The New Mexico State men’s basketball team is not built to win shootouts, which is why the Aggies have struggled against good shooting teams with solid backcourt play this season.
The one constant in each of the Aggies’ seven losses has been strong guard play on the opposing team. Southern Mississippi, Arizona, Texas-El Paso (UTEP), New Mexico, Hawai’i and Nevada all had key contributions from their guards in victories over NMSU.
“You’re always going to have a good game when you have good guards that can get to the basket,” NMSU coach Marvin Menzies said. “In the NCAA Tournament it’s rare to see a team that wins it all with two really great centers. It happens, but it’s predominately guards that get it done.”
Southern Mississippi utilized its sharp-shooting backcourt to outgun the Aggies on two occasions early in the season. Senior guard LaShay Page scored 22 points on 9-12 shooting in the first meeting against NMSU, and followed that up by scoring 16 points in the second matchup.
Fellow guards Maurice Bolden, Neil Watson and Angelo Johnson also stepped up to help lead the Golden Eagles to victory in both games against the Aggies.
Nick Johnson had the hot hand for Arizona in the Wildcats’ 83-76 win over the Aggies in the Pan American Center on Nov. 29. The freshman guard scored 19 points on 8-14 shooting.
Johnson was not the only guard in rhythm that night. Senior Kyle Fogg and freshman Josiah Turner scored a combined 21 points. As a team, the Wildcats shot 51.7 percent in the game and made nine three-pointers.
For UTEP, it was the tandem of Michael Perez and Julian Washburn that gave the Aggies fits. The two guards combined to score 35 points, and UTEP as a team drained seven three-pointers en route to a 73-69 win over the Aggies.
Perhaps the most damage was done by instate rival New Mexico on Dec. 28 in Las Cruces. The Lobos shot the lights out, finishing the game shooting 45 percent from the floor. UNM also made 12 three-pointers on the night.
Once again it was the opposing guards that gave the Aggies the most trouble. Sophomore Tony Snell led the way, scoring 24 points and connecting on four three-pointers. Sophomore Kendall Williams and junior Jamal Fenton scored 12 and nine points respectively for the Lobos.
The trend of struggling against solid guard play continued when Western Athletic Conference play started.
Zane Johnson stole the show for the Warriors in the team’s win over the Aggies on Jan. 21. Johnson finished the game with 29 points on 10-17 shooting and hit seven shots from beyond the arc. Jeremiah Ostrowski chipped in by scoring nine points, but Johnson carried much of the load.
Most recently it was Nevada that utilized its efficient guard play to overwhelm the Aggies. Sophomore guard Deonte Burton finished with 17 points, 12 of which came from behind the three-point line. Junior Malik Story scored 14 points, and the Wolf Pack finished the game shooting 56 percent as a team.
NMSU has not had many answers against teams with hot-shooting guards. Although Utah State and Idaho shot well from the field, the Aggies were able to negate it by using their size to score in the paint and get to the free-throw line.
Scoring in the paint and getting to the charity stripe are the team’s strengths on offense. The Aggies have attempted a conference-leading 743 free-throws this season, which is almost 200 more attempts than the next closest WAC team in that category (Hawai’i).
However, in order to make a run in the conference, the Aggies will have to continue adapting to playing against teams with solid backcourts.
“There aren’t a lot of teams in the conference that have really true big men,” Menzies said. “Most of the teams in conference are going to have pretty good guard play.”
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