What: Game Twenty-Two
Who: NM State (9-12, 3-3 CUSA) at Liberty (13-8, 2-4 CUSA)
When: Thursday, Feb. 1, 7:00 p.m. MT
Where: Las Cruces, N.M. - Pan American Center (12,572)
 

THE OPENING TIP

• The Aggies come back home following a two-game road trip where they fell to Sam Houston (67-79) and LA Tech (53-73). With the losses, Hooten's group goes to 9-12 on the season and 3-3 in CUSA play.  

• NM State will collide with Liberty for its seventh game of conference play this season, with the Flames currently coming off a road loss versus Jax State 62-73 on Thursday in their sixth game of conference play. 

• Saturday will mark the first time that the Aggies and Flames meet on the hardwood. Although Liberty Head Coach Ritchie McKay has ties against NM State, being the former head coach at New Mexico and went (5-5) in his time against the Aggies.

FRESH START            

• Entering the season, NM State is the only program in the country with an entirely new roster as zero players from the 2022-23 campaign will take the floor for the Aggies this season.

• Tasked with building a roster from scratch that is also expected to be competitive immediately, Head Coach Jason Hooten opted to bring in guys with experience as all but one Aggie on this year's roster has played basketball beyond the high school level. This includes 12 individuals with collegiate experience and one with experience in the NBA Global Academy. Of the 13 players that have collegiate experience, eight have experience at the Division I level.

NEW YEAR, NEW LEADER         

• After spending the last 13 seasons as the bench boss at Sam Houston, Jason Hooten takes over an Aggie program in need of a refresh button.

• Many are confident Hooten has what it takes to return the Aggie program back to glory as he begins his tenure after compiling 261 wins, posting a .607 win percentage and helping the Bearkats to six postseason appearances. With the success, Hooten ultimately departed Huntsville, Texas, as the program's all-time winningest coach.

• In his final year with Sam Houston, Hooten helped lead the 'Kats to the program's first-ever appearance in the NIT Tournament. Once the Bearkats reached the national tournament, they made some noise - defeating Santa Clara in the opening round. During last year's historic season with Sam Houston, Hooten also led his Bearkats to upset road wins over a pair of Power Five programs in Oklahoma and Utah. The Aggies will be looking to absorb some of that magic on Monday when they take on their blue blood opponent

ROOM TO GROW         

• In their first season as a member of Conference USA, the Aggies were projected to finish eighth in the nine-team league according to a vote of the conference's nine head coaches.

• This underdog role is new territory for the Aggie program as they become affiliates with CUSA after a run in the Western Athletic Conference that included seven regular season titles and 10 tournament titles during their 18-year stint as a member of the WAC.

• In fact, during the Aggies' 18 years in the WAC, NM State was selected to finish inside the top three of the coaches poll every year except for their inaugural season in which they were also tabbed to finish eighth. During that stretch, the Aggies were labeled preseason favorites nine times.

TOURNAMENT TIME        

• NM State's 10 conference tournament titles since 2006 are the second-most in the nation. Only the WCC's Gonzaga (14) has more. 

BUILDING A FOUNDATION        

• Although, this may be Jason Hooten's first year with the program, the former Sam Houston coach has done his best to surround himself with familiar faces as two staff members and starting center Kaosi Ezeagu from the Bearkats also made the trip from Huntsville to Las Cruces during the offseason.

• Last season, Ezeagu served as a vocal leader on Sam Houston's squad and started all 33 games that he appeared in and paced the Bearkats in blocks with 16 on the season.

• In addition to Ezeagu, Assistant Coach Payne Andrus and Graduate Assistant Terryonte Thomas were also contibutor's to the success of the Bearkat program last season.

POWER FIVE AGGIES        

• The 2023 NM State roster features two Aggies who have spent time on Power Five rosters as Kaosi Ezeagu (Kansas State) and Femi Odukale (Pitt) each played among the best of the best during their collegiate careers. 

DEFENSE ON THE RISE

• The Aggies have made strides in defensive proficiency which has been a key denominator in their recent contest. With this increased defensive presence, the Aggies now hold challengers to 40.7 from the field which now has them ranked 46th in the country and fourth in CUSA in field goal percentage defense.  

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

• The Aggies have made it their mission to protect home court and have held true to that. NM State is now 9-1at home with its only loss coming from a one-point nail-biter to I-25 rivals New Mexico. 

• On top of the Aggies being 9-1 at home, they also are leading Conference USA in game attendance this season with an average of 4,849 fans per contest.

• For more than a decade, the 'Panamaniacs' have helped the Aggies be one of the most dominant teams in the nation from their home floor. Dating back to the 2011-2012 season, NM State is 161-20 in contests from the Pan American Center.   

RUNNIN' WITH RAWLS 

• This season, Jordan Rawls has emerged as one of the top guards in Conference USA. The Chattanooga, Tenn., native leads the Aggies in assists per game at (4.3). Rawls has already eclipsed his high for assists in a single season with 84. 

• Additionally, he has been exceptional at taking care of the ball and ranks third in the league in assist to turnover ratio (1.91). 

• Rawls has also done it on the defensive end as his 1.3 steals per game is also good for tops on the team and tenth in the conference. 

• Of note, Rawls is one of the most experienced players in all of the conference. Including his three seasons with Western Kentucky, he has now played in 106 games as a member of a Conference USA institution. This ranks third among active CUSA players, coming in behind only FIU's Javaunte Hawkins and Petar Krivokapic who have each played in 109 games.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

NM State boasts a balanced offensive effort with seven players averaging between 7.6 and 11.4 points per game. The Aggies also feature seven student-athletes averaging at least three rebounds per game. Senior guard Femi Odukale paces NM State in scoring with 11.4 points and Kaosi Ezeagu leads the team in rebounds per game with 5.9.

HELP FROM THE BENCH

• NM State has shown that its capable of having players from the bench make an impact in action. The Aggies are now 61th in the country in bench points per game averaging 25.6 per contest.

SCOUTING THE FLAMES

• Liberty will enter Thursday night with a 13-8 (2-4) record. The Flames are third in the country in assist/turnover ratio (1.84), which is first in CUSA. The Flames are also sixth in the country in three pointers per game (10.9) which also holds first place in CUSA.

• Liberty is led by Ritchie McKay who is in his 11th season leading as head coach. McKay has extensive experience in college basketball spending 22 seasons as a head coach at five different institutions (Portland State, Colorado State, Oregon State, New Mexico and Liberty). McKay and Hooten have only faced off one time before ten years ago with McKay coming out on top edging out Hooten 62-58. Last season, McKay led the Flames to a 27-9 overall record before suffering a loss to Wisconsin 71-75 in the NIT tournament.

• The Flames are led in scoring by Kyle Rode, who posts 14.1 points per game. The senior forward is ranked 20th in three pointers per game (20) and 16th in the country in total three point field goals made with 65 total. He was also picked apart of the CUSA Preseason All CUSA team for the 2023-24 season. 

• Lastly, the Aggies will have to contend with Joseph Venzant, the 6'3 junior guard is averaging 7.2 rebounds a game which leads The Flames on the boards.

##NM State##