NM State men back home to host Dixie State in WAC action

THE OPENING TIP
• Back inside the Pan American Center for the final time in the month of February, the NM State men's basketball team will try to dodge back-to-back losses when they welcome WAC foe Dixie State to the Land of Enchantment for a rare Wednesday night battle.
• Tip-off in the fourth all-time battle between the Aggies and Trailblazers has been set for 7:00 p.m. Adam Young and Joe Garza are scheduled to handle play-by-play and analysis responsibilities for the first meeting between the two teams inside the Pan American Center. Comcast New Mexico and Bally Sports Arizona Plus are set to televise the clash regionally while ESPN+ and the ESPN app will carry the showdown around the nation.
• Over the airwaves, legendary radio play-by-play man Jack Nixon will set up shop courtside to call the action.
• The play-by-play and analysis of the nation's 14th-longest tenured NCAA Division I men's basketball voice can be heard on 99.5 Zia Country FM in Las Cruces, N.M., and nationwide on The Varsity Network app.
• Affiliate stations of the Aggie Sports Network can be tuned in to in Artesia, N.M. (990 AM), Carlsbad, N.M. (1240 AM), Gallup, N.M. (94.9 FM), Alamogordo, N.M. (103.7 FM) and El Paso, Texas (1380 AM). All of those stations will also carry Nixon's commentary of Thursday night's tilt.

FAST BREAK POINTS
• NM State still resides in the top spot of the WAC standings, but it has some company there. The Aggies are tied with Seattle U for the league's top spot with Sam Houston one game back of that pair for first place in the WAC.
• NM State's 20 wins are the 19th-most among all NCAA Division I men's basketball teams this season as well as the most by any WAC team.
• NM State has won its last 31 home games against WAC opponents dating back 2017. The Aggies' last loss to a WAC team in the Pan American Center came on Feb. 23, 2017, when they dropped an 84-72 decision to Utah Valley.
• Since the start of the 2009-10 campaign, NM State owns an 86-4 (.956) record in WAC home games. Those four losses came by a combined 34 points (an average of 8.4 per game).
• NM State head coach Chris Jans is 59-11 (.843) in regular-season WAC games as the Aggies' head coach. Included in that record is a perfect 29-0 (1.000) showing against WAC squads inside NM State's home venue of the Pan American Center.
• NM State's .843 winning percentage in WAC regular season games under Jans is the nation's second-best in-conference winning percentage figure since 2017-18. Only Gonzaga's (73-2, .973) is higher.
• With a win at SFA on Saturday, Jan. 22, NM State senior forward Johnny McCants overtook Ian Baker for the highest number of wins in the history the program (111). Baker, who suited up for NM State from 2014-17, amassed 110 wins through the course of his storied Aggie career, but McCants is slowly increasing the number of wins on his resume with 115 to his credit.
• The second half has been a strength of the Aggies all season long. NM State has outscored its foes 965-793 (+172) in the second half - good for an average of 7.5 points per game. NM State has outscored its opponent by 15 or more in the final frame six times this season, too. Only Arizona, Colorado State, Gonzaga, Kentucky and St. Mary's have exceeded those second-half scoring stats put up by the Aggies.
• High-scoring guard Teddy Allen currently leads the WAC and ranks 30th nationally in scoring at a clip of 19.6 points per game. Allen has put in 20 or more points in each of his last six games, the longest streak of games with 20 or more points by an Aggie in the 21st century.
• Currently the Aggies have three players on their roster - Teddy Allen, Jabari Rice and Donnie Tillman - who have amassed 1,000 or more points in their respective NCAA Division I careers. A fourth, though, could do so as early as Wednesday. senior forward Johnny McCants (984 career points) is 16 points away from becoming the 37th player in program history to hit the 1,000-point mark.
• In addition to being on the cusp of 1,000 career points, McCants is also within striking distance of becoming one of the program's top-ten all-time rebounders. McCants needs to gather up just nine more boards to tied Jeff Smith (718 rebounds) for 10th place on the Aggies' all-time rebounding list.
• Jabari Rice eclipsed the 1,000-point mark Saturday with a 10-point outing at Utah Valley. His 1,004 career points currently have him tied with Billy Keys for 35th on the program's all-time scoring list. Rice is the first NM State player since Eli Chuha in 2019 to hit the 1,000-point mark with all of his collegiate points coming exclusively in an NM State uniform.
• Chris Jans is 7-2 (.778) in games played on Wednesday as NM State's head coach. That mark included a 2-0 showing this season.

LAST TIME OUT vs. DIXIE STATE | NM State 77, at Dixie State 69 | Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022
• Surviving 18 turnovers - the third-highest total in a game this season - NM State used its best three-point field goal percentage in a game this year and double-digit scoring outings from four players to collect a 77-69 win at Dixie State.
• Teddy Allen hit the 20-point mark for the fifth-straight game, going off for a game-high 20 points on a 5-of-11 clip from the field. Allen became the first NM State player to score 20 or more points in five consecutive games since Eric Channing did so in the Aggies' 2000-01 campaign. 
• Leading NM State's three-point charge was senior guard Clayton Henry. He went 4-of-5 from downdown, matching his career-high in three-pointers made to finish with 12 points in 35 minutes of action.
• Jabari Rice led the way on the glass, submitting an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double. The guard's second double-double of the 2021-22 campaign helped NM State own a slim 40-35 edge on the glass.
• For the third-straight game, Johnny McCants was a primary contributor on the offensive end, too. The Las Cruces, N.M., product turned in a 13-point outing on a 5-of-9 night from the field. McCants' 10+ points for the third-straight game match his longest streak of double-digit scoring games in his career.
• As a squad, NM State drilled 53.3-percent (8-of-15) of its tries from distance. That's the fourth-best three-point field goal percentage in a single game during the Chris Jans coaching era.
• NM State generated just nine assists in the win with Rice accumulating a game-high four of them. The Aggies' nine assists are the third-fewest in a single game this season.

LAST TIME OUT | --/rv NM State 68, at Utah Valley 72 | Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022
• A poor shooting performance through the opening 20 minutes of action proved costly for the NM State men's basketball team as the Aggies dropped a 72-68 decision at WAC foe Utah Valley Saturday afternoon inside the UCCU Center.
• The Aggies put in just 25-percent (7-of-28) of their field goal tries through the first half and fell behind by as many as 14 points on two occasions in the second half.
• Though they shot an impressive 60.6-percent (20-of-33) from the field in the second half, NM State never could capture the lead.
• Twice in the final 10 seconds, NM State cut the Wolverines' lead down to two points. Free throw shooting, though, wound up hurting NM State's chances down the stretch as the Aggies converted only 50-percent (10-of-20) of their tries from the stripe on the afternoon.
• Just a few days after turning in his second double-double of the year, Jabari Rice became the 35th NM State player to enter the program's 1,000-point club by finishing with 10 points on a 4-of-9 clip from the field. Rice's point total of 1,004 is tied for Billy Keys for the 35th-most in the history of the program.
• Rice is one of three current NM State players who have amassed 1,000 or more points in their respective careers. Teddy Allen and Donnie Tillman have both exceeded the 1,000-point mark, too, but neither has done so exclusively at NM State.
• For Allen, he became the first NM State player in the 21st century to rack up 20 or more points in six consecutive games. The Phoenix, Ariz., product finished with a game-high 24 points to go along with a team-high 11 rebounds to complete his team-best fifth double-double of the season. With his 24-point outing, Allen hiked his season scoring average to 19.6 points per game - the best among all WAC players and the 30th highest average in the land.
• Mike Peake chipped in a season-high 16 points on a 7-of-10 shooting performance off the bench.
• Though he was limited to just a single field goal make, Johnny McCants passed out a game and career-high six assists in NM State's loss.

SCOUTING DIXIE STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Fresh off a marquee win against Grand Canyon inside Burns Arena Saturday night, Dixie State is hoping to secure another high-profile victory in its final road game in the month of February.
• Hunter Schofield continues to top the Trailblazers' charts in scoring (14.4 points per game) and rebounding (6.0 per game) after playing the role of hero for his squad Saturday in St. George, Utah. It was Schofield's three-point play with 17.6 seconds remaining which lifted Dixie State to its 61-60 victory over Grand Canyon.
• Junior forward Dancell Leter serves as one of the Trailblazers' most important pieces - especially as of late. Leter has finished with 12 or more points in each of his last six games which is his longest stretch of double-digit scoring outings this season.
• That has helped Leter leap into third on Dixie State's scoring charts at an average of 10.4 points per game. Cameron Gooden serves as an efficient passer (3.7 assists per game) as well as a strong scoring threat by putting in points at a rate of 12.5 per game.
• Frank Staine stands as Dixie State's best three-point threat with a team-high 29 triples to his credit in 2020-21. Over the last four games, though, Staine has gone just 1-of-16 (6.3-percent) from long distance.
• The Trailblazers are eyeing their fourth road win of the season when they make a first-time trip to the Pan American Center Wednesday night. Dixie State possesses a 3-8 mark in road game this season which includes a 2-4 mark in WAC road showdowns. Since joining the WAC - and NCAA Division I - Dixie State is 4-8 in WAC road games.

COMING UP NEXT
• Each of the Aggies' next three WAC engagements are set to take place outside New Mexico state lines. That stretch begins Saturday evening in Phoenix, Ariz., when NM State rolls into GCU Arena for a 6:00 p.m. showdown with Grand Canyon. The Aggies will be looking for their first regular-season sweep of the Lopes since the 2019-20 season when the two teams oppose one another.