Jahmar Young compared the Spartans Kalin Lucas to Jonathan Gibson in terms of size and quickness. I think the Aggies would be well served to play a little man to man tonight with gibson on Lucas for stretches.
The keys to the game for me are rebounding and 3-point shooting. As in, the Aggies have to do both well in order to have a chance. Playing so much zone lends itself to giving up offensive rebounds, something the Spartans do 13.5 times per game. I don't know how the Aggies will all of a sudden become a good rebounding team, but they need to in order to have a chance in this game.
They also need to knock down the 3, which I think they will. I think playing against a different opponent that doesn't know the Aggies as well might give up some open looks early that they need to knock down.
Two guys I think need to play well are Hernst Laroche and Hamidu Rahman. If 6-8 freshman Derrick Nix starts at center, hopefully the Aggies will give Rahman some early touches inside. When Michigan State puts Draymond Green in the game, expect the Aggies to counter with Troy Gillenwater and the game to turn into a track meet. Laroche has played against some good point guards in his career and held his own. He does a good job taking care of the ball, but Laroche, like the other NMSU shooters, will need to hit some shots.
9 comments:
How about this prediction: Young makes the NCAA tourney All-Mouth team.
The guy should stick to playing basketball. Maybe then he'd be helping his team instead of getting splinters in his rump.
Young lost this game. Lost his cool and cost the team when they needed him.
Give the Aggies a lot of credit. All except for Young.
We got hosed. Inexcusable refereeing down the stretch. Great job to the Aggies for hanging in there, but the calls down the stretch were borderline fraudulent. Just awful.
For the first time all season I am damn proud of the Aggies!!! Menzies is finally learning how to coach and the players are giving 100 percent. The Aggies gave Michigan State all they could handle...the announcers really respected the Aggies by the end of the game.
New Mexico beat Montana but they looked sloppy and UTEP got their butts kicked...NM State by far respresented this region the best!
Anon 7:07
Your crazy. JY was the one who kept us in the game early in the second half. Had it not been for his streak we wouldnt have made it such a close game. And he had to take that foul, he was the only guarding the MSU player...so yeah.
Anon 7:10
Nah, stop searching for excuses. We lost fair and square. The refs didnt make a lot of calls during our second half run and there were some clear calls that they missed in our favor. The lane violation was clear as water but I do feel that at the end they messed up by not addin the correct time. Other than that I felt both teams got the chance to duke it out on their own.
Anon 7:11
I feel that if anything, Menzies was the one that cost us the game. The zone defense was atrocious in the first half and he did not adjust until the second half. He allowed Castillo to play too many minutes when it was evident that he could not keep up in the zone. He gave us six points off his threes but he gave up plenty more. I understand he was gettin frustrated but you cant give up a technical foul in such an important game. I think the team played more through heart and talent than any of his coaching. But thats just me
Good game by the Aggies and next saeson there is no way Gillenwater cant start. Rahman needs to be more of a factor and LaRoche needs to score every once in a while. But with what appears to be the inevitable expansion of the tournament next season, we shall enjoy another tourney invite.
Gsus
People with out young we arent in the Dance!!! Not one player lost this game it was a collective effort. The call at the end was legit. The clock situation was bad but We got 2 shots and missed them. Great game but the better coached team won.
UNM won Anon 7:11......That is great representation no matter sloppy or not. They are in the next round and we are going home. No one remembers losers. But You should be proud of this team because they showed Balls. I am proud as well.
The refs were definitely favoring Michigan State, but McKines did commit a lane violation on that free throw...just barely, but he did...but what really sucks is that the ref didn't even see it..he called one on Gillenwater who did not commit one..so the bad intention was there...you could even see it on the face of Tom Izzo...he knew his team lucked out.
I feel like New Mexico State was the more talented team. If the Aggie players can take care of business with school and other off the court issues, there is no reason they can't be a top 25 team next year.
Anon 10:20, I'm not one of these feel good people..lol...the Lobos and Miners suck and quite frankly I hate both. I was born and raised in Las Cruces and that is the reason I support the Aggies and no one else in the area...I could care less about UNM or UTEP. UNM looked like crap against Montana and they did not deserve a 3 seed...they did not represent well at all. The Aggies did much better.
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