LAS VEGAS - March? That's what the calendar says.
Fans? Surprisingly, yes.
An NM State men's basketball team win? You better believe it.
Yeah, it was just another run-of-the-mill WAC Tournament game inside the Orleans Arena.
Playing in front of a large contingent of Aggie faithful for the first time this year, the third-seeded NM State men's basketball team did what it does best in Las Vegas by blasting sixth-seeded UTRGV 77-61 in the 2021 Hercules Tires WAC Tournament quarterfinals Thursday night to move on to the semifinal round of the league's postseason tournament.
FIRST HALF
• Playing out in eerily similar fashion to the tilt the two teams found themselves embroiled in back on Tuesday, March 2, it was the Vaqueros who got the upper hand early. UTRGV netted four of the game's first seven points before the Aggies made sure there wouldn't be a second quarterfinal upset.
• Johnny McCants emphatically started a 9-0 Aggie run by punching in a powerful one-handed fast-break slam which put the Aggies on top for good. C.J. Roberts concluded the surge by draining a mid-range jumper to extend NM State's lead to 12-4 just 6:19 into things.
• The emergence of Wilfried Likayi allowed the Aggies to deliver a devastating dose of long-range bombing to effectively put the game away before the halftime horn. The redshirt junior out of Portland, Ore., nailed the first of his three triples in the bout with 10:57 left, pushing his crew's advantage to 20-8 at the 10:57 mark of the frame.
• Unrelenting in their pursuit of victory, the Aggies hiked their lead to as high as 17 points, 32-15, after the dangerous Tillman banked home a driving layup with 5:09 to go in the stanza.
• Hoping to extend their season, the Vaqueros battled back and made it a single-digit game late in the frame. It was none other than Javon Levi, who never won a game against the Aggies in his college career, who put the finishing touches on a 9-0 UTRGV surge with a layup that trimmed NM State's lead to 32-24 with 2:06 left.
• Tillman, however, would have no more of UTRGV's comeback nonsense, as he captained a 7-0 NM State surge to end the half. Detroit's finest put in five straight points and Likayi concluded the surge in a powerful way, hammering home a driving two-handed baseline slam to account for NM State's 39-24 lead at the break.
• The Aggies could do almost no wrong during the half, putting up shooting splits of .519/.417/.750 and out-rebounding the Vaqueros 20-10. Likayi and Tillman combined for 19 of the team's 37 points at the break, but it was hardly a two-man show as eight Aggies put in points.
SECOND HALF
• NM State didn't waste any time at all in carrying over its momentum from the late stages of the first half. Clayton Henry drained a pair of free throws before McCants slung in a triple with 17:05 left to increase the Aggies' lead to 44-24.
• Continuing to pour it on in the hopes of making sure all of their rust was completely shaken off for the most important stretch of game of the year, the Aggies' lead ballooned to 25, 73-48, after Marcus Watson hit a tip-in layup to finish a personal 5-0 run.
• With the game well in hand, NM State emptied its bench and saw Gerald Doakes, Mayan Kiir, Tennessee Owens and Bryce Rewalt all make their WAC Tournament debuts through the closing minutes of the game.
• The Aggies' accuracy from the field didn't diminish through the final frame either. NM State shot .522/.583/.778 in the stanza and all 14 of its available players saw the court.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Likayi's WAC Tournament debut couldn't have gone any better as the sharpshooting junior sprung for a game-high 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting off the bench. Tillman turned in a 12-point, five-rebound performance while passing out two of the Aggies' 15 assists.
• Jabari Rice flirted with a double-double by concluding his night with nine points and a game-high nine rebounds. Those nine boards helped the Aggies own a 38-24 (+14) edge on the glass.
• Kalen Williams dished out a team-high four assists for NM State who came up with helpers on 15 of its 26 made field goals.
• Jeff Otchere pumped in 15 points for UTRGV while Levi added 12 in the team's final game of the season.
• NM State moved to 10-2 all-time as a number-three seed in the WAC Tournament and is 13-0 all-time in the quarterfinal round of the league tourney.
• Head coach Chris Jans is now 7-0 as the Aggies' bench boss in the WAC Tournament. Additionally, he has won his last 14 games in the month of March against WAC opposition.
COMING UP NEXT
• NM State's march toward its 23rd NCAA Tournament appearance in program history continues Friday night from the Orleans Arena when the Aggies tangle with WAC regular season co-champion and second-seeded Utah Valley. Tip-off is slated for 9:00 p.m. on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
++NM State++
