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Contents: Games 27
Who: New Mexico State (11-15, 5-6 CUSA) vs. Sam Houston (15-11, 8-3 CUSA)
Date and time: Thursday, February 22nd, 7pm (MT)
Location: Las Cruces, New Mexico – Pan American Center (12,572)
Tip at the beginning
• After losing the past two road games to Middle Tennessee (76-69) and Western Kentucky (72-58), Hooten's group finished the season (11-15) overall and in conference play (5-6). ).
• New Mexico State is scheduled to play Sam Houston in its 12th game of conference play this season, and the Bearkats are coming off an 83-73 home win over Liberty (83-73) in their 11th game of conference play on Saturday.
• Thursday was the second time this season that the Aggies faced the Bearkats, but the Aggies lost (79-67). New Mexico State will look to continue its six-game home winning streak and give Hooten its first win against his former school.
a new start
• Going into the season, no players from the 2022-23 season will be playing for the Aggies this season, making New Mexico State the only program in the nation with an entirely new roster.
• Head coach Jason Hooten, tasked with building a promising roster from the ground up, said all but one Aggie on this year's roster have played basketball beyond the high school level. We chose to invite experienced players. This includes 12 with collegiate experience and one with NBA Global Academy experience. Of the 13 players with college experience, eight have experience at the Division I level.
New year, new leader
• Jason Hooten, who needs a refresher button after spending the past 13 seasons as bench boss at Sam Houston, takes over the Aggie program.
• Many say Hooten, who began his tenure after winning 261 games, posting a .607 winning percentage and helping the Bearkats to six postseason appearances, has what it takes to return the Aggie program to glory. I am sure. With this success, Hooten ultimately left Huntsville, Texas as the winningest coach in program history.
• In his final year with Sam Houston, Hooten helped lead the 'Kats to the program's first NIT Tournament appearance. When the Bearkats advanced to the national tournament, they made some noise by defeating Santa Clara in the opening round. During last year's historic season with Sam Houston, Hooten led the Bearcats to upset road wins over two Power Five programs in Oklahoma State and Utah.The Aggies will look to soak up some of that magic Monday when they take on a blue-blooded opponent.
room for growth
• In their first season as members of Conference USA, the Aggies were projected to finish eighth in the nine-team league, according to a poll of the conference's nine head coaches.
• This is a big deal for the Aggie program, which became a member of CUSA after 18 years as a member of the WAC and a run in the Western Athletic Conference that included seven regular-season championships and 10 tournament championships. The role of the underdog is new territory.
In fact, during the 18 years the Aggies spent in the WAC, New Mexico State was picked in the top three in the coaches poll every year except for the first year, when it finished eighth. During that span, the Aggies were named the preseason favorite nine times.
tournament time
• New Mexico State's 10 conference tournament titles since 2006 are second most in the nation. He is bettered only by Gonzaga (14th) in the WCC.
lay the foundation
• This may be Jason Hooten's first year with the program, but the former Sam Houston coach will also be traveling from Huntsville to Las Cruces with two members of his staff and Bearkats starting center Kaosi Ezeagu. So I did my best to surround myself with familiar faces. during the off-season.
• Last season, Ezeagu was a vocal leader for Sam Houston's team, starting all 33 games he played in and paced the Bearkats through 16 games of the season.
• In addition to Ezeagu, assistant coach Payne Andrus and graduate assistant Terionte Thomas also contributed to the success of the Bearkats program last season.
power five aggies
• New Mexico State's 2023 roster includes Kaosi Ezeagu (Kansas State) and Femi Odukale (Pitt), who each played among the best of the best in their collegiate careers and are power players. -Two Aggies are on the Five's roster.
home court advantage
• The Aggies have made it their mission to protect their home court, and they have remained faithful to that mission. New Mexico State is now 11-1 at home, with the only loss coming in a one-point loss to I-25 rival New Mexico State.
• In addition to being 11-1 at home, the Aggies lead Conference USA in game attendance this season, averaging 5,367 fans per game. Against Jack State, New Mexico State hosted a “Pac the Pan Am” game, with 11,278 fans in attendance, the most of any CUSA team this season.
• For more than a decade, the “Panamaniacs” have helped the Aggies become one of the nation's most dominant teams from their home floor. Back in the 2011-2012 season, New Mexico State went 162-20 against the Pan American Center.
Aggies go to overtime
• Thursday's win marked the Aggies' first overtime win of the year after losing in overtime twice this season.
This is the first time the Aggies have won in overtime since Dec. 6, 2021, when Chris Jans and the Aggies defeated New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• Additionally, the Aggies' three overtime games are the program's most overtime games since the 2015-16 season, when three games also required overtime. In total, the Aggies have only played more overtime games six times in a season, including the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons, when five games each season went into overtime. It will be done.
Running with Rawls
• Jordan Rawls has emerged as one of the top guards in Conference USA this season. The Chattanooga, Tenn., native leads the Aggies in assists (3.8) per game. Rawls has already surpassed his own season high of assists of 94.
• Additionally, he is very good on the ball, ranking third in the league in assist to turnover ratio (1.68).
• Notably, Rawls is one of the most experienced players in the entire conference. He has now played in 113 games as a member of Conference USA, including three seasons at Western Kentucky. That ranks third among CUSA's active players, behind only FIU's Jawaunte Hawkins and Petar Krivokapic, who each played in 116 games.
balanced attack
New Mexico State boasts a balanced offense with eight players averaging 7.2 to 11.0 points per game. The Aggies also have 10 of his student-athletes who average at least 2.6 rebounds per game. Femi Odukale paced New Mexico State in both categories, averaging 11.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
Increased defense power
• The Aggies have made strides in their defensive ability, which has been a key denominator in recent games. This improved defensive presence has allowed the Aggies to hold challengers to a field goal percentage of 40.9 percent, ranking them 40th in the nation and second in the nation in field goal percentage.
History of Futen
• During his tenure at Sam Houston, Hooten spent a total of 18 years at Huntsville, including 13 seasons as head coach and five seasons as an assistant coach. Over the past few years, he has recorded 20 or more wins in six seasons, including four in his final six seasons.
• Hooten leaves the program as the winningest coach in program history with 261 wins.During that time, he helped lead Sam Houston to six postseason appearances, including his first-ever NIT appearance and a win in the 2023 NIT First Round.
• Scored a 25-point win against New Mexico State, which is 2-0 during the Sam Houston era and ends a 10-game winning streak in the 2021-22 season.
harris hot streak
• Jaden Harris has started the past five games, averaging 16.6 points in 29.8 minutes per game. He shot 40 percent (12-for-30) from 3-point range and converted 17-for-18 percent (94.4 percent) from the free-throw line.
• His best performance of the game came against Middle Tennessee, where he scored 22 points on 9-for-14 field goals.
bearkat scout
• Sam Houston enters Thursday night with a record of 15-11 (8-3), good enough for the Bearkats to tie for first place in the nation with Los Angeles Tech. The Bearkats rank him 65th in the country in offensive rebounds per game (12.0) and he ranks 1st in CUSA. The Bearkats also rank 60th in the nation in turnovers forced per game (13.7) and fourth in CUSA.
• Sam Houston is led by Chris Mudge, who is in his first season as head coach. On April 4, 2023, following Hooten's departure, Madge was named the 20th head coach of the Sam Houston men's basketball program.
• The Bearkats are led in scoring by Lamar Wilkerson, who scores 15.0 points per game. The junior guard was also named CUSA Player of the Week on November 27, 2023.
##New Mexico##