WICHITA, Kan. – The New Mexico State Aggies nine-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt on Monday night as the Wichita State Shockers handed the Aggies a 71-41 loss at Koch Arena.
 
The Aggies (18-9) had their worst loss of the season, while the Shockers (19-7) bounced back after having their 43-game home court winning streak ended on Saturday.
 
"I'm obviously disappointed that we couldn't play a little better, but I thought we ran into a buzz saw tonight," said NM State head coach Marvin Menzies. "I thought those guys took out their anger over their last couple of losses on us. It was evident that Wichita State had an extra focus going on tonight."
 
NM State shot just 38.5 percent from the floor (15-of-39) and 52.9 percent from the foul line (9-of-17). Couple that with turning the ball over 20 times and it spelled disaster for the Aggies.
 
"A lot of that was due to bad decision making and the turnovers," said Menzies. "We threw balls that hit our guys in two hands and we fumbled the ball. That's environment, nerves, that's the Shocker faithful. And credit WSU, they did a good job defensively and did a great job of taking care of the ball. So we couldn't get anything going on them."
 
NM State got a game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds from sophomore Pascal Siakam who posted his NCAA leading 22nd double-double. Siakam also blocked three shots in the game while hitting 6-of-9 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. He was the only Aggie scoring in double figures.
 
The Aggies and Shockers were locked up through the opening 12 minutes of the game.
 
"We did a good job in the first half, especially defensively, until we started turning the ball over," said Menzies. "They opened it up in the second half when we went to the subs."
 
The Aggies hit their first six shots, but early turnover hampered the run. NM State held the lead four times early, but led for the last time when Siakam hit a jumper with 9:37 left in the first half to go up 18-16.
 
WSU's Zach Brown tied the game at 18-all a minute later as the Shocker defense locked down. WSU held NM State scoreless for nearly eight minutes as the Shocker went on a 14-0 run and never looked back.
 
Wichita State, who left the national rankings that were released earlier in the day, shot 45.8 percent from the floor (27-of-59), with the Aggies blocks causing seven of those misses. NM State also outrebounded the Shockers 35-33.
 
Wichita State's defense held the Aggies to their fewest points since scoring 37 points on Feb. 11, 2004 when NM State fell at New Orleans 51-37.
 
Despite the loss, Menzies feels that it was good to face a NCAA Tournament caliber team in Wichita State this late in the season.
 
"We don't get this experience this late in the season," said Menzies. "This gives us a barometer of how we need to play against this type of environment and this type of physicality. Of course it would have been better if we'd have played better, but we've got to continue to grow."
 
The Aggies return to the Pan American Center this weekend for their final regular season homestand, starting with CSU Bakersfield on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in a key Western Athletic Conference contest. The Aggies hold a one-game lead on the Roadrunners after winning 68-67 in double overtime at Bakersfield in January.