Game Twenty-Eight
NM State (10-17, 6-11 WAC) at Utah Valley (14-14, 9-8 WAC)
Saturday, March 5 | noon MT | UCCU Center (8,500) | Orem, Utah
Watch | Live Stats | NM State Game Notes | Program

Opening Tip
• NM State now makes the 1,300-mile from Nacogdoches, Texas, to Orem, Utah, for its final regular season outing of the 2021-22 season as they pay a visit to Utah Valley.
• The Aggies will be hoping to put on a better showing than when these two sides met the first time this season as the Wolverines held the Aggies to their lowest point total of the season when they knocked off NM State, 66-32.
• Despite dropping the last two to Utah Valley, NM State still dominates the series versus the Wolverines as they own a 15-4 record all-time in games against the Wolverines. This includes a record of 8-1 in games on Utah Valley's home floor.
• After representing the WAC in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, the Wolverines are posting another successful season, however, Saturday, the Aggies will look to prevent UVU from having its second straight season with a winning percentage better than .500 as Utah Valley enters the contest at 14-14 on the year.
• Contrary to how the outcome read the first time these two programs met, narrow results have been quite the theme for the Aggies this season as 10 contests in the 2021-22 season have been decided by four or fewer points. This marks the most for any Aggie team since the 2011-12 team that also had 10 decisions within four points.
• Prior to tip-off on Thursday, the Aggies find themselves slotted in 10th place in the WAC standings but would currently be the nine seed in the WAC Tournament due to Tarleton being ineligible to participate in Las Vegas.
• This will be the 75th WAC contest in which Brooke Atkinson will be at the helm as the Aggies have compiled a league record of 46-29 during her tenure, including two regular-season WAC titles.
 
The Nitty Gritty
• Head Coach Brooke Atkinson leads one of the WAC's top rebounding teams as the Aggies rank first in the conference in rebounding margin, out-rebounding opponents by 5.4 boards per game. That mark is also good for the 54th-best in the nation.
• The Aggies also rank first in rebound margin in league contests as, on average, they collect 6.4 more rebounds than their opponents in WAC games. In WAC play, the Aggies are tops in offensive rebounds per game (14.8) and third in total rebounds per game (38.4).
• Utah Valley also brings an emphasis on rebounding to the table as they rank second in rebound margin in WAC games at +6.3 while they are one of two teams ahead of the Aggies in total rebounds per game at 38.6.
• The Aggies also rank in the top five among WAC teams in free throw percentage (5th, .691), free throws made per game (4th, 12.0) and turnovers forced per game (4th, 17.26).
• NM State is led in scoring by graduate transfer Bigue Sarr who ranks 17th in the WAC in points per game (12.8) and second in rebounds per game (8.7). Sarr also posts a field goal percentage of 52.2 percent to rank seventh in the league. Sarr's ability to create second-chance opportunities for the Aggies is also among the league's best as she ranks second in the WAC in offensive rebounds per game, pulling down 3.4 per contest.
• The Dakar, Senegal, native's ability to score and clean the glass has also helped her record 11 double-doubles on the season to rank second in the WAC and make her one of only three Aggies in at least the last 10 seasons to post 10 or more double-doubles in one season.
• Saturday, Sarr will see the most formidable post player in the league as Josie Williams ranks second in the league in points per game (17.3) while her 12.3 rebounds per game has her at the top of the WAC in that category while ranking fourth in the nation. The six-foot, five-inch tall center also ranks fourth in the country in double-doubles - posting 21 in 27 games.
• The Aggies bench production has also been a strength all season and that charge is led by a pair of sophomores in Molly Kaiser and Taylor Donaldson. The duo ranks second and third on the Aggies in points per game and are two of only four players in the WAC to rank inside the top 43 in scoring and post less than 20 minutes of action per game.
• As a whole, NM State's bench accounts for nearly half of its points each game as the starting five posts 33.2 points per game while those on the bench combine for 32.1 points per game.
• Depth will be an area in which the Aggies will have the advantage on Saturday as Utah Valley relies heavily on its starters with the starting unit accounting for 51.7 of its 64.0 points per game.
 
WAC Tournament Talk
• With their victory over Chicago State on Saturday, Feb. 26, the Aggies guaranteed themselves a spot in the upcoming WAC Tournament.
• Now that the Aggies are in, determining their seed gets a little more complicated as they can still finish as high as the eighth, ninth or tenth seed depending on the outcomes across the league over the next two days.
• With a victory over Utah Valley on Saturday and a UTRGV loss to Stephen F. Austin, the Aggies would claim the eighth seed, however, this would only change the color of jersey that they would be wearing as they would face off against ninth-seeded UTRGV in the first round of the WAC Tournament.
• Should the Aggies lose on Saturday, they would either enter #WACVegas as the nine or 10 seed depending on what happens between Seattle U and Chicago State on Saturday in Chicago. In this scenario, a Seattle U win would give the Redhawks the nine seed and would bump the Aggies down to the 10-spot where they would draw Lamar or Abilene Christian.
• One thing to note is that the Aggies would own the tiebreaker over UTRGV should they find themselves with matching WAC records with either program.
• If the season had ended today, the Aggies would be in the ninth spot and facing off with UTRGV in the first round of the WAC tournament. This contest would take place on March 8, at noon PT at Michelob ULTRA Arena in the Mandalay Bay hotel.
 
Scouting the Wolverines
• After winning five straight, the Wolverines have hit a speed bump as they have dropped their last two. However, their previous two contests have been against California Baptist and Grand Canyon - two of the three teams ahead of them in the current WAC standings.
• While aforementioned Josie Williams will lead the charge from a scoring aspect, the Wolverines offense largely runs through junior guard Maria Carvalho as she plays the second-most minutes of any player in the WAC and ranks fourth in the conference in assists per game at 3.4.
• In the duel in Las Cruces last month, both Williams and Carvalho reached double figures as Williams finished with 12 points to go along with 12 boards while Carvalho posted 12 points. Sharpshooter Madison Grange also reached double-digits as she scored a game-high 13 points.
• The first meeting also saw the Aggies shoot just 20 percent from the field, including going 0-for-11 from three-point range.
• Head Coach Dan Nielson is in his third year with the Wolverines and has generated a record of 39-37 to this point in her career at the helm in Orem, Utah..
 
Last Time Out | NM State 56, Stephen F. Austin 64 | Thursday, March 3, 2022
• After trailing by 12 entering the fourth quarter, the Aggies battled all the way back to take the lead and nearly pull off the upset bid on Thursday night.
• However, a late 10-point run from Stephen F. Austin allowed the Ladyjacks to claim a 64-56 victory over NM State.
• Individually, the Aggies were led by Bigue Sarr who posted 15 points and 13 boards to collect her 11th double-double on the season.
• Molly Kaiser also reached double figures as she poured in 14 points on just 10 shots to post at least 10 points for the ninth time this season and fourth time in the last five outings.
• After posting her highest point total on Saturday, Adrianna Henderson had another effective night as she scored eight points to go along with five assists in her fourth straight start.
• As a unit, the Aggies shot 44 percent from the field to mark the second-straight tilt in which they shot at least 40 percent.
• The Aggies also dominated the glass once again as they outrebounded SFA 33-26.
• NM State also limited the Ladyjacks' bench to just six points while the Aggie bench accounted for 25 points.
• SFA was led by Stephanie Visscher who scored 19 points after posting just five points when the two teams met in Las Cruces, N.M.
• A pair of other Ladyjacks also reached double-digits as Zya Nugent record 16 points and Aiyana Johnson posted 11 points despite being held to 25 percent from the field.
 
Up Next
• Upon the conclusion of the regular season on Saturday, the Aggies will next be in Las Vegas for the 2022 WAC Tournament.
• The Aggies' seed is yet to be determined, but they do already know that they will be playing on Tuesday at either 1 or 3:30 p.m. MT.