Game Five | Myrtle Beach Invitational Third-Place Game
NM State (3-1) vs. Indiana State (3-2)
Sunday, Nov. 21 | 6:30 p.m. MT | HTC Center | Conway, S.C.
Watch | Listen | Live Stats | Tickets | NM State Game Notes | Indiana State Game Notes
Myrtle Beach Invitational Central | Myrtle Beach Invitational Bracket

THE OPENING TIP
• A pair of former Missouri Valley Conference adversaries will tangle for the first time since the early 1980s when NM State dukes it out with Indiana State Sunday night at the HTC Center in Conway, S.C. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. MT.
• The third-place game of the 2021 Myrtle Beach Invitational will be televised nationwide on ESPN2 and the ESPN app. Chuckie Kempf and former Baylor men's basketball player King McClure will be on the call of the 15th all-time meeting between the Aggies and Sycamores.
• Over the airwaves, legendary radio play-by-play man Jack Nixon will be stationed courtside to narrate the action.
• Nixon's call can be heard on 99.5 Zia Country FM in Las Cruces, N.M., and nationwide on The Varsity Network app.
• Affiliate stations of the Aggie Sports Network can be tuned in to in Artesia, N.M. (990 AM), Carlsbad, N.M. (1240 AM), Gallup, N.M. (94.9 FM), Alamogordo, N.M. (103.7 FM) and El Paso, Texas (1380 AM). All of those stations will also carry Nixon's commentary of Sunday night's tilt.

FAST BREAK POINTS
• NM State is looking to bounce back from its first loss of the season and fortunately for the Aggies consecutive losses have been somewhat of a rarity during Chris Jans' tenure as head coach. The Aggies are 21-4 (.840) in games directly after a loss during Jans' tenure. Jans' teams at NM State have had just two losing streaks - one of two games in 2017-18 and another of three games in 2020-21.
• Friday afternoon's loss to Utah State marked just the fifth time in the Chris Jans coaching era in which NM State surrendered 85 or more points.
• The Aggies are 55-43 (.561) all-time against current foes from the Missouri Valley Conference. Head coach Chris Jans is 1-1 (.500) as an NCAA Division I bench boss against MVC foes. In his last showdown with an MVC club, Jans and the Aggies dropped a 66-63 decision to Drake on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018, at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., as part of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic.
• Multiple-team events - or MTE's as they are commonly referred to as - have allowed NM State to secure a number of high-profile victories in the Chris Jans coaching era.
• Since Jans set foot in Las Cruces, the Aggies have taken part in four such events and have a 8-4 (.667) record to show for their efforts.
• Senior forward Johnny McCants leads the WAC in blocked shots (seven) and blocked shots per game (1.75). As a team the Aggies top the WAC charts while ranking 70th in the land in total blocked shots (18).
• Friday afternoon's loss to Utah State featured just two NM State players who finished with 10 or more points. In each of the Aggies' first three games of the season, at least four players pumped in 10 or more points.
• With a seven-point outing against Utah State, guard Jabari Rice saw his five-game stretch of double-digit scoring performances come to an end.
• Neutral-site games in the Chris Jans coaching era have resulted in wins for NM State more often than not. The Aggies at 21-11 (.656) in neutral site tilts under Jans.
• NM State is 5-4 (.556) in games played on the ESPN family of linear networks (ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU) in Chris Jans' tenure as head coach.
• Though Sunday night's showdown signifies Jans' first matchup against Indiana State as a head coach, it's hardly the first time the Aggies' bench boss has faced off against the Sycamores. Prior to NM State, Jans served as an assistant coach at Missouri Valley Conference programs Illinois State and Wichita State. While on staff at those two institutions, Jans racked up a 23-6 (.793) mark against the Sycamores.

NM STATE vs. INDIANA STATE | THE SERIES
• Prior to linking up with the Pacific Coast Athletic Association - a league which would eventually be renamed as the Big West Conference in July of 1988 - before the start of the 1983-84 season, NM State was a part of the Missouri Valley Confernece for a span of 11 seasons (1972-73 through 1982-83). Five years into the Aggies' affiliation with the Missouri Valley Conference, Indiana State joined the league.
• The Sycamores entry into the MVC coincided with the start of the college basketball career of a guy by the name of Larry Bird. For the Sycamores, the rest, as they say, is history.
• For NM State, however, Indiana State's entry to the Missouri Valley Conference signifed the starting point of one of the most evenly-matched series in the Aggies' run in the league.
• The most memorable game of the 14 played between the Aggies and Sycamores came on Thursday, Feb. 1, 1979, when the Aggies came oh-so-close to handing the then-18-0 Sycamores their first loss of what turned out to be the most famous campaigns in the history of college basketball.
• Greeted by a raucous Pan Am Center congregation, the Sycamores - led by Bird - found themselves on the ropes late in regulation. With Bird and fellow high-scoring star Carl Nicks on the bench after fouling out earlier in the tilt, the Aggies headed to the free throw line up 83-81 with three seconds to go. Unfortunately, NM State misfired at the line and watched as Bob Heaton launched a 50-foot, game-tying shot at the buzzer to send the tilt to overtime. Once in overtime, the Sycamores escaped with an 91-89 win.
• Following Bird's departure from the ranks of college basketball, NM State went 6-2 against Indiana State over the last eight games played between the two programs. That settled the all-time record between the two teams at 7-7.
• The final meeting between the Aggies and Sycamores before NM State exited the ranks of the Missouri Valley Conference came in Terre Haute, Ind., on Jan. 24, 1983. That day, NM State claimed a 72-70 overtime victory over the Sycamores.

THIS DATE IN NM STATE HISTORY
• Each of the Aggies' 11 games (6-5 overall) on Nov. 21 have come over the course of the last 22 years. NM State's first Nov. 21 showdown came in 1998. at the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska.
• Chris Jans is 1-1 as the Aggies' head coach in games played on Nov. 21. The most recent one of those tilts came in 2019 when NM State dropped a narrow 78-77 decision to rv/-- New Mexico inside the Pan American Center.
• Five of the Aggies' 11 games on Nov. 21 have been part of MTE events. Tonight's game against the Sycamores will be the Aggies' sixth MTE showdown on this date.
• NM State has taken part in the Air Force Classic, the 2K Sports Classic, the Naismith Basketball Memorial Tip-Off, the Top of the World Classic (twice) and the Myrtle Beach Invitational on this date.

LAST TIME OUT | NM State 58, vs. Utah State 85 | Friday, Nov. 19, 2021
• Jabari Rice scored the first points of the game, but Utah State took control from there and made its way to the 2021 Myrtle Beach Invitational title game with an 85-58 win.
• The first meeting between NM State and Utah State since February of 2013 was not a memorable one for the Aggies from Las Cruces as NM State suffered its second-worst loss in the Chris Jans coaching era.
• NM State was knocked from the ranks of college basketball's unbeatens by seeing Utah State knock down 14 three-pointers. The Aggies from Ogden, Utah, converted 56.4-percent of their field goal chances in the win.
• Levar Williams came off the bench and finished with a DI career-high 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting. All four of Williams' field goal makes came from three-point range and he also turned in a rare four-point play.
• Teddy Allen extended his streak of double-digit scoring outings to four games by firing in a team-high 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
• For Utah State, Rylan Jones finished with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
• Marsei Caston scored his first points as an Aggie in NM State's loss, going 2-for-5 from the field en route to a five-point outing.
• Donnie Tillman was held scoreless for the second time in his NM State career. The last time the Detroit, Mich., product was held without a single point in a game came on Feb. 13, 2021, when he didn't score in a 12 minutes of action in a WAC win at Seattle U.
• Johnny McCants failed to grab a single rebound for the first time since Feb. 14, 2019. It snapped his 64-game streak of getting at least one rebound.

SCOUTING INDIANA STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Hoping to dodge back-to-back losses for the first time this season, Indiana State tries to end the Myrtle Beach Invitational on a high note. Both of the Sycamores' setbacks this season have come at the hands of Power Five opposition (92-67 at seventh-ranked Purdue and 87-63 against Oklahoma in the Myrtle Beach Invitational semifinals).
• In his inaugural season as an NCAA Division I head coach, Josh Schertz took over Indiana State's program in March of 2021. Schertz made a name for himself as one of the nation's premier NCAA Division II head coaches at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn. Under Schertz's guidance, the Railsplitters made 10 trips to the NCAA Tournament and reeled off four-consecutive 30-win seasons.
• Indiana State was picked to finish ninth in the 10-team Missouri Valley Conference in the 2021-22 MVC Preseason Poll. The Sycamores gathered up 147 points in the listing and were represented by Tyreke Key on the 2021-22 Preseason All-MVC First Team.
• The Sycamores were dealt a major blow before the season even started, though, when Key had season-ending shoulder surgery in the beginning of November. He ranks sixth in Indiana State history with 1,650 career points.
• Few teams in college basketball have been hoisting up three-pointers at the rate of Indiana State. The Sycamores rank 14th nationally in three-point field goal attempts (131) and 17th in the land in total three-pointers made (44) thus far in 2021-22.
• With Key on the sidelines, Cameron Henry has shouldered most of the load for Indiana State early on. The guard leads the team in scoring, rebounding and assists while also leading the MVC in points (85), field goal attempts (60), field goals made (33), assists (19) and steals (eight).
• Henry's averages of 17.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game are complimented by the play of long-range specialist Cooper Neese. The Sycamores' second-leading scorer (15.6 ppg), Neese leads the team and the MVC in both three-pointers made (12) and three-pointers attempted (34).

COMING UP NEXT
• NM State's final two games in the month of November will take place inside its home venue of the Pan American Center. The Aggies return to their home court Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m. for a non-conference showdown with in-state and NCAA Division II foe New Mexico Highlands.

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