What: Game Thirty-Two
Who: NM State (13-18, 7-9 CUSA) vs Western Kentucky (19-11, 8-8 CUSA)
When: Thursday, Mar. 14, 7:00 p.m. MT
Where: Huntsville, Ala. – Von Braun Center (10,000)

THE OPENING TIP

• After being on a six-game losing skid going into March, the Aggies managed to finish the regular season on a positive note with two wins against Jax State (66-64) and FIU (77-70). With the wins, Hooten's group finished regular season play 13-18 overall and 7-9 in conference play.

• Going into the CUSA tournament, NM State finished with the sixth seed and will be facing third-seeded Western Kentucky in the quarterfinal round. The winner will be facing either #2 LA Tech or #7 Middle Tennessee in the semifinal round of play.

• Thursday will be the Aggie's third time lacing up against the Hilltoppers this season, with the Aggies falling in the previous contest (72-58) on the road.

 

FRESH START

• Entering the season, NM State is the only program in the country with an entirely new roster as zero players from the 2022-23 campaign will take the floor for the Aggies this season.

• Tasked with building a roster from scratch that is also expected to be competitive immediately, Head Coach Jason Hooten opted to bring in guys with experience as all but one Aggie on this year's roster has played basketball beyond the high school level. This includes 12 individuals with collegiate experience and one with experience in the NBA Global Academy. Of the 13 players that have collegiate experience, eight have experience at the Division I level.

NEW YEAR, NEW LEADER

• After spending the last 13 seasons as the bench boss at Sam Houston, Jason Hooten takes over an Aggie program in need of a refresh button.

• Many are confident Hooten has what it takes to return the Aggie program back to glory as he begins his tenure after compiling 261 wins, posting a .607 win percentage and helping the Bearkats to six postseason appearances. With the success, Hooten ultimately departed Huntsville, Texas, as the program's all-time winningest coach.

• In his final year with Sam Houston, Hooten helped lead the 'Kats to the program's first-ever appearance in the NIT Tournament. Once the Bearkats reached the national tournament, they made some noise - defeating Santa Clara in the opening round. During last year's historic season with Sam Houston, Hooten also led his Bearkats to upset road wins over a pair of Power Five programs in Oklahoma and Utah. The Aggies will be looking to absorb some of that magic on Monday when they take on their blue blood opponent.

ROOM TO GROW 

• In their first season as a member of Conference USA, the Aggies were projected to finish eighth in the nine-team league according to a vote of the conference's nine head coaches.

• This underdog role is new territory for the Aggie program as they become affiliates with CUSA after a run in the Western Athletic Conference that included seven regular season titles and 10 tournament titles during their 18-year stint as a member of the WAC.

• In fact, during the Aggies' 18 years in the WAC, NM State was selected to finish inside the top three of the coaches poll every year except for their inaugural season in which they were also tabbed to finish eighth. During that stretch, the Aggies were labeled preseason favorites nine times.

TOURNAMENT TIME

• NM State's 10 conference tournament titles since 2006 are the second-most in the nation. Only the WCC's Gonzaga (14) has more. 

• Within their time in the WAC, NM State has a record of 36-6 in tournament games to go along with those titles.

BUILDING A FOUNDATION

• Although, this may be Jason Hooten's first year with the program, the former Sam Houston coach has done his best to surround himself with familiar faces as two staff members and starting center Kaosi Ezeagu from the Bearkats also made the trip from Huntsville to Las Cruces during the offseason.

• Last season, Ezeagu served as a vocal leader on Sam Houston's squad and started all 33 games that he appeared in and paced the Bearkats in blocks with 16 on the season.

• In addition to Ezeagu, Assistant Coach Payne Andrus and Graduate Assistant Terryonte Thomas were also contibutor's to the success of the Bearkat program last season.

POWER FIVE AGGIES 

• The 2023 NM State roster features two Aggies who have spent time on Power Five rosters as Kaosi Ezeagu (Kansas State) and Femi Odukale (Pitt) each played among the best of the best during their collegiate careers.   

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

• The Aggies have made it their mission to protect home court and have held true to that. NM State is now 11-3 at home.  

• On top of the Aggies being 11-3 at home, they also are leading Conference USA in game attendance this season with an average of 5,367 fans per contest. Versus Jax State, NM State hosted its "Pack the Pan Am" game bringing out 11,278 fans in attendance, the most of any CUSA team this season. 

• For more than a decade, the 'Panamaniacs' have helped the Aggies be one of the most dominant teams in the nation from their home floor. Dating back to the 2011-2012 season, NM State is 162-21 in contests from the Pan American Center.

 

RUNNIN' WITH RAWLS 

• This season, Jordan Rawls has emerged as one of the top guards in Conference USA. The Chattanooga, Tenn., native leads the Aggies in assists per game at (3.6). Rawls has already eclipsed his high for assists in a single season with 108.

• Additionally, he has been exceptional at taking care of the ball and ranks third in the league in assist to turnover ratio (1.77). 

• Of note, Rawls is one of the most experienced players in all of the conference. Including his three seasons with Western Kentucky, he has now played in 118 games as a member of a Conference USA institution. This ranks third among active CUSA players, coming in behind only FIU's Javaunte Hawkins and Petar Krivokapic who have each played in 121 games.

BALANCED ATTACK

• NM State boasts a balanced offensive effort with eight players averaging between 7.3 and 11.0 points per game. The Aggies also feature

nine student-athletes averaging at least 2.6 rebounds per game. Femi Odukale paces NM State in both categories, averaging 11.0 points

per game along with 6.6 rebounds per game.

KAOSI'S OUTBREAK

• The last two performances from Kaosi Ezeagu have been some of his best all season. For the first time in his career, he has recorded two consecutive double-double's coming against Jax State where he put up 10 points and 12 rebounds, and FIU where he recorded 14 points and 10 rebounds. This is also his first time recording consecutive double-digit rebounds this season. 

BREAKING ROAD WOES

• After outlasting Jax State last week (66-64), the Aggies managed to capture their first road win season. Before the win, the Aggies had not won a road contest since Dec 11, 2022, where they defeated Duquesne (73-60). 

CHRISTIAN CONTINUES TO COOK

•The 6'2 guard from Oklahoma City has been an instrumental piece to the Aggie's success throughout the season success and has come up big in their last two victories.

• In both games, he drained at least four shots from behind the arc while making five and finishing out with 26 points in their regular season finale versus FIU.

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS

• WKU will enter Saturday night with a 19-11 (8-8). As a team, the Hilltoppers are 20th in the country in rebounds per game (39.7) which leads all CUSA teams. On the the Hilltoppers are also 19th in the country in bench points per game (28.7) which holds second place in CUSA.

• WKU is led by Head Coach Steve Lutz who is in his first season leading the program. Last season, Lutz was the head coach for Texas A&M Corpus Christi and led his former team to a 24-11 record and won the Southland Conference Tournament before falling to Alabama in the NCAA Tournament 75-96.

• The Hilltoppers are led in scoring by Don McHenry who posts 15.1 points per game. He is a junior guard in his first year with the team. On the boards, the Aggies will have to contend with the 6'8 forward Babacar Faye, who leads the Hilltoppers in rebounding averaging 5.7 a game.

 ++NM State ++