SIU looks to rebound on Wednesday against Jerry Kill and Mario Moccia's current school.
Meet the Aggies:
It's been a successful decade for New Mexico State Basketball. The Aggies have made the NCAA Tournament 8 times since 2010-11 and had a few successful coaches during that time including Mario Menzies and Chris Jans. The one obstacle the Aggies had during this run was actually winning an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 1993 and it finally came in 2021-22 when Chris Jans' 12 seed Aggies beat the 5 seed UConn Huskies. Their ride ended in the 2nd round with a close loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks.
After the season, Jans left for Mississippi State and New Mexico State hired Greg Heiar and it ended up being one of the worst hires ever. Heiar was fired on Valentine's Day this year after a season that saw a shooting death of a University of New Mexico student and the program shut down for the season.
In comes Jason Hooten as head coach who spent 13 season as head coach of Sam Houston State and compiled a 261-169 record there. Hooten never made an NCAA Tournament with the Bearkats but the team put together their best KenPom ranked season since KenPom records started in 1997 with a 26-8 #73 ranked season. Last year's Sam Houston State team was 21st in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency.
New Mexico State was picked 8th of 9 teams in the Conference USA Preseason Poll ahead of only Jacksonville State. Every single player from last year's team departed via transfer, graduation, etc so this is a completely new roster. The Aggies started the season with a 40 point loss at #18 KenPom ranked Kentucky and a 17 point loss at #68 UC Irvine. Their only non D-1 win so far is a 5 point home win over #274 Northern Colorado.
The leading scorer for the Aggies is 6-2 Junior Christian Cook averaging 12.6 points per game. Cook was the leading scorer at D2 Northeastern State University last season. Cook is currently 152nd in the country in 3 point % (9-19, 47.4%), 119th in the country in effective field goal % (64.6%), and 87th in the country in true shooting % (69.2%). In their win over Northern Colorado, Cook scored 26 points on 8-11 shooting (5-7 from 3).
Right behind Cook in scoring is 6-7 Junior Robert Carpenter. Carpenter is on his third collegiate stop playing 14 games at St. Bonaventure before transferring to Mississippi Valley State where he led them in scoring with 16.4 points per game. This season, Carpenter is 282nd in the country in 2 point % (16-25, 64.0%), 369th in the country in effective field goal % (56.0%), and 330th in the country in true shooting % (60.4%).
The leader in assists on the Aggies is 6-2 Junior Jalen Jackson-Posey averaging 3.5 assists per game. Jackson-Posey was a 3 star recruit out of Midland, TX and chose Stephen F Austin over offers from Houston, TCU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and SMU. Jackson-Posey this season is 196th in the country in 3 point % (5-11, 45.5%), 224th in the country in assist rate (25.2%), and 310th in the country in steal % (3.4%).
One more player to watch out for is 6-2 Senior Jordan Rawls. Rawls was a 4 star recruit out of Chattanooga, TN and spent his first two collegiate seasons at Western Kentucky before transferring to Georgia State for a year. He then transferred back to Western Kentucky for a year before ending up at New Mexico State this year. Rawls is currently 83rd in the country in assist rate (32.1%). Rawls had 10 assists in New Mexico State's OT loss to Fresno State on Tuesday.
Links:
SIU Game Notes
New Mexico State Game Notes
SalukiWorld I do not know where you get the time and energy to constantly produce the opponent information in the various sports along with scouting reports but for me it is greatly appreciated so with that I say THANK YOU
Is the game on CBS sports again ?
I have a strong dislike for that channel. They could not get the score correct for half of the game, same with the time. Also it is not the easiest for me to get and if a game prior goes over we end up missing some of the game. Much prefer ESPN plus given the consistency. I don't have to deal with blackouts though. Looks like a good game, SIU favored by 4 at the moment.Is the game on CBS sports again ?
Yes
XJ the second leading scorer in the country, let's hope he keeps this up after that extraordinary performance last night.
38pts is the 11th best scoring game in SIU history, tied with Mike Glenn Feb. 1, 1976 at Louisville 38, Chris Carr Feb. 18, 1995 at Illinois State 38, Carlton Fay Feb. 20, 2010 Western Michigan. Good company.
Also, 12 FTs made in a game is good enough for 14th all time. SIU record is 16 in a game, Charlie Vaughn. In fact there was only one better game FT% wise, 14-14 Greg Starrick 1971.
Saluki Insider? I barely know her!
Make no mistake, this will not be an easy game. NMST is a thrown together team but athletic and talented. It will take a good effort from the team to pull this one out, but we CAN win !! Let's go Dawgs.
Need a good start and we have to keep out of foul trouble.
Rupert and Ebube should have fresh legs after yesterday, that’s one of the reasons why I like this matchup better than Fresno State who had a pair of 6-11 guys. I think both of the bigs will be keys of this game.
Wonder if we’ll get a Mario Moccia sighting.
In sizing up the non-con schedule before the start of the season, I figured Southern would lose to James Madison (didn't know they'd be quite this good or that XJ would notch 38 points!), and that this second game in Cancun would be a critical, swing game in the non-conference portion of the schedule. Still feel that way.
Agree that a bounce-back performance from the guys who didn't play well yesterday (both bigs, Ferguson, Miller ...) will probably be decisive, as you can't expect XJ to follow up yesterday with another big game 24 hours later. Though I wouldn't complain if he goes for 20+ again ...
I was at the Louisville game when Mike Glenn scored 38 with no 3 point line.XJ the second leading scorer in the country, let's hope he keeps this up after that extraordinary performance last night.
38pts is the 11th best scoring game in SIU history, tied with Mike Glenn Feb. 1, 1976 at Louisville 38, Chris Carr Feb. 18, 1995 at Illinois State 38, Carlton Fay Feb. 20, 2010 Western Michigan. Good company.
Also, 12 FTs made in a game is good enough for 14th all time. SIU record is 16 in a game, Charlie Vaughn. In fact there was only one better game FT% wise, 14-14 Greg Starrick 1971.
Game should be televised on time, Creighton game is over.
I'm worried that XJ is going to try to do TOO much. He has played incredible but we cannot win with just him alone.
