Game Twenty-Seven
NM State (22-4, 12-2 WAC) at Seattle U (21-6, 12-2 WAC)
Monday, Feb. 21 | 8:00 p.m. MT | Redhawk Center | Seattle, Wash.
Watch | Listen | Live Stats | Tickets | NM State Game Notes | Seattle U Game Notes | Program

THE OPENING TIP
• Once again, sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference standings is up for grabs when NM State and Seattle U duke it out in the Pacific Northwest.
• The Redhawk Center is the site of the second regular-season matchup between the Aggies and Redhawks this season with the winner of Monday night's 7:00 p.m. showdown sitting alone in the top spot on the league standings.
• ESPN+ and the ESPN app are set to carry each and every second of the 25th all-time meeting between the two programs around the globe. Russell Brown and Mazvita Maraire will be on the call.
• 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 Monday 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 third time under head coach Chris Jans and for the sixth time in the history of the program, NM State has won 22 of its first 26 games to start the season. NM State previously started 22-4 through its first 26 games in 2018-19, 2017-18, 2016-17, 1990-91 and 1936-37.
• Only three other teams in NM State history have put forth a better record than 22-4 through their first 26 games. The Aggies went 24-2 to start the year in 1969-70. The 1989-90 and 1968-69 versions of the Aggies went 23-3 through their first 26 games
• NM State's 22 wins are the ninth-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 61-11 (.847) 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 .847 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 (75-2, .974) 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 117 to his credit.
• The second half has been a strength of the Aggies all season long. NM State has outscored its foes 1088-910 (+178) in the second half - good for an average of 6.8 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 20th nationally in scoring at a clip of 20.0 points per game. Allen has put in 20 or more points in each of his last eight 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' 1,004 career points are tied with Billy Keys for the 36th-most on the Aggies' all-time scoring charts while Rice's 1,024 points put him 33rd on that list.
• Chris Jans is 24-4 (.857) in games directly after a loss as the Aggies' head coach.

THE ROAD WARRIORS
• Despite seeing their five-game winning streak snapped Saturday, Feb. 12, at Utah Valley, the Aggies are still one of the nation's best teams when it comes to true road games.
• NM State's winning percentage of .800 (8-2) in true road games this season is the eighth-best in the nation. The Aggies' eight true road wins are also the 10th-most by any NCAA Division I men's basketball team in the nation. Only Chattanooga (11), Navy (11), Belmont (10), Monmouth (10), Murray State (10), Towson (10), Wagner (nine), Montana State (nine) and Hofstra (nine) have more true road triumphs this season than NM State.
• In Chris Jans' tenure as head coach, NM State is 40-14 (.741) in true road games.

MISCELLANEOUS & MILESTONES
• Monday night's matchup is the first showdown between two WAC teams with 20 or more wins since March 5, 2020. That night, in Las Cruces, N.M., NM State posted an 83-50 win over California Baptist.
• NM State's collective field goal percentage of .464 ranks 60th in the nation and is the second-best in the WAC.
• The Aggies' rebounding margin of +7.5 is the 13th-best in the nation as well as the second-best in the WAC.
• NM State ranks 18th nationally in terms of field goal percentage defense. The Aggies are allowing their opponents to shoot just 39.2-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 20.0 points per game and also ranks 62nd nationally in free throw percentage (.848). The Phoenix, Ariz., product also sits among the top 60 players nationally in field goal attempts (57th, 372).
• 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 118 rejections to his credit as a collegian which are the seventh-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) and Slab Jones (124).
• 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.
• With a strong push at the tail end of the Aggies' regular season, Allen could break into the program's top-ten single-season scoring list. He has 521 to his credit at the moment, putting him 67 points away from matching Daniel Mullings (588) for the 10th-best single-season point total in program lore.
• Each of the Aggies' best three-point shooting performances this season have come on the road. NM State has shot 50-percent or better from long range in a game three times this season - at SFA (14-of-28 on Jan. 22), at Grand Canyon (13-of-25 on Feb. 19) and at Dixie State (8-of-15 on Feb. 10).

LAST TIME OUT vs. SEATTLE U | NM State 79, vs. Seattle U 64 | Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022
• The legend of Teddy Allen continued to grow among NM State faithful and college basketball junkies everywhere as the Aggies' high-scoring guard turned in another sparkling offensive performance, finishing with a 33-point, 11-rebound double-double in his team's 79-64 win over Seattle U last Saturday night inside the Pan American Center.
• It marked the third time in 2021-22 in which Allen amassed 30 or more points in a game. He's the first NM State player with multiple 30+ point outings in a single season since 2017-18. That year, Zach Lofton racked up a trio of 30+ point games.
• Allen's team-leading fourth double-double of the season was complimented by Johnny McCants' first double-double effort of 2021-22. Forty-eight hours before his son - Johnny Lashon McCants III - came into the world, McCants posted 12 points and 12 rebounds to help the Aggies move into sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference standings.
• Once the dust had settled inside the Pan American Center, Allen's WAC averages stood at 21.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. At the time, that made him one of just three players across all of NCAA Division I basketball averaging numbers like that or better in conference action.
• Graduate forward Yuat Alok impressed once again in his second-straight start. Alok amassed 11 points and four rebounds and is averaging 10.5 points and three rebounds while shooting 58.8-percent (10-of-17) from the field in his last two outings.
• Jabari Rice entered the game needing 23 more points to get to an even 1,000 in his collegiate career. Though he didn't get there, the Houston, Texas, product made his presence felt elsewhere by passing out a game-high seven assists - one fewer than his career high. Those seven assists were one more than Seattle U recorded as a team.

LAST TIME OUT | NM State 82, at Grand Canyon 66 | Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022
• Playing in his hometown for the first time in his collegiate career, Teddy Allen put on a show inside GCU Arena by going for a 30-point, 10-rebound double-double as NM State eviscerated defending WAC champion GCU by an 82-66 tally.
• Outside of the Lopes scoring the first basket of the game, NM State never trailed and made a mockery of Grand Cayon's three-point field goal percentage defense. Prior to 6:00 p.m. MT Saturday night, the Lopes ranked second in the nation in that statistical category. A little more than two hours later, they did not after NM State rattled in 52-percent (13-of-25) of its tries from long distance.
• Allen's third-straight double-double made him the first Aggie to post three in a row since Eli Chuha did so in the 2018-19 campaign. Furthermore, Allen sprang for 20 or more points for the eighth-straight game - the nation's second-longest active streak of 20+ point games by an NCAA Division I player.
• Though he didn't score any more points after putting in the Aggies' first bucket of the game, Johnny McCants did a little bit of everything else to help NM State earn its first regular-season sweep of the Lopes since 2019-20. McCants finished with three points, three rebounds, four assists and a trio of blocked shots. Those three rebounds pushed McCants' career total to 718 - tied for the 10th-most in program history.
• Saturday's showdown marked Donnie Tillman's return to the Aggies' lineup following a three-game absence. The Detroit, Mich., product finished with 10 points on a 3-of-4 shooting clip. One of those three buckets was a poster dunk in the second half.
• Clayton Henry helped the Aggies' cause, too, finishing with 10 points and a season-high seven rebounds in 38 minutes of work.
• In addition to his scoring and rebounding showcase, Allen also passed out five assists - three fewer than the Lopes' entire team amassed.

SCOUTING SEATTLE U | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Primed for a premier WAC tilt against the Aggies, Seattle U is hoping its backcourt strength will be on full display as it hopes to take over sole possession of the top spot in the league standings.
• Sporting a high-scoring guard duo to rival that of the Allen/Rice tandem boasted by the Aggies, the Redhawks have relied on Darrion Trammell and Cameron Tyson to get the job done all season long. Trammell averages 16.4 points per game while Tyson pours in points at a rate of 15.7 per outing. Those averages rank sixth and eighth in the WAC respectively.
• Trammell gets his scoring done in a variety of ways, while Tyson is one of the nation's premier long-range threats. Tyson has hoisted up 240 long balls this year - the sixth-most in the land - and his 3.62 downtown swishes per game are the most in the WAC and the seventh-most in the nation.
• Not only does Trammell have a reputation as a scorer, he stands as one of the best facilitators and defensive players the WAC has to offer, too. Trammell tops the league's charts and ranks 24th in the land in assists per game (5.3) while his 2.46 steals per game are the sixth-best average in the nation.
• Taking care of the ball has been a hallmark of the Redhawks since Chris Victor took over the reigns of the program just prior to the start of the year. Seattle U averages just 11.5 turnovers per game - the fewest in the WAC and the 66th-fewest nationally.
• Keeping with the fundamentals, the Redhawks' free throw accuracy has also helped lead to their best season in recent memory. Seattle U's collective free throw percentage of .776 is tops in the WAC as well as the 15th-best among all NCAA Division I men's basketball teams.

THIS DATE IN NM STATE HISTORY
• Seven years have passed since NM State's last game on Feb. 21. In 2015, head coach Marvin Menzies led the Aggies to a 72-55 WAC win at Grand Canyon on this date.
• That game was the first - and until today only - WAC contest NM State ever played on this date.
• In 1987, the 26th-largest crowd in Pan American Center history filed in and saw UNLV come away with an 80-69 road win over NM State.
• NM State's first game on this date was a 57-20 victory over New Mexico in 1918.

COMING UP NEXT
• NM State's final WAC road game of the 2021-22 regular season sends the Aggies north to The Windy City for a Saturday afternoon skirmish at Chicago State. TIp-off between the Aggies and Cougars has been set for 1:00 p.m. that day inside Jones Convocation Center.

++NM State++