Coming Up This Week:
The Vandal men will make their final Western Athletic Conference road trip of the season this week with a tough road trip that starts on Wednesday at New Mexico State on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. (PST) and wraps up with a Saturday game at Louisiana Tech at 6 p.m. The Vandal men will be looking to avenge a pair of nail-biter early-season losses to the Aggies and Bulldogs. Idaho led both games late in the second half, but couldn't keep hold of either one.
New Mexico State
The Series:
The Vandals and Aggies play on Wednesday for the 19th time in series history. The matchups date back to 1997 when the teams were Big West foes. The Vandals broke a 10-game NMSU winning streak last year at the Cowan Spectrum, but the Aggies won earlier this year at Moscow by a 75-72 margin.
The Aggies:
New Mexico State enters the week with a 17-9 overall record and 9-3 conference slate. The Aggies are coached by Marvin Menzies, who is in his second season. NMSU has won 14 of its last 17 games, including an 84-78 BracketBusters win at Pacific on Saturday. The Aggies have won their last four home WAC games.
NMSU averages 78.2 points on 45.5 percent shooting for the year. Opponents out-rebound the Aggies by a 37.9-36.1 margin. New Mexico State's 8.6 made 3-pointers per game lead the WAC and rank 11th in the NCAA this year. The Aggies average 16.8 points per game from the free throw line. They also average 13.9 assists to 13.5 turnovers and block 3.2 shots per game.
Junior guard Jahmar Young, who had 32 points in the first meeting between these two teams, leads NMSU and ranks third in the WAC with a 20.9 scoring average. Senior guard Jonathan Gibson averages 18.2 points and leads the team with 38 steals. Gibson's 3.2 made 3-pointers per game rank 14th in the NCAA and first in the WAC. Sophomore center Hamidu Rahman leads the team with an 8.6 rebounding average, as well as a 1.3 blocked-shot average. Sophomore guard Hernst Laroche leads the team with 3.88 assists per game
Fun Fact:
With 12 points and 10 rebounds, Idaho's Luiz Toledo earned his first career double-double the first time these two teams played on Jan. 11.
Live Coverage:
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on ESPN2, as well as ESPN360 online, with Jon Sciambi and Adrian Branch calling the action. Tune in to the Vandal Radio Network to listen to Evan Ellis live for courtside play-by-play. Fans outside of broadcast range can still listen to the action online through VandalXtra.
