I wrote before the Aggies' 58-54 loss to Utah State on Wednesday that Troy Gillenwater would have to become more inside-out down the stretch.
As it turns out, a broken thumb on his shooting hand forced him to be just that on Wednesday for 17 points. It was probably a painful 17 points, but it set the tone for the Aggies with his aggressive play. Freshman Tshilidzi Nephawe had his first career double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Hamidu Rahman was limited to 10 minutes as he is still nursing the calf injury. Perhaps it was the injury or a matchup against Tai Wesley, but Gillenwater probably played one of his best defensive games that I have seen anyway. Wesley made some big buckets, but nothing was easy for him on Wednesday.
Gillenwater has the ball in his hands a lot, so perhaps the mistakes are magnified, but he admitted the turnover down four was big although it didn't turn into UtAg points.
There was also another sequence where the Aggies lost valuable seconds because they couldn't secure a rebound at a critical time. NMSU outrebounded USU 31-27 and the UtAgs only had five offensive rebounds, but two of them came in the last 1:14.
Down 56-52 with 1:14 to play on a Gillenwater three point play, the Aggies forced Brian Green into a tough runner in the lane. Morgan Grim, who played six minutes....grabbed the rebound and extended the possession. Brockeith Pane pulled up for a jumper on the wing with 51 seconds left, but Wesley grabbed the board and the Aggies were forced to foul.
2 comments:
Gillenwater did a good job tonight, even with the turnover at the end. Had he played like this the last four games, the Aggies would have gone 3-1 and not 0-4.
The Aggies have inconsistent guard play. Too many sloppy passes.
And crappy free throw shooting didn't help any. How many front ends of 1 and 1s did they miss tonight?
The Aggies still can win the WAC tourney, especially they give the kind of effort they gave Wednesday evening. The road got tougher and their chances longer, but stranger things have happened...
I watched the last three halves on ESPN (first action i've seen all year). I have to say it reminded me of pickup games at Meerscheidt back in the day. One good player with a bunch of scrubs, ironically there is no coaching at Meerscheidt just like at NMSU. The centers are like mummies, they have NO inside moves. Ham bounced the ball off his face against SJSU, and fell flat on his behind last night, WOW! The guards are hit or miss, I saw maybe two good passes. Gordo stands in one spot hoping to get a good shot. I thought he was supposed to be one of the best shooters in the country?! No one can make a FT! Who recruited these guys?! Looks like this year will end with a 6 game losing streak unless something miraculous happens!!! I'm not sure this team is even ready for the CBI tournament! Next year doesn't look much better. We have Wen back, but he is not a cure all. He is the best thing to happen to NMSU in a long time! He da man!
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