Game Nineteen
NM State (15-3, 5-1 WAC) at SFA (12-6, 4-2 WAC)
Saturday, Jan. 22 | 1:00 p.m. MT | William R. Johnson Coliseum | Nacogdoches, Texas
Watch | Listen | Live Stats | Tickets | NM State Game Notes | Program

OPENING TIPS
• Texas' oldest town, Nacogdoches, is the destination for the NM State men's basketball team as the Aggies take aim at WAC newcomer SFA Saturday afternoon. Tip-off inside William R. Johnson Coliseum has been set for 1:00 p.m. MT.
• The inaugural showdown between the Aggies and Lumberjacks will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
• 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.

FAST BREAK POINTS
• For the second time under head coach Chris Jans and for the fifth time in the history of the program, NM State has won 15 of its first 18 games to start the season. NM State previously started 15-3 through its first 18 games in 2017-18, 1990-91, 1989-90 and 1959-60.
• Only 10 other teams in NM State history have put forth a better record than 15-3 through their first 18 games. The Aggies went 17-1 to start the year in 1969-70 and 1968-69. In 2017-18, 1993-94, 1990-91, 1989-90, 1968-69, 1967-68, 1938-39 and 1937-38, NM State went 16-2 through its first 18 games.\
• NM State's 15 wins are the fifth-most among all NCAA Division I men's basketball teams this season as well as the most by any WAC team.
• NM State has won its last 27 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 83-4 (.954) 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 54-10 (.844) in regular-season WAC games as the Aggies' head coach. Included in that record is a perfect 26-0 (1.000) showing against WAC squads inside NM State's home venue of the Pan American Center.
• NM State's .844 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 (67-2, .971) is higher.
• With last Saturday's win over Abilene Christian, NM State senior forward Johnny McCants tied Ian Baker for the highest number of wins in the history the program (110). One more victory for the Las Cruces, N.M., product will put him in sole possession of the most wins all-time by any Aggie.
• NM State is looking to bounce back from its third 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 23-4 (.852) 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.

MISCELLANEOUS & MILESTONES
• NM State's collective field goal percentage of .466 ranks 70th in the nation and is the second-best in the WAC.
• The Aggies' rebounding margin of +6.8 is the 26th-best in the nation as well as the third-best in the WAC.
• NM State ranks 39th nationally in terms of field goal percentage defense. The Aggies are allowing their opponents to shoot just 39.8-percent from the floor this season which is the third best among all WAC teams.
• In one of his most recent games, 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 43rd nationally in free throw percentage (.878). The Phoenix, Ariz., product also sits among the top 50 players nationally in field goal attempts (50th, 245).
• 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 102 rejections to his credit as a collegian which are the eighth-most all-time by any Aggie. Other Aggies who rejected 100 or more shots in their respective careers include James Moore (200), Sim Bhullar (196), Hamidu Rahman (137), Pascal Siakam (137), Tshilidzi Nephawe (135), Slab Jones (124) and Charles Gosa (116).
• Three NM State players are all fast approaching the 1,000-point mark for their respective NCAA Division I careers. Johnny McCants needs 66 more points to get there while Teddy Allen (76) and Jabari Rice (78) are closing in on quadruple digits in the scoring column.

LAST TIME OUT | NM State 46, at Sam Houston 71 | Thursday, Jan. 20
• Hoping to secure its 11th-straight win and stay atop the WAC standings, the NM State men's basketball team instead couldn't get anything going on the offensive end and dropped a 71-46 decision at Sam Houston Thursday night inside Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
• NM State connected on just 13 field goals - the same number of three-pointers Sam Houston drilled - and finished with a 27.7-percent field goal percentage in the team's first loss since Monday, Nov. 30.
• No Aggie reached double digits in the scoring column, marking the first time that happened since the 20th century. The last time NM State didn't boast any players in double-digits in game was Nov. 25, 1998, when the team dropped a 70-43 non-conference decision at Texas Tech under head coach Lou Henson.
• Donnie Tillman and Johnny McCants tied for team-high honors in scoring with eight points apiece while Teddy Allen grabbed five rebounds and passed out two assists - both team highs.
• Allen, who was coming off a 41-point outing against Abilene Christian last Saturday, turned in just two points on a 1-of-6 shooting performance. Jabari Rice, meanwhile, didn't score and came up with just a single rebound in the team's first regular-season WAC loss since February 27, 2021.
• For Rice, it marked the first game he didn't score a point since March 5, 2020. That night, the Houston, Texas, product went 0-for-4 from the field in 14 minutes of action in the Aggies' 83-50 home win over California Baptist.
• Allen's two-point performance snapped his 17-game streak of double-digit scoring outings. It was the fewest points scored in a game by the Phoenix, Ariz., product since he finished with none on an 0-for-3 night from the field in a loss to Minnesota on Feb. 27, 2021. That game was Allen's final one in a Nebraska uniform.
• The 46 points scored by NM State represented a single-game low in the Chris Jans coaching era and were the fewest amassed by NM State in a game since going for 41 in a 71-41 loss on February 15, 2016. Jans had a hand in that game, too, as he was on the Shockers' coaching staff at that time.
• NM State's 46-point output represented the team's fewest points in a WAC game in the history of the program. Those 46 points were also the fewest NM State scored in a conference showdown since putting in 37 during a 51-37 loss at New Orleans in a Sun Belt Conference tilt back on February 12, 2004.
• NM State's 25-point loss was its most lopsided WAC loss in program history. Additionally, it marked NM State's biggest setback in a league game since falling to Louisiana by a 91-49 tally on Feb. 17, 2005.

SCOUTING SFA | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Electing to leave the Southland Conference following the conclusion of the 2020-21 academic year, SFA, like Sam Houston, Abilene Christian and Lamar, linked up with the WAC and all the 'Jacks have done since then is raise the league's profile from a basketball standpoint.
• Gone are the days of Thomas Walkup, Jacob Parker, Desmond Haymon and Kevon Harris - individuals who put the letters SFA on the map through multiple NCAA Tournament appearance in the 2010s - but a new gang of hard-rockin' cats has the 'Jacks humming along nicely under sixth-year head coach Kyle Keller.
• Anchored by Gavin Kensmil in the post, SFA has withstood the loss of high-scoring guard Roti Ware who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 'Jacks' non-conference portion of 2021-22. Kensmil leads the 'Jacks in scoring at a rate of 14.5 per game and is the WAC's leader in field goal percentage (58.1-percent).
• Kensmil's field goal percentage is the 22nd best by any NCAA Division I player, but he's hardly alone when it comes to shouldering the 'Jacks' offensive load. In WAC action, Latrell Jossell has come on especially strong by pumping in points at a rate of 12.2 per game. High-energy forward Calvin Solomon has slowly but surely come into his own over the last three years, too, serving now as the 'Jacks' third-leading scorer in WAC play (10.2 points per game).
• Emmaus, Pa., native David Kachelries mans the point admirably for Keller's club and dishes out assists at a team-leading rate of 4.3 per game - the fourth-best average in the WAC.
• It's on the defensive side of the ball, though, that the 'Jacks are their toughest. SFA ranks ninth nationally in turnovers forced as opponents throw the ball away an average of 19.11 times per game.
• SFA's 8.9 steals per contest are the 26th-most in the land as well as the second-most in the WAC. It doesn't get any easier for the 'Jacks' opponents if they try to take it into the paint, either, as the likes of Kensmil, Sadaidriene "Day-Day" Hall and Nana Antwi-Boasiako are all looming large down there. With that trio on their side, the 'Jacks lead the WAC in blocked shots per game (4.6).
• Like NM State, SFA seemed destined for NCAA Tournament glory in the 2019-20 season until the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the college basketball season in mid-March. Both SFA (28-3 in 2019-20) and NM State (25-6 in 2019-20) were the subject of Washington Post columns in March of 2020 with the pieces being written just a couple weeks apart.

COMING UP NEXT
• The Pan American Center will unquestionably be the place to be Saturday night as NM State returns to Las Cruces in order to start a three-game home stand. Grand Canyon, the defending WAC regular-season and tournament champion, comes to the Land of Enchantment for a premier WAC showdown which tips off at 7:00 p.m.

++NM State++