LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The defending undisputed Western Athletic Conference Champion and four-consecutive WAC Tournament Champion NM State Aggies (4-1) travel for the first time in 2015-16 as they conclude the Air Force Classic multi-team event Saturday at noon as they visit the Air Force Academy Falcons (3-2) at Clune Arena. The Aggies are coming off an 81-71 overtime victory over Robert Morris in Classic play on Tuesday. The Falcons fell on the road at Colorado 81-70 on Wednesday..
 
SERIES RECORD: This is the sixth meeting between NM State and the Air Force Academy, with the Falcons holding a 3-2 series advantage, but it is the first time they've met since the Aggies Final Four season of 1970. NM State is 1-2 in Colorado Springs, 1-1 in Las Cruces. The Aggies have won the last two meetings, 74-63 at the USAFA on March 1, 1969 and 99-81 at the Pan Am on Feb. 14, 1970. Air Force won the first three games: 82-36 in Colorado Springs on Jan. 15, 1964, 77-59 in Las Cruces on Jan. 18, 1965 and 109-60 in Colorado Springs on Feb. 5, 1966.
 
MEDIA COVERAGE: Saturday's game can be heard live on the Aggie Sports Network, but will air in Las Cruces on KHQT, 103.1 FM, because of a conflict with Aggie Football. Adam Young fills in for NM State Hall of Famer Jack Nixon on the call.
 
The game will be not be televised, but will be available via a web stream on the Mountain West Network, available at http://www.themw.com/page/watch-live.
 
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. Both the Aggies and Air Force won home games with Tennessee Tech, Mississippi Valley State and Robert Morris. They now face each other at the USAFA, while the other three teams go to Tennessee Tech where TTU meets Robert Morris on Friday, RMU plays Mississippi Valley State on Saturday and MVSU takes on Tennessee Tech on Sunday. NM State and Air Force are 3-0 in the Classic, Robert Morris, Tennessee Tech and Mississippi Valley are all 0-2.
 
ABOUT THE AGGIES: The Aggies have won their first three games in the Air Force Classic and wrap up the event by visiting the Academy on Saturday.
 
The Aggies opened the season with a five-game homestand, marking the first time since the 2003-04 season (under Hall of Fame Coach Lou Henson) that the Aggies started the season with five consecutive home games.
 
Sophomore Pascal Siakam was named the WAC Player of the Week for the second time in two weeks this season and leads the WAC and is second nationally in scoring at 27.0 points a game. He leads the WAC and is 11th nationally in rebounding (11.8), and leads the league in blocked shots (1.40).
 
The Aggies are off on the right foot 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 with two straight seeing 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 48-5 record at the Pan Am (.906).
 
In the last 59 contests played by NM State at the Pan Am, the Aggies are 55-5 (.917).
 
Pascal Siakam collected his second 30-point game with his 35 points (with 13 rebounds) against Robert Morris. He becomes the first Aggie to post multiple 30-point games in the same season since Troy Gillenwater had four in 2010-11. His first was 30 points against Tennessee Tech last week when 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 179-101, 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 BACK-TO-BACK WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore Paschal Siakam is off to a great start and has now claimed the first two Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week Awards for the 2015-16 season. The 6-9 forward from Douala, Cameroon, established a new career-high a new career-high on Tuesday night when he dropped 35 on Robert Morris to go with 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double this season and 11th of his career. His 35 points are the most since Justin Hawkins scored 37 against Hawaii at the Pan Am on March 8, 2008. He is also the first Aggie to post multiple 30-point games in a season since Troy Gillenwater in 2010-11. He had 30 against Tennessee Tech, becoming the first Aggie to score 30 since Daniel Mullings had 32 against Texas-Pan American (UT Rio Grande Valley) on Jan. 25, 2014. He also chalked up 11 rebounds and set a career-best with four assists. He posted 19 points against Mississippi Valley State with a season-best 16 rebounds. He averaged 24.5 points and 13.5 rebounds for the week and shot 61.8 percent with 3.0 rebounds for that period. As last week's WAC Player of the Week as he averaged 25.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks. Against Houston Baptist, Siakam collected 28 points, 20 in the second half, and grabbed 11 rebounds with five dunks against the Huskies. 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 three scoring games in the league this year and leads the WAC in scoring (27.0 points), rebounding (11.8) blocked shots (1.40), and minutes played (34.8). Siakam is second nationally in scoring, 11th in rebounding and third in double-doubles. He's second nationally in total field goals made this season. 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. 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 added 12 points and a career-high seven assists against Mississippi Valley. The 6-0 guard from Washington, D.C.,  is averaging 13.6 points (14th in the WAC), with 3.80 assists (eighth in the WAC) and has a 2.71 assist-turnover ratio (third in the WAC). Last season he led the conference 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.
 
WILKINS RETURNS: Forward Johnathon Wilkins appeal for an eligibility waiver after an administrative error was approved by the NCAA on Tuesday and he played against Robert Morris. NM State and Wilkins had appealed a previous NCAA staff ruling that Wilkins had not met course requirements to remain academically eligible because of an administrative error that prevented him from taking the proper course load. The error was not a fault of his own or the men's basketball program.
 
HENSON INDUCTED: Aggie Legend Lou Henson was officially inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame last Friday as part of a class of eight individuals, including three coaches, who formed the NCB Class of 2015 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: New Mexico State had a tough time in shaking the Colonials of Robert Morris, needing overtime before putting it away 81-71 in the Aggies second game of the Air Force Classic.
 
Pascal Siakam posted a career-high 35 points, 31 in regulation, to go with 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season and 11th of his career. Braxton Huggins had a career-high 15 points and Ian Baker scored seven of his 10 points in overtime as the trio led the Aggies to their third straight win.
 
The Aggies shot 50.8 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Colonials 48-28, but suffered 18 turnover to RMU's 10 that kept the game close until overtime.
 
ABOUT THE FALCONS: The Air Force Academy is 3-2 on the season after losing at Colorado 81-70 on Wednesday night. The Falcons are led by forward Hayden Graham (6-5, Jr., Austin, Texas) who averages nearly a double-double a game with 15.0 points and 9.2 rebounds while shooting 54.4 percent from the floor. Guard Trevor Lyons (6-3, So., Newport News, Va.) averages 14.6 points and 4.2 rebounds with 3.0 assists and 3.0 steals a game. Center Zach Moer (6-11, Sr., Flower Mound, Texas) averages 10.0 points with 3.5 boards a game. Air Force is scoring 70.8 points a game, and allowing 68.8 per contest.
 
LOOKING AHEAD: The Aggies return home to face I-25 rival UTEP at the Pan American Center on Wednesday, Dec. 2, in the first of two meetings against the Miners this season.
 
The Miners are 4-0 on the season after beating Florida A&M 72-54 on Tuesday night. They play in the Corpus Christi Coastal Classic on Friday and Saturday before visiting the Aggies next Wednesday. The Miners are led by guard Lee Moore (6-4, Jr., Kennesaw, Ga.) who averages 16.5 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting .438 from the 3-point arc. Guard Earvin Morris (6-4, Sr., Memphis, Tenn.) adds 15.7 points, 5.7 boards and 3.3 assists per contest, and guard Dominic Artis (6-3, Jr., San Francisco, Calif.) chips in 13.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists with 2.5 steals an outing. Center Hooper Vint (6-11, Sr., Van Buren, Ark.) averages 11.8 points with 5.3 boards.UTEP is scoring 83.2 points a game, and allowing 57.8 per contest.