What: Game Eight
Who: NM State (4-3, 0-0 WAC) at Duquesne (7-2, 0-0 A-10)
When: Sunday, Dec. 11, 2 p.m. MT
Where: Pittsburgh, Penn. - UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500)

Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Zia Country 99.5 (PxP - Jack Nixon, Analyst - Anita Skipper)
Attend: Online Ticket Sales
Stats: Click Here
Follow: Twitter - @NMStateMBB, Instagram - @NMStateMBB, Facebook - NM State Men's Basketball

THE OPENING TIP                                      
• The Aggies make the cross-country trip to Pennsylvania to meet up with Duquesne on Sunday afternoon after suffering a narrow defeat at Santa Clara on Wednesday.
• The matchup against the Dukes marks the second of three consecutive road tilts versus opponents inside the top 150 of the NET rankings.
• Sunday's game will also mark the second time in program history that the Aggies will take on the Dukes with the only meeting coming in 1974 when NM State took down Duquesne in the Quaker City Tourney in Philadelphia.
 
THE THREE AMIGOS                                                    
• Entering Monday, the backcourt trio of Xavier Pinson, Deshawndre Washington and DaJuan Gordon are the only three Aggies to appear in the starting lineup in each of the Aggies' first seven games.
• The three guards hailing from Chicago, Ill., also combine to average 35.6 of the Aggies' 80.0 points per game.
 
WASHINGTON WILL FIND YOU                                  
• Through the early portion of NM State's young season, Deshawndre Washington has been consistently putting his teammates in a position to do good things.
• The 6-7 Northwest Florida State transfer is currently ranked 21st in the nation in assists per game - dishing out a team-high and WAC-best 5.7 helpers while also pacing the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.50.
• A season ago, Washington averaged 4.1 assists per game while leading the Raiders to an NJCAA National Championship.
• Washington has also paced the Aggies in assists in five of their first six games, including a season-high 10-assist outing in the season opener.
 
PREACHING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PERIMETER            
• Entering Sunday's contest, the Aggies are among the best teams in the nation at shooting the three ball and defending it.
• NM State currently ranks inside the top 50 in three-pointers per game (18th), three-point percentage (38.5) and three-point attempts per game (36th).
• Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the floor, the Aggies rank 33rd in three-point percentage defense.
 
NEW BRAND OF BASKETBALL                                  
• Under former Head Coach Chris Jans, the Aggies were often seen as a defensive-minded team - limiting teams to an average of 63.5 points while scoring 74.1 points per game.
• Although the sample size is miniscule when compared to the 154 games that the Aggies played under Jans, the Aggies are averaging 80.0 points per game with Greg Heiar at the helm while still holding teams to just 64.6 points per game.
• The Aggies offense also stacks up against some of the best in the country as NM State boasts the 46th highest scoring team in the nation.
 
RESPECT THE RESERVES
• The Aggie bench has scored 20-plus points in five of the seven contests this season, including posting a season-high 52 points two games ago during a 77-35 win over Simon Fraser.
• In total, the Aggie bench is responsible for 36.4% of its total scoring (204/560).
 
FAMILIAR DUKES                                       
• Despite the unfamiliarity between the two programs, NM State will not be completely blind going into Sunday's matchup as a pair of the Dukes' stars have a history with some of the Aggies' staff and players.
• Second-leading scorer Tre Clark III played under Greg Heiar and alongside Issa Muhammad and Deshawndre Washington at Northwest Florida State during their run toward an NJCAA National Championship last season. Additionally, staff members Chad Donley, Dylan Brown and Lorenzo Jenkins also served on the staff at NWFS during Clark's time.
• Under Heiar, Clark made 31 starts and averaged 24.6 minutes per game while scoring a team-high 12.3 points per game.
• Meanwhile, James Beck played alongside the Dukes' leading scorer Dae Dae Grant last year at Miami (OH). Grant also led the RedHawks in scoring last season - posting 17.5 points per game while making 32 starts in 32 appearances.
 
NM STATE ON THIS DATE
• Across the history of the program, the Aggies have played on the 11th of December 32 times in total - boasting an overall record of 19-13.
• Most notably, the Aggies turned in a six-game winning streak on Dec. 12 spanning from 1991 to 2008.
• NM State also collided with No. 1 Arizona on Dec. 12 nine years ago while their most recent contest on this date came just last season when they knocked off Loyola Marymount on the road (63-58).
• In road games on Dec. 12, the Aggies are 6-11, including a pair of overtime wins over BYU and New Mexico.
 
SCOUTING THE DUKES       
• Amid his sixth year with the program, 25-year coaching veteran Keith Dambrot will lead Duquesne against the Aggies on Wednesday.
• Dambrot's lengthy resume includes three MAC Championships and the same number of NCAA Tournament appearances during his 13-year stint with Akron.
• On the court, the Dukes are led in scoring by Dae Dae Grant who paces Duquesne points per game at 18.9 points per game. Grant previously spent three seasons with Miami (OH) where he scored 1,171 points (13.5 ppg) and made 165 three-pointers.
• Northwest Florida State transfer Jimmy Clark III will also look to assist the Dukes in the scoring column as he enters Sunday averaging 9.6 points per game while attempting the second-most shots per game.
• Duquesne is immediately coming off its first home loss of the season - putting its record at 7-2 overall.
• The game against the Aggies will represent the sixth-straight home game for Duquesne and comes amid a nine-game home stand.
• The Aggies have met the Dukes once in program history - defeating Duquesne 84-74 in the Quaker City Tourney in Philadelphia.
• One of the Aggies' best all-time individual performances also came against the Dukes as John Williamson posted 40 points in the victory - marking one of the program's eight 40-point efforts in program history.