NM State Aggies at the WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament 2019

3-14-19 vs Chicago St Cougars

It was another afternoon game for the Aggie Men’s first tournament game.  Coach Jans won back-to-back WAC Coach of the Year honors before the tournament.  Jack Nixon had Coach Atkinson of the Women’s team on before the game.  He accidently congratulated her on Coach of the Year honors, which she didn’t win.  He’d just assumed, because she’d done such a great job.  She wished Jack a happy birthday, “We’re both the same age, 39.”

AD Mario Moccia came on.  Airline travel was grounded out of El Paso for high winds on the team’s scheduled departure day.  They got to Las Vegas via a charter plane from the Las Cruces airport at a cost of $19,000.  Their equipment had to be driven there overnight.  Mario mentioned that the WAC has higher RPI than the Mountain West Conference, which NM State would probably rather be playing in.  This stat was interesting, since the Mountain West got two teams into the NCAA tournament, while the WAC only got their tournament winner in.

It sounded like a great Aggie crowd there for the team.  The WAC loves NMSU for showing up like this.  Okay, the Aggies were playing a Chicago State team that was winless in conference this year, so we’re going to make this recap short.  CJ Bobbitt made three threes to start for the Aggies as part of an 11-point run to start the game.  The Cougars closed to 15-12 after five turnovers in a row for the Aggies. 

The lead was back to 22-14 with eight minutes left.  Johnny McCants made crowd-pleasing two-handed jam.  A CS player hit a three and then trash talked Coach Jans on the way back.  I think Jans was probably more amused than threatened.  It was 35-23 Aggies at the half.  To this point, the Chicago State zone was slowing down the Aggie offense.  After the half, the Aggies poured it on.  CJ hit another three as part of a 16-0 run that made the score 54-29. 

Trevelin Queen threw down a monster jam.  Jack was aghast.  The crowd went nuts.  During the timeout afterward, Coach Jans lit into Ivan Aurrecoechea for some reason.  The Aggies won 86-49.  It was a runaway.  Eli Chuha finished with 14 points and Terrell Brown had 13.  Jack tried to impart some words of wisdom during the game.  He muffed it the first time, chuckled, and then got it right, “Life gives the experience first, then teaches the lesson.”  This is apropos of nothing, but I liked it.  

3-15-19 vs UTRGV Vaqueros

I totally muffed taking notes this evening while I was at work.  I took some notes on the computer and scribbled out other notes on a piece of paper.  And I was busy.  To start the pregame, Tommy Amico from Underarmor was on with Jack Nixon.  The company was planning on giving away some new black and gold shoes and compression undergarments if any of their teams (like the Aggies) make it to the NCAA Tournament.  That’s something to play for. 

The Roadrunner Review Band was back for another game today, after playing for the girls earlier.  Them and the Cheerleaders and the Sundancers were working hard.  A former Miss New Mexico sang the Anthem.  Jack took that as a good sign.  AD Mario Moccia came on.  He thought this was the biggest Aggie crowd he’d seen for the tournament.

Okay, here I have virtually nothing for the first half.  The game was pretty physical.  Even one of the refs got injured on a late play.  Jojo Zamora got two blocks.  The Aggies were leading 40-32 at the half, but seemed in control.  A former Aggie Football player, Rick Shields, came on with Jack.  After his playing days, Rick had gone on into law enforcement, which led to him into the Secret Service and guarding Presidents.  Currently, he was working security for a Las Vegas hotel.  He’s a distinguished alumni.  Rick was amazed that Jack remembered his player number from the 70’s.  Was that really all I got down for the first half?

For the second half, I think I was busier.  I took more notes, but they were incoherent.  The Aggies went up by ten and got the crowd roaring.  They goosed it up to a 19-point lead, as the crowd started an Aggie chant.  I might have zoned out a bit with that kind of lead.  As I kept checking back on the game, that lead kept getting smaller.  It was 59-53 when AJ Harris hit back-to-back threes.  However, he had to come out after picking up his fourth foul.  “AJ might have done that differently,” remarked Jack.  It was 65-56 with under ten minutes to play. 

The next time I listened, the lead was down to five with under two minutes left.  Then, it was four points with under a minute.  A UTRGV player fouled out and Terrell Brown made two free throws to ice the game.  The crowd started chanting for the Aggies again, as they won 79-72.

That was more exciting at the end than I expected given a 19-point lead in the second half.  I almost think some of the Aggie starters weren’t playing for much of the second half, but I wasn’t concentrating on listening to the game at the time.  Foul trouble on CJ Bobbitt and AJ also limited their usage.  Tyson Smith for the Vaqueros led all scorers with 23.  Terrell Brown had 19, Clayton Henry had 12, and AJ Harris had 15.  The team stats for the game were actually very close.  Okay, it’s a win.  On to the Championship. 

    

3-16-19 vs Grand Canyon University Lopes

“Up next, we’ll hear from Brooke Shields . . .” I wonder where Jack Nixon’s head was as he attempted to preview his interview with WAC Championship-winning Aggie Women’s Coach, Brooke Atkinson.  These things happen.  He also interviewed Jay Rude, casino odds-maker and Aggie alumni.  The Aggies were up in the odds for today’s game.  There was a huge crowd for the game as GCU brought a bunch of students, but the Aggies brought plenty of fans too.  Jack was enjoying the cheering contest between the fans during player introductions.

First Half

I was exhausted from the Women’s double overtime win earlier, but I was still fully engaged for this Saturday night game.  So were the Lopes.  They got off to an 8-0 lead and the GCU crowd was going nuts.  The first Aggie points came off a Johnny McCants’ steal.  McCants then hit a three to get it to 10-5 GCU.  Trevelin Queen hit a three, but GCU answered.  Ivan Aurrecoechea was on fire getting points under the net.  GCU kept popping three’s like crazy, but Queen was answering them.  As the game went up tempo, CJ Bobbitt tied it at 21 with under 10 minutes in the half.

Queen dropped in another three for the first Aggie lead.  Well, GCU thanks for playing.  Your game was now functionally over.  The Aggie crowd was fully engaged and loving it.  Over the last 90 seconds of the half, the Aggies went on a 10-0 run, highlighted by a steal and a jam by Queen, 28-23.  The Aggies were outrebounding the Lopes and wearing them down.  Queen hit another three to put the Aggies up by 12.  It was 41-30 Aggies at the half.  Ivan had 12 points.  Queen had hit four threes.

Second Half

AJ Harris had an icepack on his head during halftime, but he was back in to start.  He has a hard head.  The rout was on.  Clayton Henry dropped in a pair of threes.  Ivan was taking out the trash, as the Aggies were dominating the rebounding.  Off an Aggie turnover, a GCU’s fast break layup was spoiled, which led directly to a Terrell Brown three.  It was that kind of night for GCU.  “Kicking them sideways,” was Jack’s pronouncement. 

It didn’t stop either.  Queen hit a three at the shot clock buzzer for 19-th point.  He then hit his sixth three.  He followed that up with a layup and a free throw.   “Trevelin Queen is unstoppable!” exclaimed Jack.  The Aggies went on a 13-1 run with under 10 minutes left to make it 74-48.

Clayton Henry hit his fourth three.  AJ missed a dunk with under five minutes left.  Jack laughed.  With the Aggies up 86-55, why be upset?  The crowd was continuously cheering.  With under three minutes left, the rest of the bench was cycled in.  Keyon Jones popped in a three.  Trevelin Queen left with 27 points, Clayton Henry with 14, and Ivan Aurrecoechea with 16.  89-57 Aggies win!  Jack was exuberant, along with the crowd and myself.

In the postgame press conference, Trevelin Queen, tournament MVP, called the team’s performance, “All gas, no brakes.”  Their strategy had been to run GCU into the ground with waves of subs.  When your team has lots of good players, you can do that.  Here’s some absurd Aggie stats: second chance points 17 to 5, bench points 50 to 9, fast break points 16 to 9, 47 to 28 in rebounds.  Thanks to that performance, the Aggies were given a 12 seed on the NCAA Tournament selection show on Sunday.  No complaints about a bad seeding this time.  They’d be facing five seed Auburn.  At least one expert I heard was picking the Aggies in an upset.