Game Twenty-Three
NM State (9-13, 5-7 WAC) vs. SFA (20-3, 11-0 WAC)
Monday, Feb. 14 | 2:00 p.m. | Pan American Center (12,572) | Las Cruces, N.M.
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets | NM State Game Notes | Program
Opening Tips
• NM State is the latest Western Athletic Conference club to get a crack at handing league-leading SFA its first conference loss of the season when the two teams convene inside the Pan American Center Monday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. for a Valentine's Day showdown.
• SFA rolls into Las Cruces sporting a 20-3 record which includes a perfect 11-0 mark in league tilts.
• The Ladyjacks, in their first season as a WAC member, claimed both the Southland Conference regular-season and tournament championships last season en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance. SFA nearly came up with an upset in the big dance, but instead lost its grip on a fourth-quarter lead and fell 54-52 in overtime to fifth-seeded Georgia Tech.
• Despite a Saturday afternoon loss at the hands of Utah Valley, NM State still boasts one of the WAC's best home court records. The Aggies are 5-1 in WAC tilts inside the Pan American Center this season and 8-3 overall.
• Monday afternoon's matchup is the fourth all-time meeting between the two programs and the first since Dec. 18, 1997. NM State is 0-3 all-time against SFA which includes 0-1 records at home, on the road and at neutral sites.
• This will be the 71st WAC contest in which Brook Atkinson will be at the helm as the Aggies have compiled a league record of 45-25 during her tenure, including two regular-season WAC titles.
The Nitty Gritty
• Head Coach Brooke Atkinson leads one of the WAC's top rebounding teams as the Aggies rank first in the conference in rebounding margin, out-rebounding opponents by 5.5 boards per game. This mark is also good for the 49th-best in the nation.
• The Aggies also rank first in rebounding margin in league contests as, on average, they collect 6.8 more rebounds than their opponents in WAC games.
• SFA tops the WAC statistical charts in 12 separate categories including scoring (79.9 ppg, 16th nationally), scoring margin (+22.1, second nationally), assists per game (17.1, 16th nationally) and scoring defense (54.8 opponent points per game, 18th nationally).
• The Aggies hang their hats on shooting efficiency as they rank among in the conference in field goal percentage by way of shooting at a 40.2 percent clip this season.
• The Aggies also rank in the top five among WAC teams in free throw percentage (4th, .693), scoring offense (4th, 66.4), turnover margin (4th, +0.64) and turnovers forced per game (5th, 17.00)
• NM State is led in scoring by graduate transfer Bigue Sarr who ranks 10th in the WAC in points per game (13.3) and third in rebounds per game (8.5). Sarr also posts a field goal percentage of 53.5 percent to rank third in the league and 32nd in the nation in that category. Sarr's ability to create second-chance opportunities for the Aggies is also among the league's best as she ranks third in the WAC in offensive rebounds per game, pulling down 3.2 per contest.
• Sarr's production versus the Ladyjacks will be key as she will stand across one of the WAC's top low post players in Aiyana Johnson. The youngest of three sisters, all of whom played basketball for the Ladyjacks, Johnson tops the WAC charts and ranks 107th nationally with 1.36 blocked shots per game.
• The Aggies' Taylor Donaldson stacks up well in the category of shooting percentage as she is currently connecting on shots at a 45.5 percent rate to rank 14th in the conference.
• Mel Isbell has also quickly become one of the WAC's assist generators since entering the league from UNLV. She tops the Aggies' charts and ranks 15th in the league with 2.6 assists per game.\
Scouting SFA | Roster | Schedule | Statistics
• The class of the WAC, SFA has thrived under sixth-year head coach Mark Kellogg since he stepped foot in Nacogdoches ahead of the 2015-16 season. Headlining Kellogg's latest crew of top-level performers are Aiyana Johnson, Swedish do-it-all player Stephanie Visscher, Zya Nugent and Avery Brittingham. All four of those players average at least 10.5 points per game.
• It's Johnson who tops the team's charts in scoring (14.3 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 per game) but Visscher (14.1 ppg and 6.4 rpg) isn't far behind that. Nugent (10.9 ppg) and Brittingham (10.5 ppg) round out the Ladyjacks' top four scoring threats.
• The WAC's only 20-win team as of this writing, the Ladyjacks' 12-game winning streak is the nation's fourth longest. SFA is one of just five NCAA Division I clubs in the nation who haven't suffered a league setback in 2021-22.
• Many of Johnson's points come at the free throw line - an area where she leads the WAC and ranks 46th nationally with 116 made freebies on the year.
• Holding the reigns of the Ladyjacks' high-powered offense is point guard Brianna Mitchell. She tops the WAC's charts in assist to turnover ratio (1.87) while ranking second in the league in assists per game (3.8).
• Visscher is also a defensive threat, too, as her 62 total steals lead the WAC and rank 20th among all NCAA Division I women's basketball players.
Last Time Out | Utah Valley 66, at NM State 32 | Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022\
• Utah Valley started the game on a 7-0 run and never looked back as NM State saw its two-game winning streak come to an end with a 66-32 setback to the Wolverines inside the Pan American Center.
• NM State was led in the scoring column by Bigue Sarr who finished with six points while also adding eight rebounds. Utah Valley has had the Aggies' number as of late as this also marked the first time the Aggies had zero scorers reach double digits since the Wolverines held the Aggie scorers in check on Feb. 20, 2021. Tayelin Grays led the way with nine boards in addition to her four points.
Up Next
• The Aggies' lone remaining road game in the month of February is set for Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. in St. George, Utah, where they'll take on Dixie State for the second time in the span of a week. NM State and Dixie State engaged in a triple-overtime thriller last Thursday night inside the Pan American Center with the Aggies emerging as 84-82 victors.
Sights on Six
NM State will seek its sixth WAC regular-season title since the 2014-15 season. Including this season, the Aggies are 85-23 in conference play across the past seven seasons.
Preseason Picks
NM State was picked to finish in seventh place in the WAC Coaches' Poll while the media selected the Aggies to land in sixth this season.
The WAC media also selected junior guard Soufia Inoussa to the Second Team All-WAC list.
++NM State++
