Aggies Look to Bounce Back from Loss at Oregon State
By: Anthony Esparza
The New Mexico State men’s basketball team looks to rebound
from a 71-62 season-opening loss at Oregon State when it hosts Southeastern
Louisiana tonight at the Pan American Center.
Southeastern currently sits at 0-2 on the year after falling
to Wisconsin and Marquette, two teams that advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA
Tournament last season. The Lions were within striking distance of the Golden
Eagles late in the contest Tuesday, trailing 57-51 with 4:13 remaining. However,
timely baskets and free-throws propelled Marquette to the 64-53 victory.
“They got two high-level games that they’ve played on the road, so they’ll be a little battle tested in this early part of the year…” NMSU head coach Marvin Menzies said of the Lions. “We’re going to have our job cut out for us. I think that team will win a lot of games this year.”
Southeastern returns four starters from a year ago, including junior guard Dre Evans who leads the team in scoring with 10.5 points per game. Because of the lack of size on the Lions’ roster, the team relies heavily on the production of the backcourt.
As for the Aggies, Menzies said he was pleased for the most
part with his team’s defense in the season opener against Oregon State, particularly
in the second half. However, NMSU was unable to contain junior guard Ahmad
Stars, who scored a game-high 33 points for Beavers.
“We did a horrible job in some areas in reference to Starks
and guarding him,” Menzies said. “We let him get going and didn’t do a
great job at having team awareness in stopping him, and that’s something that
we’ve got to do better at.”
Offensively, the Aggies scored 34 points in the paint
against the Beavers. However, Menzies hopes to see more organization on the offensive
end tonight against Southeastern. Also expect NMSU to make the most of its size advantage and score inside against the Lions.
“Our offensive flow and rhythm was kind of ‘herky-jerky’ so we’ve got to improve that as well,” Menzies said.” I think we’ll do that and get more touches for the post inside.”
What: NMSU (0-1) vs Southeastern (0-2) men's basketball game
When: Tonight at 8:00 p.m.
Where: Pan American Center
Media: Aggie Sports Network
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