LAS VEGAS – The top-seeded New Mexico State men's basketball team opens up the 2018 Western Athletic Conference Tournament with the No. 8-seed Chicago State at 7 p.m. (MT) this Thursday, March 8, at Orleans Arena.
 
Mychal Clanton will have the call on the ESPN3 broadcast as the Aggies look to defend its tournament title with Sed Bonner serving as the analyst and Rachel Vigil as the sideline reporter.
 
GET CONNECTED
Get up to the minute information and news about the NM State men's basketball team all season on Twitter and Instagram by following @NMStateMBB and on Facebook at FB.com/NMStateMBB.
 
LISTEN UP!
Aggie fans that can't make it to the 2018 WAC Tournament can catch the games all weekend by listening to NM State Athletics/US Bank Hall of Famer Jack Nixon on 99.5 Zia Country and affiliate stations on the Aggie Sports Network listed below.
 
Alamogordo      103.7 FM KNMZ
Albuquerque     1150 AM KNMM
Carlsbad           1240 AM KAMQ
El Paso             1380 AM KHEY
Gallup               1230 AM, 94.9 FM KYVA
Las Vegas         107.1 FM KMDS
 
WAC DOMINANCE CONTINUES
After a successful 2017-18 regular-season campaign, New Mexico State head coach Chris Jans was named the Western Athletic Conference Don Haskins Coach of the Year while senior Jemerrio Jones was named the WAC Player of the Year.
 
Jans is the first WAC men's head coach since Nevada's Mark Fox (2004-05) to win coach of the year honors in his first year at the helm.
 
The Aggies posted a 25-5 overall mark in the regular-season and 12-2 record in conference play under his direction. The 12-2 record in the WAC gave NM Sate its third regular-season title in four years outright and is the second-best record in conference play since joining the WAC. In addition, Jans guided the Aggies to their first win over an AP top-10 ranked opponent since 1990 when NM State defeated then-No. 6/7 Miami 63-54 in the semifinal game of the 2017 Hawaii Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
 
Jones' player of the year honor makes it three-straight for New Mexico State. It is also the fourth time an Aggie has been named the league's top player in five years. Through 30 games, Jones is averaging a double-double with 10.9 points per game and 12.7 rebounds per game in addition to his 3.3 assists per game. The Memphis, Tenn., product finished the regular-season with 18 double-doubles – eight of which came in conference play – as well as a triple-double.
 
In addition, Jones hauled in 20-plus rebounds four times in WAC play – including three-straight. The three-straight 20-rebound games was the first time any player in NCAA Division I has done this century per ESPN Stats & Info and Stats LLC.
 
Jones was also selected the WAC All-Defensive Team by the league's head coaches after taking home all-newcomer team honors last season.
 
Joining Jones on the First-Team All-WAC list is Zach Lofton. The 6-4 guard is averaging 19.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists this season for the Aggies. His 19.3 points per game is second-most amongst grad transfers. The St. Paul, Minn., native scored in double-figures in all but one game during WAC play. The grad transfer was also named to the WAC All-Newcomers Team in addition to his first-team honors.
 
Joining Lofton on the all-newcomers team is AJ Harris, who played his first season in the Crimson & White after sitting out last season due to the NCAA transfer rule. Harris was fourth on the team in scoring and averaged 9.2 points, 3.0 assists and 2.0 assists as a redshirt sophomore. The Aggie floor general also owns a 1.8 assist to turnover ratio.
 

The @NMStateAggies men's team picked up their 3?rd regular season ???? in the past four years last week! Today the Aggies picked up some more??as the all-conference teams are announced! ????#WAChoops https://t.co/5kmiaOgBas pic.twitter.com/WsLmoHtQI7

— #WACvegas (@WACsports) March 6, 2018

NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Jemerrio Jones and Zach Lofton were also named to the United States Basketball Writers Association All-District Team for district VIII shortly after the WAC awards were announced.
 
This is the first time in program history that the Aggies have had two players earn all-district honors in the same year. The last Aggie to earn all-district honors was Pascal Siakam during the 2015-16 season.
 
WAC BLUE BLOODS
Since joining the Western Athletic Conference, New Mexico State has enjoyed great success, winning seven of the 12 conference tournaments it has played in – including four-straight from 2012-15.
 
The Aggies are 26-5 all-time at the WAC Tournament, good for the second-most victories in conference tournament history behind none other than UTEP (27-15). Its .839 winning-percentage is the best amongst WAC Tournament teams with a winning record.
 
NM State has only entered conference tournament action as the top-seed two other times, going 3-1 with one tournament title in 2015 while its lone loss came in the championship game of 2016. New Mexico State has flourished when playing as the No. 2 seed since joining the WAC, winning the conference tournament all four times. When playing as the No. 3 seed, the Aggies are 2-2 and 0-2 when playing as the No. 5 seed.
 
VIVA LAS VEGAS!
After Thursday night's win, New Mexico State is now 15-2 all-time when playing at Orleans Arena and 26-5 all-time in the WAC Tournament – including an 11-0 stretch where the aggies won four-straight WAC Tournament titles (2012-15). The two losses for NM State in Las Vegas came in the first year the tournament was moved to Sin City when it lost to the second-seeded Broncos of Boise State in the semifinals while playing as the No. 3 seed. NM State's other loss came in 2016 to CSU Bakersfield in the championships game on a buzzer beater.
 
STREAKING
NM State has only had a winning-streak of 8 or better seven times in the last 20 season dating back to the 1997-98 campaign. Of those six winning-streaks, five were snapped on the road. There have only been 15 win-streaks of 10 or more dating back to the 1920-21 season while five occurring in the past 20 seasons.
 
Chris Jans joins former Aggie head coaches Paul Weir (2016-17) and Arthur Bergman (1920-21) as the first-year head coaches to have an eight-game winning-streak in their first year the helm in Las Cruces. Reggie Theus is next on that list, having won 13-straight games his second year at the helm. Lou Henson also did it in his second season at the helm, however it was during his second stint as the Aggies head coach.
 
Winning Streaks (1997-98 – Present)
2017-18              11 – Lost at Utah Valley*, 86-79
2016-17:             20 - Lost at CSU Bakersfield*, 72-53
2015-16:             8 – Lost at Wichita State, 71-41
2014-15:             13 – Lost vs. #10/11 Kansas, 75-56 (NCAA Tournament 1st Round)
2012-13:             12 – Lost at Utah State*, 73-69
2006-07:             13 – Lost at Louisiana Tech*, 73-71
1998-99:             8 – Lost at Utah State*, 61-54
*Denotes conference game
 
Winning Streaks (8+ Cont.)
1993-94:             13 – Lost at Nevada*, 77-68
1992-93:             8 – Lost at Pacific*, 71-68
1991-92:             8 – Lost vs. UCLA, 85-78 (NCAA Tournament Sweet 16)
                           10 – Lost to UNLV*, 74-67
1989-90:             12 – Lost at Long Beach State*, 72-56
1978-79:             8 – Lost at Southern Illinois*, 86-83
1969-70:             9 – Lost vs. UCLA, 93-77 (NCAA Tournament Final Four)
                           9 – Lost at Creighton, 72-68
1968-69:             16 – Lost to New Mexico, 86-66
1960-61:             12 – Lost at Arizona State, 86-72 (Border Conference Playoffs)
1959-60:             8 – Lost at UCLA, 66-56
1951-52:             12 – Lost to New Mexico, 40-38
1938-39:             12 – Lost at Texas Tech*, 51-37
1937-38:             21 – Lost vs. Murray State, 30-29 (NIT 3rd Round)
1936-37:             8 – Finished season with win (Lost 2nd game of 1937-38 season to SUC 64-41 at home)
                           9 – Lost at Northern Arizona*, 59-45
1925-26:             10 – Lost to Arizona, 39-19
1920-21:             10 – Lost at Billings of El Paso, 31-17
*Denotes conference game
EYING THE COUGARS
The Aggies are 14-1 all-time against Chicago State and 1-0 against the Cougars in conference tournament action. The only time the two teams have squared off in the WAC Tournament occurred last season when NM State played as the No. 2 seed, a 78-60 affair in favor of the Aggies.
 
Chicago State finished the regular-season 3-28 overall and 1-13 in conference. The Cougars picked up their lone conference win in the regular-season finale against UMKC at home 96-82. Fred Sims Jr., who had 30 points the last time the Aggies and Cougars faced off, is leading the team with 14.2 points per game along with team-high 60 made 3-pointers.
 
Deionte Simmons, the final WAC Player of the Week recipient, is second on the team in scoring with 11.9 points per game as well as a team-high .600 shooting clip. Simmons is also the team leading on the glass, averaging 6.0 rebounds. Rounding out the double-figure scorers for CSU is Glen Burns, who's posting 10.5 points per game on the year while leading the team with 3.5 assists a game on top of his 4.2 rebounding average.
 

LAST TIME OUT
In the regular-season finale at UT Rio Grande Valley, the Aggies had four players post double-figures while Jemerrio Jones and Zach Lofton each registered a double-double. As a team the Aggies shot 50-percent from the floor and out-scored the Vaqueros 40-24 in the paint.
 
Jones led all players with behind his 18th double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds while Lofton had 17 points with 10 boards for his second-career double-double. Johnathon Wilkins had a career-high 16 points with four assists on 7-of-9 shooting while AJ Harris chipped in with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists. It was the second-straight game NM State had four players register 10-plus points in a single game.
 
UP NEXT
Should the Aggies take care of business and advance to the semifinals of the 2018 WAC Men's Basketball Tournament, NM State will play the winner between the No. 4-seed Seattle U and the No. 5-seed UTRGV. That semifinal game is scheduled to tip-off at 9:30 p.m. (MT) on ESPN3.