Mike Martinez

NM State Hosts Chicago State for First WAC Action of 2021-22

Friday 12/31/2021 | By: NM State Athletics Media Relations

Aggies prep for first WAC home game in 667 days

THE OPENING TIP
• Following an 11-day break between games, the NM State men's basketball team begins its quest for the program's fourth Western Athletic Conference (WAC) regular-season crown in the Chris Jans coaching era when it welcomes Chicago State to the Pan American Center for a Saturday afternoon showdown. Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m. MT on the first day of 2022.
• The 22nd meeting between Aggies and Cougars serves as NM State's first WAC game of 2021-22 and will be televised on Bally Sports Arizona, Comcast New Mexico and 'The CW' El Paso/Las Cruces. Additionally, ESPN+ and the ESPN app will stream the action nationwide.
• The play-by-play and analysis combo of Adam Young and former NM State player Joe Garza are set to narrate the action on all television and video streaming platforms. 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 Monday night's tilt.
• Fans who purchse their tickets prior to the day of the game can get seats in sections 114-118 for a discounted price. Those prices have been set at $10 for adults and $5 for children.

FAST BREAK POINTS
• NM State was scheduled to begin its 18-game WAC schedule Thursday, Dec. 30, at Seattle U, but COVID-19 protocols within the Redhawks' program forced a postponement of that contest. The two teams have rescheduled that tilt for Monday, Feb. 21 at the Redhawk Center in Seattle, Wash.
• For the second time under head coach Chris Jans and for the seventh time in the history of the program, NM State has won 11 of its first 13 games to start the season.
• NM State previously got out to an 11-2 start under Jans in 2017-18.
• Only five other teams in NM State history have put forth a better record than 11-2 through their first 13 games. The Aggies went 12-1 to start the year in 1993-94, 1991-92, 1990-91, 1989-90 and 1969-70 while the 1968-69 edition of the Aggies won their first 13 games out of the gates.
• NM State is playing a WAC home game for the first time in 667 days Saturday. The Aggies' last WAC game inside the Pan American Center came on March 5, 2020 - an 83-60 victory over California Baptist.
• NM State owns a 13-3 (.813) all-time record in WAC openers. Aggie head coach Chris Jans is 2-2 (.500) in WAC openers during his tenure in Las Cruces.
• Just three of the Aggies' 16 WAC openers have been played in Las Cruces, N.M. NM State is 3-0 in those games.
• NM State has won its last 25 home games against WAC opponents dating back 2017. The Aggies' last loss to a WAC team in the Pan American Center came on Feb. 23, 2017, when they dropped an 84-72 decision to Utah Valley.
• Since the start of the 2009-10 campaign, NM State owns an 80-4 (.952) record in WAC home games. Those four losses came by a combined 34 points (an average of 8.4 per game).
• NM State head coach Chris Jans is 50-9 (.847) in regular-season WAC games as the Aggies' head coach. Included in that record is a perfect 23-0 (1.000) showing against WAC squads inside NM State's home venue of the Pan American Center.
• NM State's .847 winning percentage in WAC regular season games under Jans is the nation's second-best in-conference winning percentage figure since 2017-18. Only Gonzaga's (63-2, .969) is higher.
• Saturday's showdown between NM State and Chicago State is the first between the two teams since Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 - a period of almost two full years. The Aggies and Cougars were scheduled to meet in the opening round of the 2020 WAC Tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., on Thursday, March 12, 2020, but that day the sports world was flipped upside down as the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancelation of numerous conference tournaments as well as the 2020 NCAA Tournament.
• Chicago State suspended its 2020-21 season on Dec. 23, 2020, after playing just nine games (the Cougars went 0-9). The Cougars didn't play a single WAC game in their abbreviated 2020-21 campaign.

DUBCEMBER
• NM State went 6-0 in the month of December, making the Aggies one of 26 NCAA Division I college basketball teams who went undefeated in the final month of 2021.
• The Aggies' six wins in the month of December were the second-most among all DI teams trailing only Abilene Christian, Auburn and Boise State each who won seven.
• Nine NM State teams have gone undefeated in the month of December. Before this season, the most recently one to do so was the 2016-17 edition of the Aggies.

THE ROAD WARRIORS
• 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 and West Virginia (seven-straight true road wins).
• NM State is one of just 31 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.

LET'S GO STREAKING
• NM State's six-game winning streak is the 13th-longest active streak in the nation and the second-longest among all WAC clubs.
• That winning streak has pushed NM State's win total to 11 - the most by any WAC team and the 12th-highest win total so far this season in all of college basketball.

POMEROY'S POINTS
• Noted basketball statistical guru Ken Pomeroy - founder of the widely-utilized KenPom site - has logged the following observations about the Aggies thus far in 2021-22.
• NM State is highly effective in putting the ball in the basket the closer it gets to the tin. The Aggies rank 19th nationally in two-point field goal percentage (.565).
• A big reason for that is the play of senior forward Johnny McCants who ranks fourth nationally with a two-point field goal percentage of .794.

JANSUARY
• January in Las Cruces goes by a different name: Jans-uary. Since he took over at NM State, fifth-year head coach Chris Jans is 21-3 (.875) as the Aggies' bench boss in the month. For his career, Jans owns a 27-6 (.818) record in the month.
• That's the second-highest winning percentage in the month of January by an active NCAA Division I head coach and only Gonzaga's Mark Few (156-17, .902) possesses a better winning percentage in the month.

MISCELLANEOUS & MILESTONES
• NM State's collective field goal percentage of .474 ranks 50th in the nation and second among all WAC teams.
• The Aggies' rebounding margin of +6.2 is the 53rd-best in the nation as well as the third-best in the WAC.
• NM State has seen a dip in its accuracy from three-point range as of late. Over the last five games, the Aggies are shooting 27-of-113 (.239) from long range.
• In his most recent game, redshirt junior guard Jabari Rice put in 22 points in NM State's win at Washington State (Dec. 15). When Rice scores 20 or more points in a game, NM State is 9-1.
• High-scoring guard Teddy Allen leads NM State in scoring at a rate of 17.7 points per game and also ranks 19th nationally in free throw percentage (.904). The Phoenix, Ariz., product also sits among the top 30 players nationally in field goal attempts (30th, 186).
• With head coach Chris Jans leading the way, the Aggies have posted a 6-6 (.500) record against Power Five opponents. That mark includes a 6-4 (.600) showing against Power Five foes in regular-season tilts. NM State has secured wins over Illinois, Miami, Mississippi State and Washington State (three times) under Jans' direction since 2017-18.
• Jans returned to the bench on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021 for the Aggies' game at UTEP. The team's fifth-year bench boss had previously missed its last two games due to COVID-19 protocols.
• In a 101-94 home loss to New Mexico on Monday, Nov. 30, 2021, the Aggies gave up 100 or more points to the opposition for the first time in the Chris Jans coaching era. Before that game, the last time NM State let a foe hit the century mark came in 2017 when it claimed a 107-101 WAC win at UTRGV on Feb. 18. Since 2010, only three NM State opponents (Nevada, New Mexico and UTRGV) have amassed 100 or more points in a game.
• Now in his fifth season in an NM State uniform, Johnny McCants has broken into the program's top-ten leaders in blocked shots. McCants, a Las Cruces, N.M., product has 96 rejections to his credit as a collegian which are the ninth-most all-time by any Aggie. He is hoping to become the eighth player in program history to record 100 or more blocked shots in a career.
• Three NM State players are all fast approaching the 1,000-point mark for their respective NCAA Division I careers. Johnny McCants needs 103 more points to get there while Jabari Rice is 123 points away from quadruple digits in the scoring column. Teddy Allen requires just 164 more points to reach the 1,000-point plateau in his NCAA Division I playing career.

THE COMEBACK KIDS
• No matter how bleak things have looked for NM State at various points through multiple games this season, it seems as though the Aggies are never truly out of chances at winning.
• NM State has erased double-digit deficits in three games this season to come back and win, most recently storming back from 18 points down to claim a 64-61 win at Washington State on Wednesday, Dec. 15. Only Wisconsin (four) has more wins this season after trailing by 10 or more points.
• Since the start of Jans' tenure in 2017-18, NM State has seven double-digit comeback wins to its credit. Prior to last Wednesday night's come-from-behind win at Washington State, the largest lead NM State overcame to win was 13 points in a WAC triumph at Grand Canyon on Feb. 10, 2018.

LAST TIME OUT | NM State 84, vs. UT Permian Basin 59 | Monday, Dec. 20, 2021
• For the first time in 2021-22, NM State posted a wire-to-wire victory by opening the game on a 14-0 run en route to an 89-54 triumph over UT Permian Basin five days before Christmas inside the Pan American Center.
• Though the Aggies never fell behind, they did have to withstand a run by the Falcons near the conclusion of the first frame. Holding on to a 35-23 lead with 5:17 left, NM State gave up a 9-0 run to UT Permian Basin which cut the hosts' lead to 35-32.
• Fortunately, the Aggies scored the final five points of the half to carry a 40-32 lead into halftime. A 12-0 NM State scoring surge prior to the midway point of the second half hiked the hosts' lead to 21 points and their advantage didn't dip below 16 for the rest of the night.
• With Johnny McCants, Nate Pryor, Jabari Rice and Donnie Tillman all sitting out (rest), that gave a number of other Aggies the opportunity for extended minutes. Foremost among them was freshman forward Marchelus Avery who sprung for a team and career-high 22 points on an 8-of-10 effort from the field. Avery added seven rebounds to his total, too, during his second start of the year.
• In addition to Avery, Teddy Allen also hit the 20-point mark, putting in exactly 20 to go along with a game-high nine rebounds. That scoring output represented Allen's fifth 20+ point effort of the season.
• Two additional NM State players, Yuat Alok and Levar Williams, hit double-digits in the scoring column as well. Alok's 14 points came on a 6-of-9 shooting effort while Williams netted 10 on a 4-of-7 night from the field. That duo went a combined 3-of-5 from long range during the win, too.
• Eight of the 10 NM State players who logged minutes in the victory scored points. The only excepptions to that were Mario McKinney Jr., who passed out a team-high four assists and Cameron Crawford who snagged his first collegiate rebound in three minutes of action.
• The win pushed NM State's winning streak to six games - the program's longest since reeling off 21 consecutive triumphs from Dec. 18, 2019 until Dec. 29, 2020.
• Allen's five games with 20 or more points are the most by an NM State player since Jabari Rice finished with five games of 20+ points in 2019-20. Prior to 2019-20, Zach Lofton turned in 17 games of 20 or more points for the 2017-18 edition of the Aggies - Jans' first club as NM State's head coach.

LAST TIME OUT vs. CHICAGO STATE | NM State 71, at Chicago State 49 | Thurs., Feb. 6, 2020
• Back in his home town for the first time in his collegiate career, junior guard Evan Gilyard II kick-started a game changing 20-4 run by the Aggies to close out the first half as NM State coasted to a 71-49 win at Chicago State.
• The Chicago, Ill., product scored seven consecutive points during that massive surge that turned a one-point NM State advantage with 8:21 left into a 34-17 lead at the halftime horn.
• Shawn Williams came off the bench and scored a game-high 15 points in NM State's victory. The Little Rock, Ark., product nailed three of the Aggies' nine three-pointers in the win while Gilyard II and Jabari Rice added 12 points apiece.
• Though it was a road game for the Aggies, the Jones Convocation Center was decidedly pro-NM State as over 100 of Gilyard II's family members and friends were in attendance to witness the Aggies' victory.
• Due to foul trouble, Chicago State was forced to play with just five available players throughout the majority of the second half.
• Jabari Rice scored the game's first five points, but after that NM State's offense sputtered a bit after that. The Aggies, at one point, trailed the Cougars but a C.J. Bobbitt layup with 12:28 left in the opening frame put the visiting team on top for good.
• Shunn Buchanan passed out a game-high four assists for the Aggies.
• Both Tennessee Owens and Bryce Rewalt came and in nailed three-pointers in the second half. No Aggie played more than 26 minutes and at the end of the night NM State owned a 33-19 edge on the glass against the Cougars.

SCOUTING CHICAGO STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• One of the eight WAC teams with a league game under its belt, Chicago State heads to Las Cruces for the first time in almost two full calendar years in search of its first WAC triumph since 2016.
• The Cougars have lost their last 31 WAC regular season games with their last victory coming on March 3, 2018, by way of a 96-82 home win over Kansas City.
• Despite that losing skid, the Cougars have already shown massive improvements under first-year head coach Gerald Gillion. Chicago State's four wins so far this season are more than the squad recorded in the 2020-21 and 2019-20 seasons combined.
• All four of those victories have come against NCAA Division I opposition, too, giving Chicago State more victories against NCAA Division I foes than it had from 2017-18 through 2020-21.
• Chicago State's four wins are the most it has accumulated in a season since 2016-17 - a year in which the Cougars won six games.
• The Cougars aren't afraid to let it fly from deep, trying 335 three-pointers thus far on the year. That's the 66th-most among all NCAA Division I men's basketball clubs.
• Chicago State's leading scorer Brandon Betson (13.5 points per game) has made a team-high 31 three-pointers.
• A good team on the glass, Chicago State ranks 32nd nationally by yanking down 13.00 offensive rebounds per outing. Coreyoun Rushin (7.4 rebounds/game) and Jahsean Corbett (7.3 rebounds/game) give the Cougars two of the WAC's top five rebounding threats.

THIS DATE IN NM STATE HISTORY
• For only the fourth time in program history, NM State will be playing a game on the first day of the year. The Aggies' last action on January 1 came on the opening day of 2007 when they scored an 88-78 victory at Chicago State. That season, under second-year head coach Reggie Theus, NM State went 25-9, won the WAC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament where they took on 11th-ranked Texas and Kevin Durant in the opening round.
• Saturday afternoon's game marks the first time NM State plays a game inside the Pan American Center on January 1. The Aggies' only other home game on this date came in 1966 when they defeated Abilene Christian 75-73.

WAC COVID PROTOCOLS
• Following a vote of athletic directors, the Western Athletic Conference has adjusted its game cancelation policy to balance the health and safety of coaches, student-athletes, staff and officials as well as protect the integrity of the conference schedule.
• The minimum number of participants for conference play has been set at seven COVID-eligible student-athletes and one COVID-eligible coach. If a team meets the requirement, they will be expected to compete in the contest.
• In addition, the WAC has determined that if a game is canceled for COVID-related reasons, administrators from the impacted institutions will work collaboratively to find a mutually agreeable date to reschedule. If they are unable to find a date, the game will be considered a no-contest.
• The conference will continue to work with institutional leadership regarding any changes to seeding procedures for the 2022 Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament.

COMING UP NEXT
• The first WAC road trip of the season sends NM State to the Lone Star State for a pair of league confrontations. First up is a Thursday night battle in Beaumont, Texas, which pits the Aggies against WAC newcomer Lamar. Tip-off from the Montagne Center in the inaugural meeting between NM State and Lamar is set for 6:00 p.m. MT.

++NM State++

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Aggies prep for first WAC home game in 667 days

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