Game Fifteen
NM State (12-2, 1-0 WAC) at Lamar (2-12, 0-1 WAC)
Thursday, Jan. 6 | 6:00 p.m. MT | Montagne Center | Beaumont, Texas
Watch | Listen | Live Stats | NM State Game Notes | Lamar Game Notes | Program
THE OPENING TIP
• Riding a seven-game winning streak, the NM State men's basketball team sets out on a journey to the Lone Star State with the hopes of staying undefeated in Western Athletic Conference (WAC) action. The Aggies' two-game swing in Texas begins Thursday night in Beaumont, Texas, with a first-time matchup against WAC newbie Lamar.
• Tip-off inside the Montagne Center is set for 6:00 p.m. MT.
• ESPN+ and the ESPN app will stream each and every second of the action in the inaugural matchup between the Aggies and Cardinals. Matt Pedersen and Da'Yon Dunlap will handle play-by-play and analysis responsibilities.
• Over the airwaves, legendary radio play-by-play man Jack Nixon will set up shop in the Montagne Center 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.
FAST BREAK POINTS
• For the first time under head coach Chris Jans and for the eighth time in the history of the program, NM State has won 12 of its first 14 games to start the season. NM State previously went 12-2 through its first 14 games in 2016-17, 1990-91, 1970-71, 1967-68, 1938-39, 1937-38 and 1925-26.
• Only five other teams in NM State history have put forth a better record than 12-2 through their first 13 games. The Aggies went 13-1 to start the year in 1993-94, 1991-92, 1989-90 and 1969-70 while the 1968-69 edition of the Aggies won their first 14 games out of the gates.
• NM State's 12 wins are the sixth-most among all NCAA Division I men's basketball teams this season as well as the most by any WAC team.
• NM State is playing a WAC road game for the first time in 306 days Thursday. The Aggies' last WAC road came on March 6, 2021 - a 68-56 victory at Dixie State.
• NM State has won each of its last two WAC road games and is 24-7 (.774) in WAC road games during Chris Jans' tenure as head coach.
• 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 81-4 (.953) 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 51-9 (.850) in regular-season WAC games as the Aggies' head coach. Included in that record is a perfect 24-0 (1.000) showing against WAC squads inside NM State's home venue of the Pan American Center.
• NM State's .850 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.
• Thursday night's clash with Lamar in Beaumont marks the inaugural meeting between the two programs. NM State is 1-0 in first-time matchups with opponents this season after besting UT Permian Basin in the first encounter between the two teams back on Monday, Dec. 20, 2021.
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 17th nationally in two-point field goal percentage (.565).
• A big reason for that is the play of senior forward Johnny McCants who ranks sixth nationally with a two-point field goal percentage of .757.
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 22-3 (.880) as the Aggies' bench boss in the month. For his career, Jans owns a 28-6 (.824) 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 .472 ranks 58th in the nation and second among all WAC teams.
• The Aggies' rebounding margin of +6.3 is the 49th-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 six games, the Aggies are shooting 35-of-140 (.250) from long range.
• 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 17.2 points per game and also ranks 17th nationally in free throw percentage (.906). The Phoenix, Ariz., product also sits among the top 40 players nationally in field goal attempts (38th, 193).
• 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 97 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 94 more points to get there while Jabari Rice is 108 points away from quadruple digits in the scoring column. Teddy Allen requires just 153 more points to reach the 1,000-point plateau in his NCAA Division I playing career.
• Freshman forward Marchelus Avery has been a strong option for the Aggies off the bench as of late. Through his last three games, the Richmond, Va., product is averaging 16.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while shooting .667/.455/.556.
LAST TIME OUT | NM State 78, vs. Chicago State 61 | Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022
• Holding on to a four-point lead at the half, NM State started the final frame on an 11-0 run and didn't look back en route to a 78-61 victory over Chicago State on the first day of 2022 inside the Pan American Center.
• Jabari Rice led the way for NM State, finishing one rebound shy of a double-double with a 15-point, nine-rebound outing. Teddy Allen and Marchelus Avery added 11 points apiece for NM State who won its 16th-straight game over the Cougars.
• NM State used the starting lineup combination of Allen, McCants, Mario McKinney Jr., Will McNair Jr. and Rice for the third time this season. The Aggies are 3-0 with that starting lineup.
• Allen's 11 points were his fewest in a game this season as were his seven field goal attempts.
• By going 2-for-2 from the field, junior guard Nate Pryor extended his streak of consecutive field goals made to seven dating back to Dec. 11.
• The game was NM State's first WAC game of the regular season as well as the first WAC tilt inside the Pan American Center in 667 days.
• Johnny McCants, Nate Pryor, Donnie Tillman and Rice all made their respective returns to the NM State lineup during the game, too. McCants, Pryor and Rice had sat out each of the Aggies' previous two games to rest and rehabilitate while Tillman appeared on the court for the first time since Friday, Dec. 3 at UTEP.
• NM State moved to 14-3 all-time in WAC openers with Saturday afternoon's win. That record includes a 3-2 mark in WAC openers under head coach Chris Jans.
• Eleven of the 12 NM State players who logged minutes in Saturday's win scored points.
• Yuat Alok (non-COVID related illness) did not play in Saturday's win.
• Clayton Henry continued to work his way back into the Aggies' rotation during the win as well. The senior guard finished with a season-high six points as well as a pair of rebounds in 15 minutes of action.
• NM State fell behind by as many as three points in Saturday's game. It marked the first time NM State trailed in a WAC regular-season game since March 5, 2021, in an eventual 76-66 win at Dixie State.
SCOUTING LAMAR | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Before the days of Tic Price, Pat Knight, Colton Weisbrod and a number of other individuals associated with Lamar basketball, there was Alvin Brooks - the player who led the Cardinals to the Sweet Sixteen in 1980. Brooks is back in Beaumont, Texas, this season for his first season as Lamar's head coach.
• COVID-19 has been hitting the college basketball world hard and Lamar is no exception to this. As of this writing, the Cardinals currently have just six players available due to COVID-19 protocols in place within in the program. WAC rules state a team must have at least seven available players and one available coach out of protocols in order to take part in a game.
• One player on the Cardinals' roster the Aggies are quite familiar with is senior guard C.J. Roberts. Lamar's leading scorer at a clip of 14.0 points per game (10th in the WAC), Roberts was a member of NM State's squad in the 2020-21 season and averaged 6.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists while playing in all 20 of NM State's games.
• The Cardinals' guard-centric lineup also consists of Davion Buster (13.3 ppg), Jordyn Adams (12.9 ppg) and Kasen Harrison (11.0 ppg) - all of whom are averaging double figures in the scoring column. Buster is one of the most prolific three-point shooters in the WAC, hitting 2.73 per outing. That's the fourth-highest average among all league players.
• Valentin Catt gives the Cardinals a strong interior defensive presence, ranking fifth among all WAC players with 16 blocked shots. He's one of two players on Lamar's roster with a double-double to his credit (Corey Nickerson is the other).
• Lamar is the WAC's only team without a victory against an NCAA Division I club to its credit in 2021-22.
THIS DATE IN NM STATE HISTORY
• NM State has won its last six games on January 6. The Aggies' last setback on this date came in 1983 when they dropped a 72-62 home tilt to Illinois State.
• The Aggies are 2-3 in road games which took place in the state of Texas on this date.
• NM State's most recent game on January 6 came in 2018 when the Aggies secured a 97-60 WAC win at Chicago State under head coach Chris Jans.
• NM State's first-ever game on this date came in 1930. The Aggies dropped a 34-18 decision to West Texas A&M at home.
COMING UP NEXT
• NM State bears southwest in order to wrap up its two-game swing in the state of Texas. The Aggies' next destination is Edinburg, Texas - one of the southern-most locales in the Lone Star State - for a Saturday night WAC showdown at UTRGV. Tip-off inside the UTRGV Fieldhouse has been set for 6:00 p.m. MT. ESPN+ and the ESPN app will stream all the action nationwide.
++NM State++
