Story and Photo By Zack Ponce
The New Mexico State Aggies men’s basketball team is built
to overpower opposing teams with their frontcourt, and their forwards powered
NMSU (4-4) to a 68-60 victory over Southern Miss (6-1) Saturday night – handing
the Golden Eagles their first loss of the season in the process.
Freshman center Sim Bhullar anchored the Aggies down low and
had the breakout game Aggie fans were salivating for when he first stepped foot
on the Las Cruces campus. Bhullar scored
a career-high 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and had two blocks on the eve
of his 20th birthday in front of his younger brother and mother watching from
the bleachers.
“I thought I played good,” Bhullar said. “I just tried scoring the basketball and I
tried playing like the big (domino) I should be everyday.”
Bhullar already looks more comfortable on the court, now
with nine games of experience in his young career. He has dedicated himself to improving his
fitness since the summer and has now lost 70 pounds of weight since July.
“Half the stuff I am doing right now I couldn’t do 70 pounds
heavier. I am just working hard every
day trying to reach the goal.”
The Aggies pounded the ball into the post with center
Tshilidzi Nephawe and forward Tyrone Watson in addition to Bhullar in the first
half and took a 39-28 lead into halftime.
The Southern Miss defense came out strong in the second half
and momentarily shut down the NMSU offense.
The Golden Eagles began pressuring NMSU higher up on the court, trapping
point guards K.C. Ross-Miller and Teller de Rouen, and made it difficult for
the Aggies to complete the entrance pass into the paint.
The strategy worked for Southern Miss and helped cut the
Aggie lead to eight points late in the second half.
“They just got a bunch of feisty guys,” Watson said of
Southern Miss. “We nailed it on in the
first half, but the second half I think we got a little bit relaxed and that’s
when they crept in. They got me a couple
of times.”
Southern Miss forced NMSU into committing a total of 20
turnovers, but the Aggies only surrendered the ball once within the last four
minutes of play.
“20 is not acceptable at all but they pressed us the whole
game so you have to give some leniency towards the turnovers.” Watson
said. “We see the same defense the whole
entire game but it gets harder each time.
Overall I thought we did better than we usually do with the turnovers.”
Watson played all 40 minutes of the game and finished with
seven points and three rebounds. Shooting
guard Daniel Mullings finished the game with his first double-double of the
season, scoring 21 points and nabbing 11 rebounds.
“It was the best win of the season by far. I think (Southern Miss) is an NCAA team and
they have that potential to dance this year,” NMSU head basketball coach Marvin
Menzies said. “They’ve got a lot of
experience. Luckily we got them at home
and luckily we brought our “B+”, “A-“ game.”
Forward Renaldo Dixon didn’t play and guard Eric Weary only
appeared on the court for a total of one minute.
Menzies said he adjusts their rotation based on
“game-to-game scenarios” to better match up against each opponent’s strengths
and weaknesses. He added that both Dixon
and Weary are still a part of that rotation.
“I’m trying to ride the seniors as long as they are playing
well and I’ll try to ride them as long as I can,” Menzies said. “We’ve got some depth which gives us some
choices. We’ve got great chemistry in
the locker room, no one is complaining about not playing enough time.”
The Aggies will next travel to play on the road at South
Alabama (4-3) on Tuesday, Dec. 4. The
Jaguars upset Florida State 76-71 in their season-opener in Tallahassee, Fla.
and will pose another challenge for NMSU in their non-conference portion of the
schedule.
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