Tim Floyd on "junk defenses"

Tim Floyd says the box-and-1 and triangle-and-2 defense that he uses to frustrate the Aggies first came about at Iowa State in the 1990s.

"Probably around 1994-98 to stop a player like Paul Pierce would be my guess," Floyd said. "It has been effective for us at times. You have to give the opposing coaches credit because if it works one time down the court, you don't know if it's going to be as effective the next time. You are always trying to eliminate the best two scorers on a team however you might do that."

With respect to this year's UTEP team, NMSU could see some box and 1 or triangle and 2. The Aggies don't have one player like last year and Wendell McKines, but Floyd isn't exactly praising his team defensively so far this year.

"We are primarily a man to man team, but we do things to try to disrupt the other team, but we haven't been good at any of it," Floyd said. "We need to be practicing at this point rather than playing games to be honest with you."

Floyd isn't high on his team's rebounding either, stressing getting back in transition instead of trying to challenge teams on the glass. It could help the Aggies get some easy points. NMSU's rebounding rate is 62 percent and UTEP collects 41 percent.

"We are not a dominant rebounding team and we are not winning on the offensive boards," Floyd said. "So we try not to give up points in transition. Unfortunately we have not been good there either. We are giving up a lot of lay ups and 17 foot jump shots."