On the one hand, I was pretty disappointed. I had tickets to this game and hospitality
suite and I wasn’t able to get anyone else to go with me. Ron cancelled Friday evening. This was a bad time to find a replacement for
a Saturday afternoon event. Four other
people I asked had plans or the really lame excuse of being afraid of catching
the flu. (Thanks for that last one, Dad. Thank goodness you can’t catch the flu going
to the grocery store.) On the other
hand, right after walking into the main concourse, I was able to pick up this
cool caricature poster. They were giving
these out at Thursday’s game along with autographs. I felt pretty fortunate they had leftovers for
Saturday, especially given that everyone I showed this to wanted one. I couldn’t find any after the game to get for
them.
Barbara Hubbard Room
If I wasn’t over the disappointment with the poster, I got
another highlight soon after I entered the Hub.
(Do I need say that I got these tickets from work?) A rather handsome fellow introduced himself
to me as Rob Baarts while I was
standing in line for food. “I know you,”
I said, “You’re the new soccer
coach.” I got a few minutes with him and
spent my time praising the girls for their community outreach. I also couldn’t help gushing over Aileen Galicia. He liked my comment about her having an “a
sweet little angel face,” but “absolutely ferocious on the field.” I put in a good word for goalie, Dmitri Fong as well. Hopefully, somebody else there talked about
the team with him, but at least one person did.
When Baarts was formally introduced to the room, he asked how many of
them had gone to an Aggie Soccer game.
About half the room raised their hands.
It was a full house, standing room only, at the Hub. Last time (12-3-17), it was about half
full. I saw Chuck, who got me the
tickets, and his wife. (Later in the
bathroom, I ran in to the company officer who gave him the tickets and got say “Thanks,”
to him.) One of our senior officers was
also there. I’d worn my Arizona Bowl t-shirt and she liked
it. Athletic
Director Mario Moccia was there working the room. He was wearing an Arizona Bowl tie. He’d come there from the Aggie Football Rally downtown and was beaming. More on that later.
The meal was pasta salad, rolled tacos, nachos, and cookies. I normally hate cold pasta (it should be
served hot) and rolled tacos (they taste better unrolled), but these were
actually really good. I’m still shocked
that they apparently weren’t serving soft drinks, just alcohol, tea, and
water. I attempted to look around the
packed walls again at the pictures of all of the acts that had been at the Pan-Am Center. I was only able to note Kenny Loggins, Sting, Olivia Newton-John, and a production of
Cats.
I saw a Sting concert here in the late 80’s. I think my parents saw Olivia in the 70’s
when I was a child. (I was probably left
at home with my beautiful Hawaiian babysitter.)
Associate Head Coach
Lou Gudino gave the room a briefing on today’s opponent, the Utah Valley Wolverines. This team, like the Aggies, was 4-0 in
conference, and they were riding an 8-game winning streak. While Grand
Canyon was the pre-season favorite in the WAC, the Aggies have seen the
Wolverines as another one of their prime competitors. They were not taking them lightly. The coach didn’t single out any of their
players, but said they expected a fast-paced, high-scoring game. With Aggies’ road success and this big
matchup, little wonder the room was full of buzzing fans.
I really wanted to try the Pan-Am hamburger today. While I didn’t stuff myself at the Hub, it
was still too soon for more food, so no review this time, again. I remembered a forlorn-looking kettle corn
vendor in the main concourse from last time.
This time, she had cinnamon-roasted almonds, so I gave her a sale. (I love those things.)
I think I saw Kayla
Green with probably some of the softball
team along the way to my seat. It was a
great crowd. I could tell it was going
to be good pulling into the parking lot an hour before the game. The lower bowl was nearly full, so it was
likely well over 6,000. They were also
in a very enthusiastic mood. The Student
Section was full, which is paramount to getting a college crowd going. Football
Coach Doug Martin and his assistant coach/wife were again seated a couple
of rows below me. My boss (actually it’s
complicated) came in to my section during the first half, but I didn’t get to
say hello until after the game. On
court, I got a look at the Wolverines.
They had some very big, tall players.
The Roadrunner Review
band members were all wearing Aggie hockey-style sweaters. That’s a conceptually-interesting idea. I think UTEP actually does have a hockey
team, or I was imagining hearing about them.
In any case, me and likely much of the crowd were lusting after their
apparel. An announcement was made that
the Aggie Women’s Basketball team was
leading the Wolverines in Utah at the half.
A little eighth-grader girl with a tremendous voice came out and made
the Anthem her own. If American Idol was still around, she’d be
trying out for it.
The intro video for the players was changed for this week. “After 37 days on the road,” it started and
then showed highlights of the Aggies’ victories over Illinois (12-16-17), Davidson (12-22-17), Miami (12-23-17), and Grand Canyon (1-11-18). And it ended with, “There’s no place like
home,” and the crowd going crazy. Even
the Utah Valley players stopped to watch the video. Okay, I was a wee disappointed in the guys as
they were introduced. They mostly all
big-timed Pistol Pete out on
court. Shame, fellows.
First Half
The Aggies came out hot.
Admittedly, a couple of their shots were lucky, but sometimes the rim
loves you. It was 16-5 Aggies after just
five minutes. The Wolverines had some
good players. Jake Toolson had a great fake out move for a basket before the
first media timeout to make it 18-9 Aggies.
Some fans in costume were brought out for a “hamburger-making” contest
to the amusement of the crowd. I’m
intrigued by the blonde girl that’s an assistant for the team. She was in a skirt and little suede
boots. She looked really out-of-place,
but not unwelcome, on a basketball court.
Let’s get the crowd going.
At nine minutes left, Zach Lofton
fed Eli Chuha for a jam, 24-12
Aggies. Five minutes left, 6’11” Isaac Neilson of the Wolverines wasn’t
letting that happen again as he stole an alley-oop mid-air to go along with an
earlier block. But the Aggies did get a
fast break layup right after that.
Another bad pass by the Aggies became a turnover and a three-pointer for
Utah Valley, 29-21 Aggies. Coach Chris Jans immediately called a
timeout to chew them out. Three minutes
left, the crowd reacted badly to a foul called on AJ Harris. You didn’t want
to get the crowd involved (though the pizza giveaway during the timeout might
have also accomplished that). With 30
seconds left, the fans rose and screamed and botched the Wolverines’
possession. Jack Nixon credited the crowd with the turnover. It was 39-29 Aggies at the half.
Halftime and Aggie Downtown Football Rally
I also got this poster up front. Too cool.
You could see the Football team queuing up before the end of the half to
come out on court. Possibly to the
chagrin of the food vendors, the crowd mostly all stayed in their seats. The team received thunderous applause as they
came out with the Arizona Bowl trophy.
Strange that both times I’ve been to a Men’s Basketball game this
season, I’ve seen the Football team honored.
A bowl official from Tucson thanked Las Cruces for making their game so
successful this year. Coach Martin told
the fans to come out for the season opener, “This isn’t the end; it’s just the
beginning!”
The video boards were showing scenes from the Downtown Rally
from this morning. It looked like a
tremendous crowd there. I’d wanted to
go, but mentally insisted that I go with somebody. That was an even harder sell than this
game. (I woke up late anyway, but I
really did want to go.) On the local TV
news at night, I saw two different reports on the rally. It did look like a good crowd. In a player interview, he was amazed about
the fan support a month after the game.
He hoped this was something that could bring the community
together. You know, this bowl win has
been an event that everyone in town is proud of and happy about. There was even a quick comment from Aggie Baseball Coach Brian Green at the ballpark.
Even more surprising, Daniel
Johnson, star of the 2016 team, was there and was asked about the football
team. They introduced him as the Minor
League Player of the Year? (Not sure
about that, but it wouldn’t entirely surprise me.) If me and other Aggie baseball fans knew he
was here, we would have come out to the ballpark to watch practice and get his
autograph.
Back to the basketball game, the biggest difference stat
displayed had the Aggies shooting 50% to Utah Valley’s 40%. Down below my seat, I saw Dalton Herrington from football team
getting pictures with Mario’s girls. He
walked up through the crowd by my section and got some handshakes from the
crowd. Unfortunately, he was too far
away for me to jump out and accost him.
“Dude! Why don’t I see a ring on
your finger? Don’t tell me you aren’t
engaged to Jordan Ablalos? Do you really think you’ll find a better girl
than her! Why didn’t you bring her out
on court and propose to her right here and make a public event out of it like Carlos Correa did at the World Series? You could have made national news for the
university and it would have been so romantic!
You idiot!” Maybe it was better I
didn’t talk to him.
Second Half
Things started off well for the fans. Akolda
Manyang missed two free throws thus activating the Chik-a-fila free sandwich promotion. Chalk up another one for the screaming fans. They’d also cheer for good play, like a
minute later when AJ got a steal and a layup, 46-31 Aggies. Sidy
N’Dir then dropped a three to make it 49-31. Timeout Utah Valley as the crowd was standing
and cheering. And just to rub it in a
little more, the PA announced that the Aggie Women had just won their game
against Utah Valley, 82-72.
Let me also mention that the Aggies’ interior defense and
rebounding were excellent, especially against these big and tall Wolverine
players. 14 minutes left, Zach hit
another three. He veritably skipped back
up court with a big smile. He was on
fire. Chuha put in a layup right
after. The crowd kept going nuts. A fan next to me, seeing me with my
scorecard, asked, “You getting all of this?”
(Apparently I wasn’t. I had a
mistake in there somewhere. I thought I was
doing such a good job.) The defensive
highlights continued. Johnny McCants got a massive
block. Timeout. The Student Section started a wave that went
around the arena for a couple of minutes.
Chuha stole an inbounds pass and got a block on the much taller
Manyang. Jack pronounced that the Aggies
were “Kicking them sideways.”
With seven minutes left, the Aggies got called for their
seventh foul. They’d picked up a couple
early. What was strange was that the
Wolverines had not been called for any this half (seven in the first). This disparity wasn’t hurting the Aggies at
all. AJ put in another three. The Cheerleaders were out of t-shirts to toss
into the crowd for the three-pointer promotion.
A minute later, the Aggies collected their ninth foul. Still none for Utah Valley. Regardless of the 71-48 score, the crowd and
the coach complained to the refs. Probably
a coincidence, the Wolverines got called for their first, moments later.
Five minutes left in the game, Zach hit his seventh
three. He didn’t even react to it. He just stood and stared for a moment. Zach had amazed even himself. With three minutes, Sidy got a layup to
activate a free wings deal at Hooters. (Or it happened on the last Aggie points of
the game. The deal was announced
twice.) Timeout. A blindfolded fan was out on court, trying to
find a large picture of marketing guy, DJ
Downs, with the help of the crowd.
The crowd wasn’t entirely helpful as everyone was just yelling. DJ finally had to direct the guy to his
picture as time expired.
At 83-55 Aggies, the NMSU bench got emptied. The starters were individually taken off to
rounds of applause. Jack reported that
local fan-favorite Joe Garza had
some food poisoning earlier and wasn’t able to play (without puking on the
court). Aussie Gabe Hadley stuck in a late three for the final Aggie points. Neilson on the Wolverines put in a two-handed
jam for their last points. This happened
in front of the Student Section who took particular, jeering offense to
it.
Our final: Aggies 86,
Wolverines 59. The Aggies were
making it rain with 15 three’s. Zach Lofton scored nearly all of his 24
points on three’s. Kenneth Ogbe led the Wolverines with 13. To give you an idea of the Aggies’ defense,
he no points in second half. The best
thing you can say about a team today is that they played the whole 40
minutes. At some point, we were probably
all expecting a cold streak, a lack of focus, or exhaustion to tighten up the
score, but it never happened. The coach
has to be happy with that kind of effort.
The Aggies are now alone at the top of the WAC.
They were not handing out Chik-a-fila coupons after the game
at the exits. I wonder if the free
sandwich offer meant that you had to go there tonight to get it. I apparently wasn’t paying good attention to
the promotion. After waiting maybe 20
minutes for traffic to clear out (that was the part of this trip I was
dreading, and for some reason they blocked one of the exits), I decided to go
to Schlotzsky’s instead and got one
of their pizzas. It’s about the best
pizza you can get . . . from a sandwich shop.
I just wanted a change of pace.
It was okay.
At home, the UTEP Men’s
Basketball team was playing a rare local TV game on the road at San
Antonio. Though they had a big lead in
the first half, they ended up losing to UTSA
65-61. Miner fans watching their
local TV sports news had to be gritting their teeth later. On the station I was watching, they recapped
the Miner loss and then showed the Aggie rally, the Aggie Men’s Basketball
victory, and then the Aggie Women winning.
Talk about riding a hot streak.
I’m feeling pretty fortunate too.
I don’t know if I can ask for Men’s tickets again though. I’m feeling guilty that other people at work
aren’t being given a chance to get them and it’s too hard to coordinate going
with other people for some reason. But,
I’ve certainly enjoyed going to these two games.
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