Game Twelve
NM State (9-2) vs. Northern New Mexico (4-2)
Saturday, Dec. 18 | 4:00 p.m. MT | Pan American Center | Las Cruces, N.M.
Watch | Listen | Live Stats | Tickets | NM State Game Notes

THE OPENING TIP
• Riding a four-game winning streak and just three wins away from matching its 2020-21 triumph total, NM State sets foot inside its home venue of the Pan American Center for the first time this month to host non-conference adversary Northern New Mexico.
• Tip-off between the Aggies and their NAIA opponent is set for 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
• The ninth all-time meeting between Aggies and Eagles will be streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
• The play-by-play and analysis combo of Adam Young and former NM State player Joe Garza are set to narrate the action on ESPN+ stream. Over the airwaves, legendary radio play-by-play man Jack Nixon will set up shop courtside to call the action.
• Nixon's play-by-play and analysis 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 Saturday afternoon's tilt.
• Fans who attend Saturday's showdown are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped stuffed animal for the Aggies' halftime Teddy Bear Toss. All stuffed animals collected will be delivered to the Las Cruces, N.M., chapter of Toys for Tots, ensuring children around the area will not go without this holiday season.
• A number of ticket specials for Saturday afternoon's matinee matchup are available for fans, too. General admission tickets in sections 114-118 are available at rates of $10 for adults and $5 for children prior to the day of the game.
• Fans who purchase a ticket for Saturday's showdown prior to and on the day of the game will receive one free general admission ticket to NM State's WAC home game against Chicago State on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.

FAST BREAK POINTS
• For the third time under head coach Chris Jans and for the 12th time in the history of the program, NM State has won nine of its first 11 games to start the season.
• NM State previously got out to 9-2 starts under Jans in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
• Seven NM State teams - the most recent one in 1993-94 - started 10-1 through their first 11 games. Only one team - the 1968-69 Aggies - went a perfect 11-0 out of the gates.
• NM State has won each of its last six true road games dating back to 2020-21. That's the second-longest active winning streak in true road games in the nation, trailing only Gonzaga (seven-straight true road wins).
• NM State is one of just 33 NCAA Division I teams who have not lost a true road game this season (of those who have played one).
• In Chris Jans' tenure as head coach, NM State is 36-12 (.750) in true road games.
• NM State's four-game winning streak is the 29th-longest active streak in the nation and the third-longest among all WAC clubs.
• NM State's four-straight wins have come by a combined 13 points.
• NM State's nine wins so far in 2021-22 are the 11th-most by any team in the nation and the most of any WAC team.
• NM State's collective field goal percentage of .476 ranks 50th in the nation and second among all WAC teams.
• Redshirt junior guard Jabari Rice is coming off a season-high 22-point outing in NM State's win at Washington State. When Rice scores 20 or more points in a game, NM State is 9-1.
• Redshirt senior forward Johnny McCants does a little bit of everything, but he's among the nation's best in terms of close-range shots. The Las Cruces, N.M., product ranks third among all NCAA Division I players in two-point field goal percentage (79.4-percent, 27-of-34). Another notable name in the top ten in that statistical category is Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren (sixth, .786).
• High-scoring guard Teddy Allen leads NM State in scoring at a rate of 17.4 points per game and also ranks 16th nationally in free throw percentage (.912). The Phoenix, Ariz., product also sits among the top 25 players nationally in field goal attempts (23rd, 163).
• NM State possesses three wins against teams who are currently among the top 60 in the latest edition of the NET rankings. The Aggies have defeated Davidson (48), UC Irvine (53) and Washington State (59) so far this season.
• NM State's NET ranking of 62 is the highest among all WAC teams.

LAST TIME OUT | NM State 64, at Washington State 61 | Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021
• Fluctuating somewhere between slim and none in the early stages of the second half, NM State's chances at victory did not look good at all after falling behind by 18 points in the deciding frame. The Aggies, though, never said die, rallied from their deficit and secured a wild 64-61 triumph over Washington State Wednesday night inside Beasley Coliseum.
• By going 1-of-2 at the free throw line with 18 seconds left, Johnny McCants handed NM State a 64-61 lead. After that, the Cougars' Noah Williams went 0-for-2 from the field in the last nine seconds to seal the deal for the Aggies.
• Jabari Rice, simply put, was the Aggies' difference maker. After registering just three points on a 1-of-4 effort from the field in the first half, Rice poured in 19 of his game-high 22 markers in the final frame. Through the second half, Rice went a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 8-of-8 from the free throw line.
• It was Will McNair Jr., who gave the Aggies their first lead of the second half by connecting on a layup with 3:08 left which made matters 60-58 in favor of the visitors. The Philadelphia, Pa., product wrapped up his night with 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
• Teddy Allen put forth a team-high five assists - two fewer than Washington State's total as a team - and capped off an 18-point night by swishing three free throws with 1:56 to break a 60-60 tie. Allen's lone long ball, coming with 3:49 remaining, tied things at 58-58 and helped the Aggies complete their comeback.
• It was NM State's starters who got the job done. The Aggies' starting five of Allen, McCants, McNair, Nate Pryor and Rice played a total of 95:24 out of a possible 100 minutes in the final frame with Pryor and Rice logging all 20 minutes of the second half to get the job done.
• With the win, NM State head coach Chris Jans owns a 6-6 (.500) mark against Power Five opposition since taking over in Las Cruces ahead of the 2017-18 season. Three of the Aggies' wins against Power Five competition are against Washington State - an opponent who Jans owns a 3-1 all-time record against.
• The win capped off a stretch of four consecutive road games for NM State. The Aggies went 4-0 in those games, marking the first time since 1944 (under head coach Kermit "Bud" Laabs) that NM State won all four games in back-to-back-to-back-to-back true road contests. Those games in '44 were in Abilene, Texas, against Hardin-Simmons (twice) and Abilene Christian (twice).
• Wednesday night's victory represented NM State's first true road win at a Power Five opponent since Dec. 17, 2016. That night, the Aggies earned an 81-70 triumph at Arizona State. Prior to that win over the Sun Devils in 2016, the Aggies hadn't won a road game at a Power Five institution since taking down USC in Los Angeles, Calif., back on Nov. 16, 1994 under head coach Neil McCarthy.

LAST TIME OUT vs. NORTHERN NEW MEXICO | NM State 104, vs. NNMC 30 | Saturday, Dec. 29, 2019
• Five days before beginning a perfect 16-0 run through Western Athletic Conference action, the Aggies hammered Northern New Mexico, 104-30, in a game which represented NM State's final non-league tilt of the 2019-20 campaign.
• All 12 Aggies who saw the court recorded points, none more than Trevelin Queen who flirted with a triple-double by going for 17 points, eight assists and seven steals.
• Queen's seven steals were the second-highest total in a single game in program history, surpassed only by Sam Crawford's eight against Fresno State (March 13, 1992) and Tyrone Nelson's eight at New Mexico (Dec. 13, 2005). His eight assists represented both a career-high and the third-highest single-game total by an Aggie in the Chris Jans coaching era.
• Clayton Henry made his first - and only - appearance on the floor in 2019-20 as part of the 74-point victory. The guard logged 23 minutes of action and finished with eight points and a pair of assists.
• Though NM State wound up with the lopsided win, Northern New Mexico jumped out to a 2-0 lead by scoring the game's first basket. From there, though, the Aggies went on a 17-0 run and never looked back.
• NM State's 51.3-percent shooting display from three-point range was the seventh-highest in a single game in Jans' tenure.
• NM State established several program records in its rout of the Eagles including largest halftime lead (48 points, 60-12), most three-pointers made in a game (20) and largest margin of victory in a game (74 points).

SCOUTING NORTHERN NEW MEXICO | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Though it has taken part in 10 games so far this season, just six have counted toward Northern New Mexico's record.
• Northern New Mexico, which has won each of its last two games, is led in the scoring column by Marc Howard Jr., and his 14.3 points per game average. Ricardo Zambrano (12.8 ppg) and Tyrique Weaver (10.2 ppg) are also double-digit scorers for the Eagles.
• Two of the players on the Eagles' roster - Jordy Moreno and Keyshawn Keys - call Las Cruces, N.M., their hometown.
• One of the major connections linking NM State with Northern New Mexico is Billy Keys who serves as the associate head coach at Northern New Mexico.
• Aggie fans will remember Keys as one of the headliners for NM State squads in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The guard claimed All-Big West First Team honors in 1999 and generated 1,004 points throughout his two seasons in an NM State uniform.

THIS DATE IN NM STATE HISTORY
• The last time NM State played a game on December 18, the year was 2019 and the Aggies roasted Arkansas-Pine Bluff by a 65-40 score inside the Pan American Center.
• That victory was the start of a 21-game winning streak for head coach Chris Jans and company. NM State didn't lose a single game until Monday, Dec. 28, 2020.
• NM State's first game on Dec. 18 came in 1908 - the Aggies' seventh tilt in the history of the program. That day, the Aggies dropped a 25-15 decision to the Mormon Academy at Colonia Juarez in Mexico.
• NM State has three wins over Power Five opposition to its credit on this date. The Aggies beat Purdue (87-80 in 1967), Arizona State (88-85 in 1971) and Texas Tech (74-68 in 1989) on Dec. 18.

COMING UP NEXT
• To cap off their 13-game non-conference slate, the Aggies return to he floor of the Pan American Center roughly 48 hours following Saturday's contest to tangle with NCAA Division II foe UT Permian Basin. Monday night's showdown is set for 7:00 p.m. MT and will be broadcast nationwide on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.

++NM State++