Game Twenty-Six
NM State (21-4, 11-2 WAC) at Grand Canyon (18-6, 9-4 WAC)
Saturday, Feb. 19 | 6:00 p.m. | GCU Arena | Phoenix, Ariz.
Watch | Listen | Live Stats | Tickets | NM State Game Notes | GCU Game Notes | Program
THE OPENING TIP
• Round two of the always-entertaining and never-sparsely-populated tilt between NM State and Grand Canyon is set for Saturday evening at GCU Arena. The Aggies are hoping to secure their first regular-season sweep of the Lopes since 2019-20 while putting an end to a two-game skid against GCU in Phoenix.
• Tip-off for the 22nd all-time meeting between the two programs is set for 6:00 p.m. with ESPN+ and the ESPN app set to stream all of the action around the nation. Barry Buetel and Scott Williams will be on the call there.
• Over the airwaves, legendary radio play-by-play man Jack Nixon will set up shop courtside to call the action.
• The play-by-play and analysis of the nation's 14th-longest tenured NCAA Division I men's basketball voice 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 Thursday night's tilt.
FAST BREAK POINTS
• NM State still resides in the top spot of the WAC standings, but it has some company there. The Aggies are tied with Seattle U for the league's top spot with Sam Houston a half-game back of that pair for first place in the WAC.
• For the first time under head coach Chris Jans and for the second time in the history of the program, NM State has won 21 of its first 25 games to start the season. NM State previously started 21-4 through its first 25 games in 1990-91 and 1967-68.
• Only six other teams in NM State history have put forth a better record than 20-4 through their first 24 games. The Aggies went 23-2 to start the year in 1969-70. The 2017-18, 2016-17, 1989-90, 1968-69 and 1937-38 versions of the Aggies went 22-3 through their first 25 games
• NM State's 21 wins are the 12th-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 32 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 87-4 (.956) 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 60-11 (.845) in regular-season WAC games as the Aggies' head coach. Included in that record is a perfect 30-0 (1.000) showing against WAC squads inside NM State's home venue of the Pan American Center.
• NM State's .845 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 (73-2, .973) is higher.
• With a win at SFA on Saturday, Jan. 22, NM State senior forward Johnny McCants overtook Ian Baker for the highest number of wins in the history the program (111). Baker, who suited up for NM State from 2014-17, amassed 110 wins through the course of his storied Aggie career, but McCants is slowly increasing the number of wins on his resume with 115 to his credit.
• The second half has been a strength of the Aggies all season long. NM State has outscored its foes 965-793 (+172) in the second half - good for an average of 7.5 points per game. NM State has outscored its opponent by 15 or more in the final frame six times this season, too. Only Arizona, Colorado State, Gonzaga, Kentucky and St. Mary's have exceeded those second-half scoring stats put up by the Aggies.
• High-scoring guard Teddy Allen currently leads the WAC and ranks 30th nationally in scoring at a clip of 19.6 points per game. Allen has put in 20 or more points in each of his last six games, the longest streak of games with 20 or more points by an Aggie in the 21st century.
• Currently the Aggies have four players on their roster - Teddy Allen, Johnny McCants, Jabari Rice and Donnie Tillman - who have amassed 1,000 or more points in their respective NCAA Division I careers. Just three other programs - UAB (six), Notre Dame (five) and Florida (five) have more players on their 2021-22 rosters with 1,000 or more career points. NM State is one of 10 programs around the nation who have four 1,000-point scores on its roster.
• In addition to in the program's 1,000-point club, McCants is also within striking distance of becoming one of the program's top-ten all-time rebounders. McCants needs to gather up just three more boards to tied Jeff Smith (718 rebounds) for 10th place on the Aggies' all-time rebounding list.
• Of the Aggies' four 1,000-point scorers, two of them - Johnny McCants and Jabari Rice - have piled up all of their points at NM State. McCants' 1,001 career points are the 37th-most on the Aggies' all-time scoring charts while Rice's 1,010 points put him 35th on that list.
• Chris Jans is 24-4 (.857) in games directly after a loss as the Aggies' head coach.
MISCELLANEOUS & MILESTONES
• NM State's collective field goal percentage of .461 ranks 70th in the nation and is the third-best in the WAC.
• The Aggies' rebounding margin of +7.4 is the 15th-best in the nation as well as the second-best in the WAC.\
• NM State ranks 19th nationally in terms of field goal percentage defense. The Aggies are allowing their opponents to shoot just 39.1-percent from the floor this season which is the second-best among all WAC teams.
• In one of his most recent games, redshirt junior guard Jabari Rice put in 21 points as NM State won at WAC foe SFA (Jan. 22). When Rice scores 20 or more points in a game, NM State is 10-1 (.909).
• High-scoring guard Teddy Allen leads NM State and the WAC in scoring at a rate of 19.6 points per game and also ranks 54th nationally in free throw percentage (.855). The Phoenix, Ariz., product also sits among the top 65 players nationally in field goal attempts (64th, 351).
• 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 115 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).
• After hitting nearly 40-percent (37.1-percent) of its long-range shots in the month of January, NM State has struggled to find its touch this month. The Aggies' three-point field goal percentage in February is just 24.3 (24-of-111).
• Teddy Allen has claimed WAC Player of the Week honors on three occasions through the 2021-22 season. That's the most by an Aggie since Zach Lofton picked up four such citations in the 2017-18 campaign.
LAST TIME OUT vs. GRAND CANYON | NM State 71, GCU 61 | Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022
• With the three-point line effectively shut off for both teams, NM State worked its way inside time and time again in order to snap its three-game losing skid against Grand Canyon with a 71-61 win Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, inside the Pan American Center.
• NM State and Grand Canyon combined to go just 7-of-43 (16.3-percent) from long range, but the Aggies shot 21-of-36 (58.3-percent) from two-point territory to help them claim victory.
• Teddy Allen didn't attempt a three-pointer in an NCAA Division I men's basketball game for the first time since March 23, 2018, but it mattered not as he finished with a game-high 28 points on 8-of-11 shooting. A 12-of-12 effort at the free throw stripe - his second 12-of-12 showing of the season from that distance - helped his point total grow.
• Allen added a career-high 12 rebounds to put the finishing touches on his third double-double of the season. All of Allen's double-doubles at the NCAA Division I level have come at NM State.
• Jabari Rice added 18 points and 12 rebounds, too, giving the Aggies two players with double-doubles in the same game since Rice and Ivan Aurrecoechea accomplished that feat in a win at Seattle U on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020.
• Getting to the foul line was another key ingredient for NM State's winning recipe. The Aggies attempted 41 tries at the foul stripe - the most in a single game in the Chris Jans coaching era.
• The Aggies trailed by as many as six points in the deciding frame, but over the final 10 minutes NM State closed the game on a 28-12 run to lock up the win.
LAST TIME OUT | Dixie State 64, at NM State 75 | Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022
• Johnny McCants became the fourth NM State player on the team's 2021-22 roster to join the 1,000-point club by putting in 17 points in the Aggies' 75-64 win over Dixie State Wednesday night inside the Pan American Center.
• McCants joined Teddy Allen, Jabari Rice and Donnie Tillman as the players on the Aggies' roster with 1,000 or more points in their collegiate careers.
• McCants was one of four Aggies who finished with 10 or more points as the team got back in the win column. Allen turned in his team-leading sixth double-double of the season by going for game highs in both points (20) and rebounds (10).
• Allen became the first NM State player to record a double-double in consecutive games since Eli Chuha did so in January of 2019.
• Over the last six games, Allen has generated four double-doubles. His four double-doubles over the last six games are the most in a six-game span by an Aggie since Chuha had four in six games from Dec. 23, 2018 through January 19, 2019.
• Making his first appearance in the starting lineup of 2022, Mike Peake continued to shine as of late. The forward out of Chicago, Ill., finished with 12 points on a 6-of-9 outing from the field. Peake is averaging 14 points on a 68.4-percent showing from the field over his last two outings.
• Mario McKinney Jr., turned in his first double-digit scoring outing of the 2022 calendar year by finishing with 10 points on a 4-of-5 night from the field.
• NM State moved to 4-0 all-time against Dixie State with the win.
• Allen turned in his seventh-straight game of 20 or more points. That's the longest streak of 20+ point games by an NM State player in the 21st century.
• Currently Allen's streak of seven games with 20 or more points is the second-longest among all NCAA Division I men's basketball players.
SCOUTING GRAND CANYON | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Back within the confines of one of the nation's most intimidating venues for four of its last five regular-season games, Grand Canyon hopes that home-court advantage will aid it in erasing a two-game deficit for a top spot in the WAC standings.
• In search of their second-straight WAC regular season crown, the Lopes rely heavily on a guard-centric lineup to get the job done. At the head of the line is Jovan Blacksher Jr., who is putting together a WAC Player of the Year type
of season. The Oakland, Calif., product leads the team in scoring (16.7 ppg), assists (4.1 per game) and steals (1.9 per game). Blacksher Jr., has hit the double-digit scoring mark in all but one of the team's 24 games.
• Holland Woods gives the Lopes another top-ten scorer in the WAC as he ranks second on the team and 10th in the league with a points per game clip of 13.7.
• Rendering the three-point line useless for opponents has helped the Lopes sit on the cusp of 20-win season. Grand Canyon leads the WAC and ranks second in the nation in terms of three-point field goal percentage defense, letting foes hit just 26.7-percent of their tries from long range.
• Attacking the glass at a frenzied pace, the Lopes rank 10th nationally in rebounding with a WAC-leading figure of 40.75 boards per game. Yvan Ouedraogo and Gabe McGlothlan handle most of the work on the glass, averaging 6.6 and 6.2 rebounds per outing respectively. Each of them sits among the top 11 rebounders in the WAC.
• Grand Canyon's defense is among the tops in the land all around as they rank 12th in the land in terms of opponent field goal percentage (38.4-percent) and 15th nationally in scoring defense (60.8 ppg to the opposition).
THIS DATE IN NM STATE HISTORY
• The Aggies are playing a game outside the city of Las Cruces, N.M. on Feb. 19 for the second-straight season.
• Last year, NM State suffered a 69-66 WAC loss against Utah Valley at Eastwood High School in El Paso, Texas.
• NM State head coach Chris Jans is going in search of his first WAC win on this date.
• The Aggies are 1-1 in WAC games played on Feb. 19.
• Jans' first game as the Aggies' head coach on this date was an 80-42 home win over Texas A&M-International.
COMING UP NEXT
• A trip to the Pacific Northwest looms for the Aggies as they once again try to gain some separation at the top spot of the WAC standings. NM State will tangle with Seattle U Monday night at 8:00 p.m. MT inside the Redhawk Center with the winner gaining sole possession of first place in the WAC.
++NM State++
