LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The defending undisputed Western Athletic Conference Champion and four-consecutive WAC Tournament Champion NM State Aggies (2-1) continue play in their part of the Air Force Classic multi-team event on Saturday night as they host the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils (0-2) at 7 p.m. in the Pan American Center. The Aggies are coming off a 76-63 win over Tennessee Tech in Classic play on Wednesday. The Delta Devils lost at Air Force 65-64 on Thursday night. Fans are urged to bring peanut butter or canned foods to help fill the Aggie Cupboard, the campus food pantry for needy students and members of the campus community.
 
SERIES RECORD: This is the Aggies third meeting with Mississippi Valley State, with NM State winning the two previous encounters. NM State beat the Delta Devils 65-61 on Dec. 2, 1986 and two years later won 83-68 on Dec. 19, 1988. Both games were played at the Pan American Center.
 
MEDIA COVERAGE: Saturday's game can be heard live on the Aggie Sports Network and over the Las Cruces radio airwaves on KWML, 570AM with Adam Young substituting for NM State Hall of Famer Jack Nixon on the call.
 
The game will be televised by AggieVision with Glen Cerny (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 Plus (DirecTV 686-1, Dish 462), and ESPN3 with Fox College Sports joining the telecast in progress.
 
LIVE STATS ON THE WEB: Live stats are available for most games at www.nmstatesports.com at no cost all season long and.
 
THE AIR FORCE CLASSIC: The Air Force Classic is a multi-team event that allows the participants to add additional games to its schedule through an NCAA exemption as long as no more than four games are played by each participant and the event takes no more than two weeks to complete. The games may be played at any site. Joining Air Force and the Aggies are Tennessee Tech, Mississippi Valley State and Robert Morris. Air Force is the host of the event and has all four of its games at home, while NM State received three home games and will travel to Air Force for the fourth. The other three teams will visit the USAFA and NM State then go to Tennessee Tech where they play a round-robin against each other on the weekend after Thanksgiving.
 
ABOUT THE AGGIES: The Aggies host the second of three games in the Air Force Classic multi-team event at the Pan Am, before closing the event by visiting Air Force on Nov. 28.
 
This is the fourth 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 is back on the winning track after its 11-game winning streak at the Pan American Center was snapped with the 83-74 loss to New Mexico on Nov. 15. It was the first loss on the parquet floor since a 58-57 overtime loss to No. 24/25 Colorado State on Dec. 27, 2014. Still, since the start of the 2012-13 season, the Aggies sport a 45-5 record at the Pan Am.
 
In the last 58 contests played by NM State at the Pan Am, the Aggies are 53-5.
 
Sophomore Pascal Siakam was named the first WAC Player of the Week this season after a super first two games that left him leading the league in scoring (25.5 ppg), blocked shots (3.5 bpg) and minutes played (35.5 mpg).
 
Siakam added another great game on Wednesday against Tennessee Tech, with 30 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. He became the first Aggie to score 30 since Daniel Mullings on Jan. 25, 2014 scored 32 at UT Pan American (now UT Rio Grande Valley).
 
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.
 
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 177-101, 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 the win over Houston Baptist. He's ninth on the win list for WAC only games with 90, and is 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 WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore Paschal Siakam has exploded back into the 2015-16 season. The 6-9 forward from Douala, Cameroon, established a new career-high on Wednesday night against Tennessee Tech with 30 points, becoming the first Aggie to score 30 since Daniel Mullings had 32 against Texas-Pan American (UT Rio Grande Valley) on Jan. 25, 2014. With his 11 rebounds (his second double-double of the season) he now has nine career double-doubles and he set a career-best with four assists. He is the WAC Player of the Week as he averaged 25.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in the first two games of the season. Agains Houston Baptist, 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. Then against New Mexico he tallied 23 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Selected the WAC Preseason Player of the Year by the media, Siakam has the top two scoring games in the league this year and leads the WAC in scoring (27.0 points) and blocked shots (2.33), and is second in the conference in rebounding (10.0 rpg) and minutes played (35.67). The league's Freshman of the Year in 2014-15, Siakam averaged 12.8 points a game last season, 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: Junior Ian Baker has been rock steady running the team and has had consecutive big scoring nights. Baker popped for 19 points vs. Tennessee Tech, matching a career-high with five 3-point field goals. On Sunday, he had another big scoring night against New Mexico with 19 points, just missing his career high of 21 set against the Lobos last season. He has a 3.50 assist-turnover ratio so far this season at the point and is the Aggies second leading scorer at 15.3 points a game. 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.
 
HENSON INDUCTED: Friday is the day when Aggie Legend Lou Henson is officially inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He is part of a class of eight individuals, including three coaches, who form the NCB Class of 2015 to be inducted at the College Basketball Experience in Kansas City, Mo. Henson had a 41-year career as a collegiate head coach, all at the NCAA Division I level, posting a record of 779-412 with a 65.4 winning percentage. He's the all-time winningest coach at both New Mexico State and Illinois, and started his career at Hardin-Simmons. Henson, a 1955 graduate of NM State, coached 16 years in two stints for his alma mater, posting a 289-152 record. He also tallied a 423-224 mark in 21 years at Illinois and amassed a 67-36 record in four seasons at HSU. He is currently 11th all-time in career Division I victories, and was sixth on that list when he fully retired from the floor in January of 2005. Henson is one of only 12 coaches to take two different schools to the Final Four.
 
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: The New Mexico State Aggies rode the Preseason First Team All-WAC selections Pascal Siakam and Ian Baker for all they were worth as NM State posted a 76-63 triumph over Tennessee Tech on Wednesday night.
 
Siakam set a new career-high with 30 points and collected his second double-double of the season with 11 rebounds. He also added a careeer-high four assists. Baker scored 19 points for the second straight game and equaled his career-best with five 3-point field goals.
 
The Aggies shot an even 50 percent from the floor, while the Golden Eagles were held to 39 percent (just 31 percent in the second half). NM State also dominated the glass, outrebounding TTU 49-28.
 
ABOUT THE DELTA DEVILS: Mississippi Valley State enters the game 0-2 on the season after losing to Air Force 65-64 on a buzzer-beating layup in Colorado Springs on Thursday night. They opened the season last Saturday with a 97-51 loss at Nebraska. The Delta Devils are led by forward Damian Young (6-3, Jr., Grayson, Ga.) who is averaging 12.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals a game.  Guard Kylan Phillips (5-11, Fr., Memphis, Tenn.) is averaging 10.0 points and 2.0 boards, while forward Ta'Jay Henry (6-4, Jr., Queens, N.Y.) averages 5.0 points and 4.0 rebounds an outing. The Delta Devils are averaging 57.5 points a game, while allowing 81.0 a game.
 
LOOKING AHEAD: The Aggies conclude their season-opening five-game homestand by hosting Robert Morris on Saturday night in the third of NM State's four games in the Air Force Classic multi-team event. It's a double-header with the Aggie women who play Southern Utah. The women tip at 5 p.m., with the men to follow at 7:30 p.m.
 
The Colonials, who played in the NCAA Tournament last season, are 0-3 on the season after losing at Penn 76-75, at Cincinnati 106-44 and to Bucknell 81-76 on Wednesday. They play at Air Force on Sunday afternoon before coming to Las Cruces. The Colonials are led by guard Rodney Pryor (6-5, Sr., Evanston, Ill.) who is the only player on the team averaging double-figures in scoring with 20.0 points per game with 5.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists. Guards Kavon Stewart (6-0, Jr., Paterson, N.J) and Isaiah Still (6-6, Fr., Rahway, N.J.) both average 9.0 points a contest. Stewart adds 3.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game, while Still is shooting 47.4 percent from the floor. Forward Elijah Minnie (6-9, So., Monessen, Pa.) chips in 7.3 points and leads the team with 6.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots a contest. RMU is scoring 65.0 points a game, and allowing 87.7 per contest.
 
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.