OPENING TIPS
• Marching on in the 2021 Hercules Tires WAC Tournament, the third-seeded NM State men's basketball team is fired up for a Friday night showdown with second-seeded and WAC regular season co-champion Utah Valley in the second of two WAC Tournament semifinal games at the Orleans Arena. Tip-off in the first-ever matchup between the Aggies and Wolverines in the WAC Tournament is set for 9:00 p.m. MT.
• ESPN+ and the ESPN app will carry the action with Michael Potter, Joan Bonvicini and Rachel Vigil handling all play-by-play and analysis responsibilities. 
• Over the airwaves, US Bank/NM State Athletics Hall of Famer Jack Nixon will be on hand inside the Orleans Arena to narrate the action. Locally, Nixon's call can be heard on Zia Country 99.5 FM in Las Cruces.
• Listeners outside of the Las Cruces area can access Nixon's call on the Aggie Sports Network's affiliate stations which include 101.7 FM KQTM (Albuquerque), 103.5 FM KNMZ (Alamogordo), 1240 AM KAMQ (Carlsbad), 1380 AM KHEY (El Paso), 1230 AM, 94.9 FM KYVA (Gallup) and 107.1 FM KMDS (Las Vegas). Fans not in any of those areas can also find his broadcast via the TuneIn app which is available nationwide.

LAST TIME OUT | WAC TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS | #3 NM STATE 77, #6 UTRGV 61 | THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2021
• Back in Vegas for the first time since decimating Grand Canyon to capture the 2019 WAC Tournament title, the Aggies took a dominant path to the WAC Tournament semifinals by blasting UTRGV 77-61 Thursday night at the Orleans Arena.
• Though the Aggies took a season-low 50 field goal attempts, they made them count. NM State put up shooting splits of .520/.500/.765 in the game to move to 13-0 all-time in WAC Tournament quarterfinal games.
• Wilfried Likayi's first WAC Tournament game was a productive one as he slung in a game-high 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting. The junior canned three of the Aggies' 12 three-pointers on the night.
• Donnie Tillman generated 12 points to go along with five rebounds as NM State extended its season-best winning streak to four games. The Aggies have now won their last 14 games in the month of March against WAC opposition.
• Jabari Rice neared double-double territory by finishing with nine points and nine rebounds in the Aggies' triumph.
• The Aggies owned a 38-24 (+14) edge on the glass in the win and have now out-rebounded the opposition in each of their last six games. NM State is 5-1 in those games.
• Kalen Williams passed out a team-high four assists in 17 minutes off the bench, tying a season high in helpers in the process. That helped NM State win its 20th-consecutive game against UTRGV.

LAST TIME OUT vs. UTAH VALLEY | NM STATE 67, UTAH VALLEY 60 | SATURDAY, FEB. 20, 2021
• Tied at 60 with Utah Valley with 1:51 remaining, NM State sank seven free throws in the last 64 seconds to claim a 67-60 victory over the Wolverines Saturday night at Eastwood High School in El Paso, Texas.
• Senior Donnie Tillman put the Aggies on top for the last time when he broke the 60-60 deadlock with two free throw makes with 1:04 left.
• Jabari Rice put forth his second 20-point effort of the season by netting a game-high 20 point in the Aggies' victory.
• Senior guard Evan Gilyard II added 16 points for the Aggies while coming up with two of the team's five steals in the win.
• All but two of Tillman's 10 points on the night came from the free throw line. Tillman went 8-of-8 from the stripe, setting a season-high in both free throw attempts and free throws made.
• It was from the free throw line where the Aggies did most of their damage, especially in the second half. NM State went 21-of-25 from the stripe, hitting a season-high 84-percent of their tries from that distance. For the game the Aggies finished with a 14-point edge over Utah Valley from the foul line.
• Through the final 20 minutes, 18 of the Aggies' 37 points (48.6-percent) came from free throws. NM State's free throw shooting in the second half helped offset a 7-of-25 (28-percent) effort from the field through the frame.
• The win marked the Aggies' third-straight victory on a Saturday. In 2020-21, the Aggies own a 3-1 record in games played on Saturday.
• For the second-straight game and the fourth time in the last six games the Aggies finished with fewer than 10 turnovers. NM State committed just nine throwaways in the victory.

LAST TIME OUT vs. A #2 SEED IN THE WAC TOURNAMENT | #1 NM STATE 54, #2 CSU BAKERSFIELD 57 | SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2016
• Tanveer Bhullar contributed a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double, eventual NBA All-Star Pascal Siakam came up with 11 points and Braxton Huggins amassed 11 more, but NM State fell to CSU Bakersfield, 57-54, in the WAC Tournament title game.
• The Roadrunners' Dedrick Basile connected on a cold-blooded three-pointer with 0.2 seconds to go in the game to lift CSU Bakersfield to the upset victory.
• In a defensive battle throughout, NM State never held the lead. Turnovers played a big part in the Roadrunners' victory as they were able to generate 16 points (28-percent of their total scoring output) off of NM State throwaways.
• Facing an 11-point deficit in the early stages of the second half, the Aggies battled back to tie things at 54-54 after Bhullar sank a free throw with 13 seconds remaining.
• NM State's loss snapped the program's 12-game winning streak in WAC Tournament games. That run was the lonest stretch of consecutive victories in the history of the league tournament.
• The game would prove to be Marvin Menzies' final one in charge of NM State. After a nine-year run as the Aggies' bench boss, Menzies headed to Las Vegas to become the head coach at UNLV.
• Free throw shooting came back to hurt NM State in the three-point setback, too. The Aggies were just 12-of-22 (54.5-percent) from the foul line and the two teams combined to shoot only 18-of-35 (51.4-percent) for the game.
• Siakam and Ian Baker, who finished with 10 points, were each named to the All-Tournament Team.

SCOUTING UTAH VALLEY | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Playing their first game since Saturday, March 6, the Wolverines were able to obtain a share of the 2020-21 WAC regular season title after splitting their final regular season series of the season with Grand Canyon last weekend in Phoenix.
• The Fardaws Aimaq show rolls into Vegas for what the Wolverines are hoping to be more than a one-night-only event. In his inaugural season in a Utah Valley uniform, Aimaq captured the titles of WAC Player of the Year and WAC Defensive Player of the Year to go along with a spot on the All-WAC First Team. The nation's leading rebounder, Aimaq grabs 15.1 boards per game while also leading the land in defensive rebounding (10.81 per game).
• It's not just a one-man show the Wolverines are bringing with them to the Entertainment Capital of the World. Smooth-shooting guard Jamison Overton is one of three players on Utah Valley's roster who is averaging at least 14.5 points per game. His scoring average of 15.9 ppg is tops on the team while sharp-shooting threat Trey Woodbury is putting in points at a clip of 14.7 per game.
• Running the Wolverines' offense is Blaze Nield who owns the nation's 10th-best assist-to-turnover ratio (3.22). He directs a Utah Valley offense which ranks 10th nationally in assists per game (17.4) and 23rd in field goal percentage (.484).
• Friday night marks the first time that the Wolverines and Aggies will match wits at the WAC Tournament. It's also Utah Valley head coach Mark Madsen's WAC Tournament coaching debut.

COMING UP NEXT
• If the Aggies are able to get by the Wolverines Friday night, they'll have the opportunity to play for the league's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The WAC Tournament title bout is set to start at 8:00 p.m. MT Saturday night with the winner of this game taking on the winner of the semifinal bout between fifth-seeded Seattle U and top-seeded Grand Canyon. 

++NM State++