win list: Hall of Famer Lou Henson and Neil McCarthy. Henson (1966-75, 1997-2005) leads the group with 289 wins on the Aggie bench (289-152, 16 years). McCarthy (1985-97) has 229 victories (229-114, 12 years). He passed UNM's Bob King (1962-72) for ninth on the WAC all-games win list at 176 with Friday's win. He's ninth on the win list for WAC only games with 90, and his third in WAC only winning percentage at .714 in front of the late Jerry Tarkanian at Fresno State (1995-2002). Even with all the winning, Menzies collected his first Don Haskins WAC Coach of the Year Award last year when the Aggies won the regular season by five games. Menzies was named one of Forbes' top 25 college coaches for the money last November.
 
SIAKAM THE SUPER SOPHOMORE: Sophomore Paschal Siakam opened the 2015-16 season in grand fashion and showed why the media selected him the WAC Preseason Player of the Year. Siakam collected a career-high 28 points, 20 in the second half, and grabbed 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and his eighth career double-double. He had five dunks against the Huskies as well. The 6-9 forward from Douala, Cameroon, was the league's Freshman of the Year in 2014-15. Last season Siakam averaged 12.8 points a game, ranking eighth in the WAC. He was second in the WAC in rebounding with 7.7 boards a game and led the WAC in field goal percentage (57.2 percent) and blocked shots (61, 1.8 per game). Siakam was a first team All-WAC selection as a freshman and was honored as a first team NABC All-District VII performer last season..
 
ICE, ICE BAKER: Though slowed, but not stopped, by a late season injury last year, junior Ian Baker is ready for another great run with the Aggies. The 6-0 guard from Washington, D.C., had eight points against HBU in the opener with three assists. Last season he led the WAC in 3-point field goal percentage, hitting 45.7 percent of his treys. He averaged 9.3 points a game with 2.4 rebounds, but was third in the WAC with 1.5 steals per game and ninth in the WAC with 2.7 assists. He is a clutch shooter late, having either won or sending to overtime three games in the final five seconds or less with his scores. He is the elder statesman of the team
 
ELI'S COMING: Redshirt freshman Eli Chuha has definitly made some noise in his first official game as well as the exhibition game. On Friday night against Houston Baptist, Chuha tallied 11 points hitting 5-of-8 shots from the floor along with his only fre throw. Chaha also pulled down four rebounds and notched two steals. In the exhibition against Western New Mexico, Chuha scored nine points, but led all rebounders with 13 boards. The 6-8 forward from Redlands, Calif., was a two-time All-CIF Southern Section performer at Redlands East High School before redshirting last season for the Aggies.
 
THE FAVORITE: New Mexico State is the prohibitive favorite to win the Western Athletic Conference by both the league's coaches and the media.  The media went on to name sophomore forward Pascal Siakam as the league's preseason player of the year.
 
The Aggies received seven of the eight first place votes and 49 points from the coaches, the most they could receive since they couldn't vote for their own team or players.  Grand Canyon was second with 39 points and CSU Bakersfield third with 36 and the other first place vote.
 
The media, with no voting restrictions, picked up 13 of the 14 first place votes and was third on the ballot that gave CSU Bakersfield a first place vote for a total of 110 points.
 
The media gave Grand Canyon second with 88 and Missouri-Kansas City third with 87.
 
Siakam and junior guard Ian Baker were the Aggies selected on both the Coaches and Media's Preseason All-WAC first team. Siakam was the media's preseason player of the year, while UMKC's Martez Harrison was the coaches preseason player of the year.
 
WELCOMING NEW FACES: NM State has six new faces on the floor in 2015-16, five of them redshirt freshmen. New to the Aggies is junior transfer Rene Esparza from Juarez, Mexico/El Paso Faith Christian Academy. A guard, Esparza came to NM State from New Mexico Junior College. He joins five redshirt freshmen who grew physically and academically at NM State over the last year. The Aggies welcome forward Harold Givens of Norcross, Ga./Faith Baptist Christian; guard Rashawn Browne of Toronto, Ontario/Crothers Secondary; forward Jose Campo of Riohacha, Colombia/West Oaks Academy; guard Sidy Ndir of Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, France/West Oaks Academy; and forward Eli Chuha of Redlands, Calif./Redlands East HS.
 
LOOKING BACK: New Mexico State jumped out to a 13-3 advantage and never trailed in handily knocking off the Houston Baptist Huskies 91-69. NM State took a double-digit lead to stay with more than 14 minute left in the first half and led by as many as 32 points in the game.
 
NM State played all 12 Aggies suited for the game, with 11 of them scoring against the Southland Conference's Huskies. The Ags were paced by WAC Preseason Player of the Year Paschal Siakam's double-double of a career-high 28 points and 11 rebounds to go with three blocked shots. Eli Chuha came off the bench with 11 points and four rebounds, while Rashawn Browne came off the bench with 10 points and three assists. Tanveer Bhullar added eight boards.
 
The Aggies shot 58.6 percent from the floor (21-of-33) and 85 percent (17-of-20) from the free throw line. HBU shot 36.4 percent from the floor (24-of-66) as the Aggies nearly doubled the Huskies 47-25 on the glass.
 
ABOUT THE LOBOS: The Lobos opened the season with an 86-57 triumph over Texas Southern at Wise Pies Arena aka The Pit. The Lobos welcomed back guard Cullen Neal (6-4, So., Albuquerque, N.M.), the son of head coach Craig Neal, who was granted a redshirt season after injuring his ankle in the third game last year. He scored 22 points against the Tigers, shooting 53.3 percent from the floor, with two rebounds and four assists. Forward Tim Williams (6-8, Jr., Flossmoor, Ill.) collected 17 points with five rebounds and two blocked shots. Guard Elijah Brown (6-4, So., Orange County, Calif.) popped for 16 points, hitting 67 percent, with three rebounds and six assists. The Lobos scored 86 points, and allowed 57.
 
LOOKING AHEAD: The Aggies continue their season-opening homestand as they take on Tennessee Tech on Wednesday night as one of four games in the Air Force Classic multi-team event.
 
The Golden Eagles open the season on Saturday night against Piedmont College and will play at Air Force to open the MTE on Monday night. The Eagles return guard Torrance Rowe (6-1, Sr., Atlanta, Ga.) who was third on the team in scoring last year with 11.4 points to go with 2.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists. Forward Josiah Moore (6-5, Sr., Atlanta, Ga.) added 8.9 points with 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists, while guard Aleska Jugovic (6-3, So., Leskovac, Serbia) tallied 5.8 points and 1.4 boards a contest. Last season Tennesse Tech averaged 70.6 points an outing, while allowing 69.8 per game.
 
WILKINS OUT: New Mexico State sophomore forward Johnathon Wilkins will not play pending an appeal due to an administrative error concerning his academic eligibility. The NCAA ruled that Wilkins has not met course requirements to remain academically eligible. Due to no fault of his own or the men's basketball program an administrative error prevented him from taking the proper course load. NM State is appealing the decision and Wilkins cannot play while the appeal process is on-going.