Milestone Wensday (By the Way, NMSU matched its win total from last year)

Normally Wendell McKines doesn't lack for words.

But the New Mexico State senior seemed genuinely humbled after joining Aggies great Sam Lacey as the only two players to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds for a career after Wednesday's 78-57 Aggies victory over California-Bakersfield.

McKines finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds. He joined Long Beach State's TJ Robinson as the only active NCAA players to reach that 1000-1000 milestone. He's the 12th WAC player to get to 1000-1000, joining this list

Keith Van Horn, Utah (1993-97)	2,542 points/1,074 reb.
Nick Fazekas, Nevada (2003-07)	2,464 points/1,254 reb.
Bob Elliot, Arizona (1973-77)	2,131 points/1,083 reb.
Michael Harris, Rice (2001-05)	2,014 points/1,111 reb.
Josh Grant, Utah (1988-93)	2,000 points/1,066 reb.
Kenny Thomas, UNM (1996-99)	1,931 points/1,032 reb.
Micahel Cage, SDSU (1980-84)	1,846 points/1,317 reb.
Reginald Slater, UW (1988-92)	1,809 points/1,197 reb.
Al Fleming, Arizona (1973-76)	1,765 points/1,190 reb.
Paul Millsap, LA Tech (2003-06)	1,708 points/1,172 reb.
Mitch Smith, Utah (1985-89)	1,628 points/1,036 reb.

Wendell McKines:
"When they announced it early, it kind of put pressure on me to get it tonight."

"It's an honor. It's something I'm going to take with me the rest of my life. I take pride in being an Aggie. I think I'll be able to explain it later on. Right now, I'm just living in the moment and enjoying this ride. ... It's been my foundation since I came to college. I never went away from my strength. I take pride in doing that on both ends of the floor. As the years went on, I guess they just added up. ... I'm into things like that. When I was a kid, I used to always watch NBA's Greatest Games. I'm really into history and looking at the pedigree and for me to be in that class, I'm humbled by it and that's tough for me to say. ... I've always counted rebounds. I don't necessarily count points but I feel as if I can be selfish with rebounds. ... My freshman year, all I wanted to do was rebound and dunk the basketball. I was just enjoying the college atmosphere and living in that moment. I wasn't necessarily thinking about three or four years ahead. If I was, I probably would have snatched more rebounds from Martin Iti and Hatila. ... I have to thank my teammates and coaching staff, just believing in me and giving me that confidence and sticking with me. Sometimes I get frustrated but teammates and coaching staff throughout the whole time I've been here just stuck with me and believed in me and I couldn't have done it without them. "

on the second half of WAC play
"We just have to finish strong. It's a different focus. Everybody has played each other once. You just do things differently. If you need to play harder against a certain team, you do that. It's all about adjustments and execution and effort at this point in time of the year. Our talent is undeniable so as long as we do the little things. The effort, and keeping the ball, and we will be fine.

On La. Tech
"they like to run, get it out quick. They like to pressure the ball. They lost some close games so they are coming in with confidence and we just have to match that confidence if not exceed it."

"We are always prepared to play ugly games. That's the style that fits us I guess, but making shots is just icing on the cake. All about repetition and confidence. We shot better today and if we can do that moving forward I think we will have a good chance."

Marvin Menzies
"Really happy with the way we played, especially the second half. You can point to a few things that we didn't do well as far as careless turnovers but at the end of the day, most of those were the type that we can correct. We have to do it. We have to do a much better job taking care of the ball Saturday night. We made a lot of jump shots tonight. We took good 3 pointers and high percentage 3s and thats why we shot better. We fought back on the rebounding side. I thought the zone was critical for us as well in the second half. They held a very good 3 point shooting team to 17 percent shooting for the game. They had us beat at their place and we knew what we had in front of us."

Bakersfield was the first team in some time to play man for most of the game.
"I think if it had been closer, they would have spotted the zone more. I think that their philosophy was to get back into the game, he didn't want to sit back in a zone. He wanted to try to get after us a little bit. It always helps when you make shots."

On Wendell McKines
"I'm glad I recruited him. he's my first recruit signed so for him to reach that milestone, it's a shared accolade. I feel really good about bringing him to New Mexico State and I'm happy that he was able to achieve that for himself. Now we move forward. Its a great goal he set for himself at the beginning of the year and for him to reach it this early with a lot of games left. Reaching our win total from last year tonight and doing some things statistically that are very good only really can be celebrated if you end on a high note in terms of how we perform in the second round of WAC games."

"We talked about this game being an opportunity to right the ship in some of the statistical areas we haven't done well in and to get our confidence in terms of shooting the ball and I think we did that. Especially on your home floor, you can do that. We will see if I'm correct on Saturday.

On Bandja
"We talked to him about his mid range game and bouncing it a little bit more and getting that one dribble pull up because he shoots that pretty well. He had been settling for the 3 at times. The one he made tonight was a no brainer. Prepared to catch and shoot it on an inside out type of action. he was 4-of-7 tonight so he had good selection."

Slumping offense leading to closer games

New Mexico  State is 1-1 in its last two games, scoring 60 points in a loss to Nevada and a win over Fresno State.

Three games ago, the Aggies scored 87 points in a four-point loss at Hawaii. So what is the ideal pace for this team, which seems to have leveled off a bit from an offensive standpoint.

"We just want to run all day," NMSU junior wing Tyrone Watson said. "We emphasize not running a set or offense. We just want to get the ball and go. If we can score off the fastbreak or transition. I think we let a lot of outside things get to us. Just the fact that we are playing in big games. We kind of fear our opponents a little bit too much and don't play our necessary defense. We don't emphasize it enough to each other, player to player."

Opposing teams have been able to dictate tempo to the Aggies recently, forcing NMSU to play from behind.

"That's how things have shaken out lately. It's tough to play how we want to play when they aren't playing that way. It's hard to force them to play that way when they are playing 3-4-5 different defenses a game," Watson said.

Offensively, it all starts outside, where the Aggies are shooting 28 percent from 3-point range in the WAC. We all knew coming into the season the Aggies weren't going to be a great shooting team. But for whatever reason, the Aggies aren't converting offensive rebounds, opposing turnovers or chances at the free throw line (at least against Fresno State, where NMSU was 7-18) into offense.

NMSU got back into the Hawaii loss and the Nevada loss by increasing the pressure.

"That's our style of play, getting turnovers and forcing them to take quick shots," Watson said. "We are waiting for them to make mistakes but if people are making shots, it's tough to do so we have to just grind it out."

I understand that NMSU doesn't have depth across the board to be able to play that way for an entire game, but I also think NMSU could have pulled away from Fresno earlier by extending their pressure early and then banging away at them on the interior. My first thought, and I doubt that coaches would talk about it, is that the Aggies are saving certain things in the arsenal for the second round through WAC play. Saving legs, saving certain looks.

"I don't know if we have that luxury anymore without the depth that we had earlier in the year," NMSU coach Marvin Menzies said. "Having the two guards out who were quick defenders who could score in the open court. We will still push when we can and look to do that. The full court pressure back to man to man, I think we will have to mix some things up and do some things a little differently and play to our strengths. We still have to make shots. We are trying to pound the ball inside and take advantage of our physical size."

In the meantime, NMSU is facing some variation of zone defense every night, clogging the paint and taking away the drive for players who thrive on it like Watson and Daniel Mullings.

"We add stuff game to game, day to day according to how teams play us," Watson said. "Practicing that stuff has helped. Seeing film and the open spots and how we can be more effective rather than taking early outside shots. When they back down and give us shots, you want to shoot the ball. They are just baiting you. I think we have seen all the defenses that is in basketball so I don't think anything else is going to surprise us."

The Aggies are shooting the ball 46 percent from the field for the season and Wendell McKines (35 percent from 3) and Hernst Laroche (44 percent from 3) are actually decent options from outside. The Aggies need at least one more guy who needs to heat up from here on out.

"I say we have to shoot the ball and that's a given," Menzies said. "The other thing is the free throw line and the turnovers. There are other areas we can shore up I think to give ourselves an advantage."

I asked about Remi Barry on Tuesday, who seems to have taken steps to be able to contribute. Another option is Bandja Sy, who is streaky at best, but is on a downward trend at the moment, shooting 0-10 from 3 prior to the Hawaii game (3-6) and is 1-8 since. The flip side to Sy, is he is much better defensively than Barry at this point.

"Remi still has a ways to go," Menzies said. "He's out of place a lot and is still getting familiar to the system. ... He's getting there. He's not to that point yet where he has a total comfort level but it's coming. I've always said that if he can get on a roll of being consistent of going hard in practice, in the classroom, and get that discipline going, he could be somebody maybe we could look to in the second round of league games. ... There is no doubt. He is in the mix now. We are going to look to, like Tyrone, Bandja, Mullings. Which is good. He's another weapon. The underclassmen are kind of an x factor for us and I think maybe the driving force of how far we go."

To their credit, the Aggies have remained solid defensively, which will keep them in games. But it's hard to count on their ability to win close games when the reality, a lack of offense recently has made some games closer than they should have been.

Aggies draw Drake in BracketBuster

I believe the Aggies won televised BracketBuster games in each of their WAC Tournament championship seasons. They beat Ohio at home in 2006-07 and then beat Pacific on the road in 2009-10.

Drake is 13-9 overall and 6-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 97 in the RPI with a 66 strength of schedule and the Aggies are currently No. 90 with a SOS ranking of 117.

Drake has Top 50 RPI wins over Wichita State and Iowa State this season. Sophomore guard Rayvonte Rice leads the Bulldogs with 17.3 points per game with six rebounds per game and junior forward Ben Simons is scoring 16.2 points per game.

The Missouri Valley Conference is currently No. 8 in the RPI and the WAC is No. 12.

Drake will be the Aggies first game against a current MVC school since a 1996 game against Southern Illinois.

NMSU has a Top 50 win over No. 44 New Mexico. 

Nothing sticks out from a team standpoint. Drake shoots 35.7 percent from 3-point range, score 70 ppg, shoots 46 percent from the floor while opponents are shooting 44 percent against them. They average 13 turnovers and 10 assists per game. They do average 7 steals per game.

BracketBuster coming

I spoke with WAC commissioner Karl Benson about the Aggies' prospect of getting one of the 13 televised BracketBuster games.

"New Mexico State is still in the running for a game," Benson said. "Nevada has locked one up but I'm still hopefully New Mexico State would be in the running. Getting in the TV package, ESPN creates whatever interesting matchups. If not, it's the best possible matchup with the geography considered."

The TV games are announced on Monday.

Thanks to this link, we can see see that New Mexico State (92 RPI according to Basketball State) currently has the 13th best RPI among the host teams. The 13th best RPI visiting team is Indiana State of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Indiana State would be a very interesting matchup for current and historical reasons. The Missouri Valley is currently the No. 8 conference and the WAC has moved up to No. 12. Indiana State is 12-9 and just 3-7 in the MVC. It would be a throwback game to the Aggies' MVC days. Either Indiana State or Drake would be a good matchup for NMSU for next year's return game, as well as the WAC this year as the MVC is No. 8 RPI)

My dream matchup early in the year when the Aggies' RPI was hovering around the Top 60 was Long Beach State. That matchup would also have some history behind it, but Long Beach State has skyrocketed to the 30s while the Aggies have fallen into the 90s.

That leaves us with other potential opponents such as:
Lamar  111 RPI (13-8, 4-3 in the Southland 28 RPI)
Valparaiso 124 RPI (14-9, 8-3 in the Horizon 15 RPI)
Drake 109 RPI (13-9, 6-5 in the MVC 8 RPI)
Buffalo 91 RPI (11-6, 5-2 in Mid American 16 RPI)
Old Dominion 118 RPI (14-9, 9-2 Colonial 17 RPI)
Cal-Santa Barbara 144 RPI (11-7, 6-2 in Big West 24 RPI)

After this list, it seems like it gets dicey in terms of high RPIs, records and conference RPI disparity. And remember that once you get past the ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 type games, geography plays a bigger factor.

Aggies win ugly, in second place at WAC halfway point

It's going to be tough to pass 7-0 Nevada for first place. Nevada had road wins over NMSU, Utah State and Idaho in the league's first half so they get all those games at home in the second half.

NMSU found a way to get past Fresno State 60-56 on Saturday to enter the second half 5-2 in league play. They have to travel to Nevada, Utah State and Idaho in the second half. Playing these close games is a double edged sword. Winning close games is important this time of year, but letting Fresno State hang around and dictate the pace was confusing. NMSU had 20 offensive rebounds but they also had 17 against Nevada. Doesn't seem like those offensive boards are being converted into points in back to back 60-point games.

Onto the post game comments
Tyrone Watson on his late turnover on an inbounds pass and coming back to convert a one and one to seal the game.
"The turnover was a miscommunication. I knew they were going to deny Hernst. I was trying to get the ball to Wendell but there was too much pressure and I couldn't get the pass off. I ended up inbounding it and they stole it. ... I'm at home so I didn't feel any pressure (on the free throws). I was doing my normal routine."

Wendell McKines
"We feel good about the position we are in. We are just preparing ourselves to finish strong. It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish. We are looking to finish strong and see what happens."

"It's about how we defend. However any team wants to play us. If you want to run up and down, we can do that, if you want to play slow, we can do that as well and just pound it in. We are accustomed to playing ugly games and today was definitely ugly. We just came out with the win. That's what it's all about."

Marvin Menzies
"This is a very good team that we beat tonight regardless of their record. They have been fighting everybody tooth and nail. They were up on Nevada at the half. They are a very good team. I commend my guys for staying together, playing together and executing down the stretch when we really needed to get some stops and some good looks in winning time."

On free throw shooting 7-18 (38.9 percent)
"As long as you make free throws when you really need them, that's a good thing and we have done that for the most part. Tyrone wasn't very good tonight (4-9) but he was good in crunch time. ... They took a lot more than we did."

On if Remi Barry playing 12 minutes was the lineup shakeup he referred to after Thursday's loss to Nevada
"At the end of the game on Thursday, I was frustrated. I still like our substitution pattern when we are playing well. It's just a matter of getting the guys to start with a little more urgency on defense. The zone has been hurting us because we haven't been shooting it well."

Playing for second?

I talked about this in my last post. There is still a lot of basketball to be played, but Marvin Menzies even acknowledged Nevada as the best team they've played so far in the WAC after Thursday's 68-60 loss at the Pan American Center.

"It would have been great to win this game and we have a lot of games in front of us but we need a little help now from somebody else," Menzies said.

Nevada won its 14th straight game and looks the part of a WAC Championship team. NMSU, after another slow start, trailing by 14 at halftime, not so much. Nevada is now 6-0 in WAC play with road wins at 4-2 NMSU, 3-3 Utah State and 4-2 Idaho. Nevada also beat Hawaii at home.

"We didn't play like a championship team at all," Menzies said. "A lack of execution, a lack of urgency to start the game defensively. Offensively, just out of sync. Wouldn't execute what we drew up out of timeouts. Didn't adhere to the scouting report. All of those things add up to a loss."

For the second straight game, NMSU rallied in the second half to make the final score look closer than the game really was.

"I just don't have a good feeling about how we are playing that first half," Menzies said. "We have to come out with better execution, especially after timeouts. It's frustrating. We have good kids, we have talent. Just have to get them to understand that if you want to be efficient you have to play together and play within the system and play harder on both sides of the ball."

Nevada led by 18 with 708 to play. The Aggies made it a game with full court pressure, begging the question why not do it for longer stretches. Easy answer....no depth with the departure of Christian Kabongo and the season ending injury to Terrel de Rouen.

"Wendell fouls out, Hernst was subbing in and out. It's a double edged sword. Losing Terrel really hurt. But that is what it is. We have to be able to string together games strategically without having to play 10 or 11 guys and still get it done. We can spot pressure in places. It's either that or get these guys in much better shape and go back to what we were doing in the beginning."

A lack of depth in the backcourt takes away from creating transition baskets for the Aggies, which they need. NMSU was 5-22 from 3-point range and Hernst Laroche made four of them. We knew that NMSU wasn't a 3-point shooting team, but when they fall behind, that weakness is exploited even more.

"You can praise them for their effort and comeback but that song is getting old," Menzies said. "We have to start the games off with some urgency both offensively and defensively in terms of execution. Until we do that, we are going to be in an uphill battle every game. We have to rebound quickly and get ready for Fresno State."

Time will tell what lineup changes are coming. Bandja Sy doesn't seem like he's earned more playing time. He took some bad shots, reached in transition to lead to an open 3 from Story and finished 2-9 from the field. Remi Barry was 0-3 in five minutes, all from 3-point range.

"We have to do something to start the games with more urgency, especially when you are saying what they do and then you lay off guys and they go 6-for-9 (from 3-point range) in the first half," Menzies said. "you can tell them where to go and what spots to be in , but at the end of the day, you have to come out with a little more younger."

Pure speculation at this point but something I wouldn't mind seeing the Aggies play with is going small from the start with McKines, Watson, Sy, Mullings and Laroche. Fresno State doesn't have a lot of size so it would be a good game to start out with considering that's essentially the lineup that got the Aggies back into the Hawaii game.

Other postgame comments
Hernst Laroche: "We are trying to get a win next game. It's unfortunate that we lost but we are trying to get wins. We are looking ahead for Fresno. There is nothing we can do, it's past. We lost."

"they got Burton going, they got Malik going. They had some easy things down low too. ... They don't shoot college 3s, they shoot NBA 3s so it opened up the zone more."

Marvin Menzies:
"A lot of times, they just outplayed us. That's a big time team. There is a half of me that is just pissed off. The other half, I have to give them credit. Deonte Burton is a pro. He's a NBA player. We have to get a better strategy on how we are going to guard him next time. He hit some that was so deep, it was like, 'Are you serious?'"

"They challenged us to shoot the ball and we didn't do that well. ... I think we let them get going. Their first few shots they made were very unchallenged. We woke up and started to challenge them. We did a very good job in the second half because that was all we talked about at halftime. But that was all we talked about before the game too."

"We have to bounce back. We have to put these games behind us and look at the positives. We have to shake it up to get a better offensive execution. I don't know what it means right now. I have to watch film."

"They are the best team we have faced to this point for sure. We lost by eight but they are really good. They have a lot of tools in their first six guys that can get things done, both from deep and inside. It was disappointing but I'm optimistic we will play better."

Keys to NMSU vs. Nevada

Slow Burton: Nevada point guard Deonte Burton has averaged 25 points per game in five true road games this year. He was the key for the Aggies last year defensively and they held him to 5-of-20 shooting in the Aggies two wins over Nevada last year.  Obviously Burton has improved in his second year, and it's hard to take the ball away from a point guard, but I wouldn't mind seeing the Aggies double him in certain situations tonight, even late in the game if it's close. I'm not sure Evans and Czyz want the ball in their hands when the game is on the line, but I know Burton does.

Wen must win: There are probably two power forwards in the WAC who are skilled enough offensively to get McKines in foul trouble. Hawaii's Thomas and Nevada's Olek Czyz. Against Hawaii, McKines doesn't have to guard Thomas. I'm not sure if the Aggies have many options other than McKines to guard Czyz in man to man. Tyrone Watson could, but that would put McKines on a wing player. I think McKines needs to reach his averages while Czyz is held below his 11 and 6 averages or get Czyz in foul trouble.

Come out ready: NMSU showed against Hawaii that they are capable of coming back, so that was good to see. But they need the home crowd tonight and playing from behind big would make that difficult. NMSU can come back, but the Aggies are much more effective in close games because they get out in transition and get to the foul line.

Evans as a X factor: Malik Story can't loose for 3s like Zane Johnson did. Most of his 3s come in transition or spotting up off the drive or inside out touches. Nevada doesn't run stuff like Hawaii, USU or Idaho. But Story is a good shooter and will knock some down. The Aggies can't let Jerry Evans hurt them. Evans is the overlooked piece to the Nevada puzzle. Evans is shooting 55 percent from 3 in WAC play but is only 0-2 from long range in the last two games since going 5-6 from 3 against San Jose. The SJSU game showed what he's capable of, but the Aggies need to make sure he stays around hjis 6 ppg average.