Basketball: Aggies Face “Win and In” Scenario on Senior Night to Close Out Regular Season Play

Coming off an overtime thriller over Jacksonville State at home, 77-75, the Aggies prepare for their final game inside the Pan American Center and the final contest of the regular season. With postseason hopes still alive, NM State enters the night in a three-way tie with FIU and UTEP for the final two spots in the Conference USA Tournament set to take place in Huntsville, Alabama.

When the New Mexico State Aggies men’s basketball host the Kennesaw State Owls men’s basketball in the final game of the Conference USA regular season, both teams will step onto the court with postseason stakes attached. For the Owls, a victory would clinch a first-round bye in next week’s Conference USA Tournament, while losses by either Jacksonville State or Middle Tennessee would also lock up a top-six seed. A win Saturday could even keep alive Kennesaw State’s hopes of climbing as high as third in the final conference standings.

For the Aggies, the path is much simpler. Win, and New Mexico State is in the Conference USA Tournament. A loss, however, would leave the Aggies depending on a complicated chain of results elsewhere in the league standings—essentially a “bones roll” of outcomes breaking exactly right—to slip into the final tournament spot.

Subscribe to the Daily Las Cruces Digest

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name *How would you like to be addressed in personalized emails?

/* real people should not fill this in and expect good things – do not remove this or risk form bot signups */

The matchup itself carries some intriguing storylines heading into the regular-season finale. Kennesaw State’s starting lineup is something of an anomaly in modern college basketball: not a single senior or transfer appears in the Owls’ opening five. Instead, the group features two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior—all recruited directly into the program as first-year players.

That youthful lineup has still managed to produce one of the more balanced statistical profiles in Conference USA. The Owls rank sixth nationally in offensive rebounds at 14.2 per game, while their defense has been equally effective—34th in the nation in field-goal defense at 40.9 percent. Inside the paint, Kennesaw State also leads the conference and ranks 12th nationally with 5.4 blocks per game, powered by the interior tandem of Braedan Lue and Trey Simpson, one of just 20 duos in the country with at least 38 blocks each this season.

Game Notes