Thursday, March 28, 2019

NM State Aggies at the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and Season Recap 2019


3-21-19 vs. Auburn Tigers
Thank goodness we’re not playing a football game against Auburn today.  In Men’s Basketball, at least we have a shot at keeping them from scoring a hundred.  I learned that their team is also known as the “War Eagles” during the game.  That’s a wide discrepancy in nicknames.  Jack Nixon hosted Aggie Coaches Show in Salt Lake City and interviewed Coach Jans and others there with the program the previous day.  He did a good job.

At the game, Jack asked AD Mario Moccia about Chris Jans’ contract.  They’ve secured some additional funding for his salary without even adding to the athletic budget.  This is thanks to some private funding and playing another “money” game.  Mario apparently lives in fear of repeating what he worked through at Southern Illinois.  They were an up-and-coming program that lost their coach and disappeared off the face of the earth.  Borrowing from Braveheart, Mario finished up with, “We didn’t get dressed up for nothing,” for a team battle cry. 

First Half
Welcome to the Vivant Smart Homes Arena.  I know they want to sell the naming rights to the Pan-Am Center, but do you really want do you really want to hear Jack Nixon say, “Welcome to the Petco/Dreamstyle/O.Co Arena,” before every game?  I could hear over the radio that the Aggie Cheerleaders were in strong voice this morning.  This was their big show too.    

As per the scouting report, Auburn was taking lots of threes to start, but Aggies were out-rebounding as expected.  14-8 Aggies, Johnny McCants hit a three and a layup off a turnover that got the crowd going.  I couldn’t entirely gauge the size of the crowd from the radio, but from pictures I saw afterward, it was a full house.  14-13, Auburn got back in it with some good defense.  16-13, McCants’ put down a jam with 11 minutes left in the half.
Terrell Brown had his dreadlocks tied up today.  He’d been sick and had an IV yesterday, which I assume kept him from practicing.  He had three turnovers before coming out.  Jojo Zamora came in and hit a three.  19-19, the Aggies started having a problem with turnovers.  Jojo came out after a couple of mishandles.

21-19 Auburn, the Tigers took the lead as the Aggies went into a scoring drought.  They were having trouble getting off a good shot and running the shot clock down, since they couldn’t penetrate their zone.  28-19 Auburn, the draught went six-and-a-half minutes after missed 10-straight shots.  Timeout.  Pistol Pete and the Auburn Tiger had a mascot dance-off to Should Have put a Ring on It.  I’m sorry I wasn’t watching, though they might not have put that TV.

McCants finally broke the drought after three attempts on a shot under the basket, and he drew the foul 28-22.  McCants also forced a great turnover by bouncing the ball off of a Tigers player.  Jack noted that Tommy Amico, NM State’s Underarmor rep, was there in Aggie gear, though both schools are with the company.   

Terrell got a layup on a bank.  The Aggies were still having trouble getting shots, but having some success taking it inside and drawing fouls.  Eli Chuha got a layup after a good defensive stand and the Aggies were down by one.  In the final 30 seconds, McCants blocked a shot, but a foul on Terrell gave Auburn a couple free throw points. AJ Harris missed a last-second shot and it was 32-29 Auburn at halftime.  McCants had 10 points and five rebounds to lead the team.  Auburn went cold for the last five minutes.

Second Half
Auburn came out hot shooting threes and went up 45-33 thanks to a 13-3 run.  Trevelin Queen got his first points of the game off of a pair of free throws.  His mom was there with a big sign.  Queen got poked in the eye right after for a foul.  Timeout and it was 45-37 Auburn with 15 minutes left.

The Aggies started a comeback.  Ivan Aurrecoechea had a layup and drew a foul for three points, 48-40.  Queen hit a three, 51-43.  Shunn Buchanan got a layup, 51-45 with 11 minutes left.  Eli got a technical foul for arguing a foul, but both foul shots were missed.  Aggie fans were cheering like they were getting free Chik-fil-a.  Auburn continued to splash in threes to stay up.  Queen answered with a three and the Aggies were down 8 with 10 minutes left.  The Tigers started fouling the Aggies every time they attacked the basket.  Queen put in another three, 67-61 with five minutes left.  The crowd was getting back into it. 

Ivan passed up on a shot and turned it over.  “He who hesitates is lost,” Jack remarked. Both teams were playing tight with three minutes left and had trouble scoring.  The Aggies were still down seven.  Ivan was fouled and that put the Aggies in the double bonus.  Ivan made both shots.  McCants was fouled and made one.  Terrell missed a three off of a contested turnover and was fouled right after. 

One minute remaining and some intentional fouling started.  The Aggie three-point shooters came in to play.  An Auburn player fouled out, and McCants made one of two free throws again.  40 seconds to play, Aggies were down four and Queen hit another three.  McCants fouled and Auburn made both free throws, so the Aggies were down three.  AJ was intentionally fouled and Auburn lost another player.  14 seconds left, AJ made one free throw and missed the second, maybe on purpose. 

The Aggies intentionally fouled and Auburn made both and went up four with 12 seconds to go.  Jojo made immediate three.  Timeout with six seconds left.  The Aggies intentionally fouled again.  Shunn, on the bench, encouraged the Aggie fans to cheer.  Auburn made one free throw and were up by two.  Terrell missed a quick three, but was fouled.  He missed two of three (grimace), but the Aggies got the ball back with one second left.  Queen airballed a three for the final shot.

78-77 Auburn squeaked out a win.  Jack had given up with five minutes left, but had been exhilarated before the end.  He sounded terribly disappointed at the buzzer.  Those constant Auburn threes and having extended dry spells did the Aggies in.  God bless Terrell.  He was playing sick and missed the chance to tie or win it at the free throw line.  The coach needs to buck him up, since he’ll be back next year.  The Aggies should have much of the same good team back next season.  Unfortunately in the postgame, it sounded like Coach Jans was the one that needed a hug.  He sounded down, but certainly had nothing to be ashamed of going 30-5 for the most Aggie wins in a season.

Auburn’s Jared Harper was the high-scorer with 17.  Johnny McCants had 16 to lead the Aggies and had 7 rebounds.  Trevelin Queen had 14, all in second half.  Ivan Aurrecoechea had 13 with 9 rebounds.  Terrell Brown had 12.  If he hadn’t been sick the day before, I wonder what he would have scored.  The team shot 49% and had a 39-24 edge in rebounds, so they played well.  A few missed free throws and stopping some of those threes were the difference.

I felt much better about the loss after listening to El Paso Sportstalk later in the afternoon.  The Miners, who are of course sitting at home watching the NCAA Tournament as usual, fired one of their assistant coaches yesterday.  Today, another one resigned due to a recruiting scandal at his previous school.  Their star player tweeted, “When it rains, it pours.”  And the hosts were ragging on NMSU for losing in the first round for three years in a row.  Yeah, I’ll take that over being a UTEP fan.  Thanks for giving me a good laugh KROD.

Season Recap
Regardless of the outcome, this was always going to be the season of the Johnny McCants’ Miracle Shot.  That highlight will live forever.  What sucked about this season was that I didn’t get to go to any games in person.  I certainly had the intention and even free tickets once, but I couldn’t make it happen.  (In other words, I couldn’t get Ron to go with me). 

11-6-18 Season opener warm up game.  The game was broadcast on Twitch.  I’m shocked.

11-9-18 Aggies destroy the Miners.

11-14-18 Bad loss to St. Mary’s here in Las Cruces.  It was a good opportunity to increase their ranking, but only if the Aggies won.  This game was also on Twitch.  The Chat comments were interesting.

11-17-18 Rivalry game in Albuquerque against the Lobos.  The Aggies had a huge lead in the second half and nearly let it totally get away from them.  The Aggies were missing free throws at the end when they were being intentionally fouled.

11-21-18 Crushing of a DII school.  There were a few highlight reel plays.  There was also an “administrative technical” issued on the opponent before the game actually started.  Now I’ve seen everything.

11-28-18 A close game versus UTEP at home.

12-1-18 Thanks to a Football money game next year, the Washington State Basketball team would have to come here for a game.  Nice arm-twisting there, Mario.  Unlike the football game next year, the Aggies won this one.  Good win.

12-4-18 The Aggies destroy the Lobos and drop 100 on them at home.  The game was again on Twitch.  The Lobo fan comments were priceless.

12-8-18 The Aggies made $90,000 to show up in Kansas and play the #2 in the nation Kansas Jayhawks.  Unfortunately, the Aggies broke everyone’s hearts by competing with the Jayhawks magnificently and then losing to them by three points.  It was a great effort though and showed that the Aggies could play with anybody.

12-17-18 In spite of having a long time off to think about that loss, the Aggies bounced back with a win over Northern Colorado.

12-19-18 The “Teddy Bear toss” game.  It was a game against a team I’d never heard of, but we’ll take the win.

12-22-18 Welcome to the WAC Championship at the Orleans Arena in exciting Las Vegas.  Oops, my bad.  Got ahead of myself.  This was a different tournament at the Orleans Arena.  The Aggies played a bad game against Drake, but somehow came back from 15 points down in the second half and made a game of it.  It was a good effort, but a tough loss.

12-23-18 The invitational championship game went to double OT to decide it.  Jack Nixon did an impromptu play-by-play of the end of that game.  Needless to say, the consolation game started late between the Aggies and Washington State . . . wait, what?  These guys again?  It was a close game, but the same result, an Aggie victory.

12-30-18 The Aggies destroyed the Colorado State Rams, while I was simultaneously listening to an Aggie Women’s game and a Dallas Cowboys game.  My coverage was a bit brief. 

1-3-19 Cal-Baptist, in their first WAC game, got off to a great start by punching the Aggies square in the nose.  The team would take some more shocks during the season, but the Lancers were the only team in conference that actually beat them.

1-10-19 The Shot.  GCU was winning this game until late in the second half.  The Aggies went up by five with two minutes left.  With 30 seconds left, after two inexplicable back-to-back turnovers within mere seconds of each other, the Aggies were down by one.  Terrell Brown, the team’s best free throw shooter, would then miss two free throws.  (This feels like déjà vu in retrospect.)  A GCU player then missed the first shot of a one-and-one.  Johnny McCants grabbed the rebound and with tenths of second left, fired a shot beyond halfcourt and went straight into legend. 

1-12-19 A good comeback win over Bakersfield.

1-17-19 The Aggies crushed Seattle U.  Coach Jans bullied the opposing teams’ cheerleaders as well.

1-19-19 The Aggies defeated Utah Valley and ended their second-longest in the nation home-winning streak.

1-31-19 The Aggies mash the Roos.  I have a disappointing diner.  (That’s important news too.)

2-2-19 The Aggies trash the Cougars.  The pregame with former coach Reggie Theus was pretty interesting.

2-7-19 One of the oddest games of the year.  The Aggies jumped out to huge lead against the Roadrunners, lost it, went down big late, and then came back and won on a last second shot. 

2-14-19 The Aggies cruised over the Wolverines at home.

2-16-19 Here I had tickets to this “Pack the Pan-Am” game, but had to give them back when I wasn’t able to go.  As it turned out, the Aggies needed all the fans they could get this afternoon.  The Aggies came out flat and Seattle U took it to them.  Late in the game, the Aggies came back.  It was probably fortunate that several Redhawks fouled out at the end.

2-19-19 A game against a DII opponent because of a week layoff in the schedule. 

2-23-19 A really chippie game against UTRGV.  The Aggies toughed it out and won the conference outright.

2-28-19 Having clinched the #1 seed, the Aggies still dominated the Roos to end the regular season.

3-14-19 A virtual warmup game to start the WAC Tournament against the Cougars.

3-15-19 The Aggies went up big against UTRGV in the second half and coasted, nearly to their detriment, but finished it out.

3-16-19 GCU gave the Aggies a good ten minutes to start the WAC Championship game.  For the next 30 minutes though, the Aggies absolutely crushed the Lopes to win their bid to the Big Dance.

3-21-19 Heartbreak versus Auburn in the NCAA Tournament.  The Tigers were probably the better team and should have won, but the Aggies really had a chance here.

Looking over the season, the Aggies lost a couple of big games that they maybe should have won.  On the other hand, they won a couple of games that they should have lost.  They let some games get away from them and had to come back.  If they had trouble holding leads, at least they never really seemed out of any game.  This Aggie team might have been too “grind-y” at times and couldn’t handle success. 

There wasn’t a star for the season for the team, but on any given night, a player would inevitably step up and become one.  This led to some unevenness, but they were seldom bad for an entire game.  Opposing teams must have had a hard time scouting the Aggies.  The fans might have had the same issue not having a particular player to latch on to.  In any case, Coach Jans did a great job of rebuilding this team after last season.  We hope to keep him around for a while.   

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