Consider this.
In San Jose, the Spartans shot 69.2 percent from the field and 8 of 10 from 3-point range in the second half to erase a 9-point deficit and win 93-84.
On Saturday, the Spartans were 40 percent in the second half and 50 percent from long range in the second 20 minutes as the Aggies were able to hold them at bay.
But the Aggies might want to avoid Robert Owens if at all possible in the WAC tournament. Owens was 12 of 20 from long range in the two games and averaged 22 per game against the Aggies. Not bad, but not as good as JY vs. the Spartans. The Aggies were more aware of Mac Peterson tonight though. Peterson only attempted six shots — all 3s. and He only made two after connecting on 6 of 8 last time.
After a career high 34 at San Jose, Young was 8 of 13 from the field, 4 of 6 from 3-point land, 5 of 5 from the line for 25 on Saturday to run his average to 24.5 per game against the Spartans.
10 comments:
Great win tonight over SJSU. Our Aggies are HOT and might just be the best Aggie team to play in the Pan Am in a long time. McKines, Gillenwater, JY, Gib, etc..... are so great! Menzies is the best coach to come through NMSU! If this team doesn't win the WAC regular season title AND the WAC tournament title, something is wrong!!! It is a lock, they will win both!!! so sad that Las Cruces and even the NMSU students can't get to the game and sell out the Pan Am. UTEP sells out the Haskins center and they were playing for first place too. What is wrong with you people? Can't you see how great Menzies and these players are?
The Aggies played well enough to win the game. Some serious lapses here and there, but that is to be expected, I suppose, with a new lineup.
NMSU's interior defense looked solid tonight after the first twelve minutes. Not as good at defending the 3 though. Maybe it was a pick your poison deal with Coach Menzies being okay with the visitors banging away from outside.
Gillenwater appears bulked up from last year and had plenty in the way of fresh legs. He got up and down the floor well, defended, and generally looked like he's been playing all year. Good for him.
Nice win against a reasonably tough opponent.
Anon 10:03
Take it easy buddy. Menzies is most definetely not the best coach to come through town and this team is not better I dont think than the 06-07 team or even the 07-08 team. We have a good team this year and we need to keep tightening the defense. I keep saying that there is no need for us to be in situations were the opposing team is within striking distance but it keeps happening. As far as UTEP is concerned, this was their first sell out this season and they have over 500,000 people in the city. So there is not much difference there. The school simply does not promote its athletics very well for a town our size and like I said before the players and coaches also dont put their part. Wins are nice but if no one notices the wins no one will show up. I think a lot of people still have the taste of football in their mouths and think that we dont have a good athletic program.
Gsus
Anon 10:03
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. La Tech and Nevada are very good teams with Nevada having home court advantage in the tournament. Oh and there's that one team with a great system and awesome coach. What's their name? Oh ya... Utah State. The WAC is a solid league and NMSU will have to keep a very high level of play to win the conference as well as the conference tournament. But I agree with you in saying the Aggies are a great team right now.
Hopefully with more help on the interior, they play inside out more. I don't mind all the 3s, but I hate it when they are early in the shot, and they don't run any offense.
This IS a problem with this team, and will be their downfall if they don't clean it up. Maybe Menzies let Gibson & Young run wild early becasue he knew he couldn't bring anybody off the bench. Hopefully he can continue to get a few productive minutes out of Castillo now that he doesn't need to count on him to do anything other than spot up shoot.
It seems to be improving, but I hope it continues to be addressed. JG & JY will get better looks and more ops to drive if they throw it inside first and run some plays. Young should get 6-8 points per game off back cuts alone.
Anon 10:03,
I hate to rain on your parade, but your single comparison of El Paso to Las Cruces is way off. El Paso has a population of something like 800,000, higher than the earlier post of 500,000. By comparison, Las Cruces has about 100,000. UTEP has more students on their campus than NMSU at its main campus in Las Cruces (but not more than all NMSU's campuses combined).
UTEP has been averaging less than 8,000 before the FIRST sellout of the season against a ranked, and first place, Tulsa squad. They have been close to the top of CUSA for a few weeks, and even then couldn't break the 10K mark with an ESPN game against Tulsa.
As far as "how great" the Aggie team and coach are, well, that has yet to be seen. A 10-2 streak doesn't erase a 3-6 start. Making an appearance in the NCAA or even the NIT tournaments once every blue moon isn't exactly an indicator of greatness. Not having an RPI below the magical 50 mark isn't either.
The Aggies are on a nice run now. I hope it continues. For me, it is a little too early to crown them champions of anything. For now, they are one of the four best teams in the WAC, and that's about it.
Groves, buy yourself a 'Wen's Day' shirt.
5 all conference caliber players name another team that has that out of the 4
Young got player of the week for the second time this season..
I'm not saying this is the best Aggie team ever but it is a pretty darn good team right now. I think it is ridiculous to compare any teams with those of the past at any level because anybody can state what they feel and they are going to be right. I can make a good argument that this team is better than anything the aggies have had for 10 or 15 years but they haven't proven anything yet. There are 3 or 4 good teams in the WAC this year and we're one of them with a very legitimate shot to win the WAC tourney. Very few people would have said that 2 months ago and even a month ago we weren't that good. Now we are. Foe those of you that can't get over the 3-6 start, my question is why not? That is not the Aggie team that is playing now. Tonight's game will be tough and I hope people go out to support the Aggies.
Post a Comment