NM State Aggies vs UTA Mavericks Men’s Basketball 1-14-23 Part 2

Part 1

 

Halftime

Here was the main attraction of the night, apart from the game itself, Mascot Madness.  Yes, it was a basketball game featuring local mascots.  We had a bear, a calculator, a turtle, a toy-like construction worker, a masked fireman, two Dino-Dash T-Rex’s, a roadrunner (the previous Women’s mascot), and Pistol Pete.  Pete was fired up, as always.  The Sundancers took stations at the courtside to assist.

 

The Dinos were ferocious, of course, but the bear wasn’t having it and blocked one of their shots.  The unknown fireman hit a wide open 3.  (Not so unknown, Jack identified him a former player now working for the university fire department.)  The bear ran with the ball like a running back down court.  Turtle took a shot, but missed.  Pete was taking shots, but was continually hampered by trying to keep his hat on.

 

Calculator popped a jumper.  It was 3-2, but it wasn’t enough and the Fireman team (?) won.  Whew!  What an amazing 5 minutes of basketball.  The Dinos fell to their knees and pounded the hardwood in frustration.  They briefly fought with the bear as emotions ran out-of-control.  (The refs were nowhere to be found.) 

 

I tried to talk Ron into leaving.  Nothing was going to top this spectacle.  For some reason he wanted to stay.  He also has the car keys, so that was that.  The only other event of halftime was the little girl in front of me.  I noticed her ponytail was standing straight up.  I was confused by the physics, until I noticed the really fuzzy sweater she was wearing and remembered the principles of static electricity.  She also had a day planner with her that she kept happily flipping through.  Most kids keep a stuffed animal for comfort.  I find my day planner to be a source of dread.      

Second Half

I’m tempted to stop this recap right here.  Later in the evening back at home, I watched the local news recap of this game between the Aggies and the UTA Mavericks.  Newscaster Rachel Phillips had been here for end of the Women’s game and until halftime of the Men’s game.  She’d left Las Cruces with the score 33-26 for the Aggies.  By the time she’d gotten back to the station in El Paso, the game had totally flipped. 

 

Maverick Chendall Weaver scored first on an alley oop.  The Aggies traveled and turned the ball over.  UTA made a layup to make it 33-30 Aggies.  Just a minute in, Coach Heiar called a timeout.  I could see AD Mario Moccia looking on nervously from the sidelines during the break.  Issa Muhammad, who’d sat out most of the first half, came in.  

 

Immediately, UTA had a steal and Weaver hit a jumper to put the Mavericks in the lead.  The Aggies were called for a charge.  Anita Skipper with the color commentary was up in arms.  Again, she singled out one of the officials, “He only calls offensive fouls.”  Indeed, UTA was called for an offensive foul right after.  The Aggies were trying to feed Issa, but he missed his first two shots.  UTA popped a 3 to make it 33-35 and just three minutes in, Coach Heiar called his second timeout.

 

Issa came out.  Shakiru Odunewu came in.  Chi Chi Avery finally got the Aggies on the board with a jam coming from the sidelines.  During a Media timeout, there was a fan half-court shot attempt for $5K.  The frat-boy-looking young man hit the backboard.  He pulled his hood over his head and played up the shame. 

 

Back to play, UTA hit another 3 and had a block.  Issa was called for his third foul.  Weaver hit a 3.  35-43 UTA with 13 minutes left and suddenly it was turning into rout.  Doctor Bradley slammed one going into a timeout for the Aggies’ second basket of the half.  Issa would poke out a turnover, but no points resulted.  Anthony Roy fell and caused a turnover.  After another UTA 3, Coach Heiar called his final timeout down 37-50 with 10 minutes left. 

 

It didn’t help.  Deshawndre Washington had a turnover and Xavier Pinson took a foul right after.  The crowd groaned.  The UTA started using all of their shot clock.  The Aggie defense held, but turned it over again on their next possession.  Elements of the crowd were now booing.  (Never boo your own team, guys.  Come on.)  More telling, even the Cheerleaders were quiet.  (They’d had a long day cheering for back-to-back games.  They weren’t putting up with this crap either.)

 

Shak got put on the line and made one of two.  That’s 5 team points in 12 minutes of play.  In the Media timeout, a lady chugged a Twisted Tea on camera for a promo, a section won free Raising Canes, but the crowd only really got going for a hat giveaway tossed by the Cheerleaders. 

 

After two more empty Aggie possessions, I turned to Ron, “Put the Mascots back in.”  At least, this tragedy would have become a comedy.  Xavier hit a 3 to finally get the crowd cheering.  After Kyle Feit made a pair of free throws, the Aggies had finally scored 10 points in the half.  Unfortunately, UTA got two offensive rebounds on their next possession and hit a 3 finish it.  Media timeout.

 

At 43-57 with three minutes left, much of the crowd started deserting.  We stuck around and watched a hot chick play the Whataburger Fry game on court.  By the Aggie bench, I could see Analyst Johnny McCants demonstrating a move to players on the bench.  Okay, not to disparage the effort on the court, but the rest of the game was garbage time.  Anita was still complaining about the officiating, but I’m not blaming them for the loss.  55-66 UTA was the final.

 

Chendall Weaver led all scorers with 16 points and two other Mavericks were in double digits.  Xavier Pinson led the Aggies with 12 points.  Kyle Feit had 11 points off of 3 3-pointers.  Shooting was 43% to 31% for UTA.  They were also 7 of 18 on 3’s, while the Aggies were 6 of 24.  The Aggies were out-rebounded 29 to 35.  

 

“I told you we should have left at halftime,” I said to Ron on the way out.  It was pretty depressing.  The only highlight of the evening was that I got to hold the door open for the pretty Anthem singer going outside.  With the Aggies 0-6 in conference, Coach Heiar was speechless in the postgame.  He’d never had this kind of experience coaching.  Aggie Basketball fans haven’t had this kind of experience either.  There’s two more double headers on schedule, but prices go back to normal for Men’s Basketball, so this probably my final live report on them for the season.