Game Seven
NM State (5-1) vs. New Mexico (4-3)
Tuesday, Nov. 30 | 7:00 p.m. | Pan American Center (12,572) | Las Cruces, N.M.
Watch | Listen | Live Stats | Tickets | NM State Game Notes | New Mexico Game Notes
THE OPENING TIP
• Citizens of The Land of Enchantment takes sides once again Tuesday night inside the Pan American Center when NM State and New Mexico reignite an in-state rivalry which has spanned for over a century. Tip-off in the 225th all-time meeting between the Aggies and Lobos is set for 7:00 p.m.
• The latest installment in the century-old rivalry series between the Aggies and Lobos will be streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Comcast New Mexico will televise each and every second of the action, too.
• The play-by-play and analysis combo of Adam Young and Rus Bradburd are set to narrate the action on both the linear TV networks and the ESPN+ stream. Over the airwaves, legendary radio play-by-play man Jack Nixon will set up shop courtside to call the action.
• Nixon's play-by-play and analysis can be heard on 99.5 Zia Country FM in Las Cruces, N.M., and nationwide on The Varsity Network app.
• Affiliate stations of the Aggie Sports Network can be tuned in to in Artesia, N.M. (990 AM), Carlsbad, N.M. (1240 AM), Gallup, N.M. (94.9 FM), Alamogordo, N.M. (103.7 FM) and El Paso, Texas (1380 AM). All of those stations will also carry Nixon's commentary of Tuesday night's tilt.
• All tickets in section 119 of the Pan American Center will be available for $10 on the day of the game.
NM STATE vs. NEW MEXICO | SERIES TIDBITS
• NM State and New Mexico have met on the hardwood 224 times since the series began in 1904. That's the longest running series between New Mexico State and an opponent in program history. The 224 meetings between the Aggies and Lobos are also the most by NM State and an opponent in the history of the program.
• Only two events - World War II and the COVID-19 pandemic - have prevented the Aggies and Lobos from duking it out on an annual basis since 1923. The teams didn't play one another last season on the hardwood, marking the first time since 1943 that they didn't engage in basketball-related combat.
• NM State comes into Tuesday night's tilt on a two-game losing skid against New Mexico after the Lobos won both meetings in the 2019-20 season. That snapped NM State's five-game winning streak against their in-state rivals.
• The Aggies' five-game winning streak which spanned from December of 2016 until November of 2019 was the program's third-longest winning streak against the Lobos. Prior to that run, that last time NM State won five or more games against New Mexico came from March 2, 1954-January 18, 1956, when the Aggies also won five in a row.
• The two longest winning streaks New Mexico State produced against its in-state rivals came in the early 20th century. From February 11, 1916-February 21, 1923, New Mexico State bested the Lobos 10 consecutive times. In a dominant run that spanned a pair of decades, the Aggies won 19-straight showdowns between the two programs from February 22, 1936-December 11, 1940.
• Now in his fifth season in charge in Las Cruces, head coach Chris Jans is one of only three bench bosses in the history of the program who have won each of their first four meetings with New Mexico. Jans joins John G. Griffith (1917-20) and Robert R. Brown (1922-26) in that category.
• Jans' record against New Mexico sits at 4-2 (.667) all-time.
• Just four NM State players - Johnny McCants, Will McNair Jr., Jabari Rice and Donnie Tillman - have taken on the Lobos in their respective careers. Of those four, Tillman is the only one who hasn't taken part in a Battle of I-25 rivalry game. He tangled with New Mexico in 2019-20 while at UNLV and owns a 2-0 record against the Aggies' bitter rivals.
• Since the start of the 2011-12 season, NM State has dropped just 13 games on its home court at the Pan Am Center. Six of those setbacks, however, have come at the hands of New Mexico.
LAST TIME OUT | NM State 94, vs. New Mexico Highlands 67 | Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021
• Clinging to a three-point lead at the beginning of the second half, NM State received a large portion of Teddy Allen's 21 points over the course of a 34-8 run in the deciding frame to claim a 94-67 win over New Mexico Highlands inside the Pan American Center.
• Allen came up with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, but was aided by Johnny McCants, too. The Aggies' hometown senior finished with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go along with seven rebounds.
• Jabari Rice added 12 points to round out the Aggies' trio of leading scorers. Off the bench, Marchelus Avery finished with six points as well as a game-high nine rebounds.
• Mario McKinney Jr., put forth a solid stat line, too, finishing with six points, two rebounds, six assists and four steals.
• Two players - Cameron Crawford and Nate Pryor - made their respective NM State debuts in the tilt.
• Despite not being inside the building due to COVID-19 protocols, NM State head coach Chris Jans secured his 100th win as the Aggies' bench boss with the victory over the Cowboys. Jans became the fastest head coach in program history to reach the 100-win mark as an Aggie, needing just 126 games to get to triple-digits in the win column.
• The late Lou Henson needed 127 games to reach 100 wins as NM State's head coach.
• The win allowed the Aggies to move to 5-1 for the third time in Chris Jans' tenure as head coach. Each of the previous two times the Aggies began a season with a 5-1 mark with Jans leading them, they captured WAC regular-season and tournament titles while making the cut for the NCAA Tournament on both occasions.
LAST TIME OUT vs. NEW MEXICO | NM State 62, at New Mexico 69 | Dec. 14, 2019
• A three-pointer from Trevelin Queen with 11:47 to go gave NM State a 47-44 lead, but the Aggies put in just six more field goals the rest of the way and dropped a 69-62 decision to New Mexico at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M.
• The Aggies' opened up a seven-point lead in the opening half, but UNM used a 12-0 run which spanned the first and second halves to take control.
• Twenty-two turnovers didn't help the Aggies' cause, either, in a game which featured a combined 38 throwaways between the two clubs.
• One of the major areas where the Lobos were able to gain some separation from the Aggies was at the free throw line. NM State went only 4-of-10 (40-percent) from the foul stripe while New Mexico converted 23 of its 28 tries from that distance (82.1-percent). That
• For the Lobos, Carlton Bragg helped them sweep the season series against NM State for the first time since the 2015-16 season by finishing with a 17-point, 17-rebound double-double.
• Queen's 19 points represented a game-high and he flirted with a triple-double, too, by finishing with seven rebounds and eight assists.
• In addition to Queen, three other NM State players finished with 10 or more points. Ivan Aurrecoechea didn't miss from the field, going a perfect 5-of-5 en route to a 12-point outing.
• Jabari Rice and Johnny McCants added 10 points apiece for the Aggies in their second-straight setback to the Lobos.
• Following their loss to New Mexico, NM State reeled off a program-record 21 consecutive victories. That stretch of wins spanned the remainder of the 2019-20 season and extended into the 2021-22 campaign.
• UNM, meanwhile, went 15-28 through the rest of the 2019-20 season and 2020-21 combined following its win over NM State.
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• A new coach in Richard Pitino and a new star in the making in Jamal Mashburn Jr., has hoop hopes high in the Duke City ahead of the first 2021-22 installment of the Battle of I-25.
• Making his way down to the Land of Enchantment from Minnesota, Pitino has the Lobos off to a 4-3 start. They'll be hoping to put an end to a two-game losing skid when they enter the Pan American Center Tuesday night and they'll try to do so with Mashburn Jr., leading the way.
• Son of famed Kentucky - and NBA - star Jamal Mashburn, Mashburn Jr., tops the Lobos charts in numerous statistical categories including his scoring clip of 20.6 points per game which ranks 20th in the nation.
• In the Lobos' backcourt, another second-generation hooper who's dad logged minute in an NBA uniform mans things. Jaelen House, son of 11-year NBA veteran and 2008 NBA champion Eddie House, leads the Mountain West Conference in steals per game (2.33) and tops the team's charts in assists per game (4.5).
• Though House and Mashburn Jr., are the team's top two scorers, they are hardly the only two weapons the Lobos have. Javonté Johnson (9.7 ppg) and KJ Jenkins (8.8 ppg) are both shooting 48-percent or better from long range.
• A strong interior defensive team, New Mexico leads the Mountain West and ranks 39th in the nation with a blocked shots per game average of 5.1.
• New Mexico has lost its last three true road games dating back to the 2020-21 season.
THIS DATE IN NM STATE HISTORY
• Tuesday night's showdown marks for the fourth between the Aggies and Lobos on Nov. 30. NM State is 2-1 against New Mexico on this date. The last time the Aggies and Lobos encountered one another on this date came in 2002 when head coach Lou Henson led the Aggies to a 59-58 win inside the Pan American Center.
• NM State head coach Chris Jans is 2-0 all-time as an NCAA Division I head coach on this date with one of those wins coming over another Aggie rival. In 2017, Jans and company headed to El Paso, Texas, to secure an 80-60 win over UTEP.
• The second game NM State ever played on this date came in 1956 when Presley Askew and his crew dropped a 64-62 decision at New Mexico.
COMING UP NEXT
• A stretch of three-consecutive rivalry games for NM State continues Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. when the Aggies head to the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas, for round two against UTEP. That contest signals the starting point of four-straight road games for the Aggies.
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