Written by: Jason Groves/Sun-News Reporter
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Marvin Menzies feels like the Aggies are still the team to beat in the Western Athletic Conference, even though the Aggies could still finish the regular season anywhere between first and fourth.
Coming off a disappointing split on a Western Athletic Conference road trip last weekend, the New Mexico State University men's basketball team sits in fourth place entering the last week of the regular season.
Menzies' confidence stems from the simple fact that his team doesn't have to leave Doña Ana County again for a game against a WAC opponent. The Aggies (17-13, 10-4 WAC) end the regular season this week against San Jose State and Hawaii, both at the Pan American Center, before playing host to the WAC Tournament next week.
"I feel like we are still going to be the team to beat here at home," Menzies said. "I feel that way, the players feel that way and we are working that way in practice right now.
"The home court is a huge advantage. It's something that we need, that competitive advantage, to give us that opportunity sometimes when you don't get a call early in the game and maybe late in the game with your fans pushing you over the top you do get a call or two or an extra ounce of adrenaline."
The Aggies enter this week as one of four teams that could end the season with a 12-4 conference record.
"It needs to come together for these last two games and especially in the tournament," said NMSU senior forward Trei Steward. "These two games are very important to get the rest of the chemistry together."
Menzies said that home attendance will play a role in how well the Aggies fare from here on out. While he wasn't in Las Cruces last year during the Aggies' run to their first WAC Tournament title, Menzies drew upon his experience while in the Mountain West at San Diego State.
"UNLV had a huge advantage at home whether it was the first day, second day or third day, they were packing the place," Menzies said. "They were packing the place and you will see that across the country for teams that are playing at home in their conference tournament and we are hoping to have the same result."
On the court, the Aggies have proven they have improved, winning seven of their last nine games. On the offensive end, the Aggies are second in the WAC behind Boise State with 79.6 points per game, while outrebounding their opponents by a league-best seven boards per contest.
"The tournament is really important and we have to be playing our best basketball for those three days if we want to go to the NCAA Tournament," said Aggies senior forward Justin Hawkins, who eclipsed the 1,000-point mark at NMSU against Fresno State, becoming the 24th player in NMSU history to do so. "Whatever it is that we need to do, we have to get it all clicking on all cylinders."
The Aggies broke through for the first time in Saturday's 69-64 victory at Fresno State, coming back for the first time this season to win after trailing at halftime.
"I'm feeling pretty good about where we are at right now in the season and the way we are playing," Menzies said. "We are putting a bunch of points on the board so that is something that other teams will be concerned with and we just have to tighten up some things on defense."
Menzies said he met with the five Aggies seniors this week regarding preparation for the WAC Tournament.
"It was pre-game rituals and stuff like that," Steward said. "Things that we did last year that we felt really helped us relax and focus on the games."
Hawkins, Steward, Fred Peete, Hatila Passos and Martin Iti each have one more WAC Tournament experience under their belt than Menzies, so the coach has taken advantage of that experience.
"I've never been through it," Menzies said. "The whole experience here in Las Cruces from what I understand is electric and the buzz is starting already."
More tie-breaking scenarios
Every possible scenario hinges on the Aggies winning their next two games this week.
If the Aggies, Nevada, Boise State and Utah State finished 12-4, the Aggies would wind up the No. 3 seed based on head to head records versus the other schools (3-3) and being swept by Nevada.
The Aggies need a lot of help to gain a higher seed. For a No. 1 seed, the Aggies would need Nevada to lose at Fresno State on Saturday. Utah State would also have to beat Boise State on Thursday, but lose at Idaho on Saturday. Then the Aggies would have a better conference record than Utah State and Nevada and own a 2-0 record against Boise State, thus earning a co-championship with Boise State and the automatic berth to the Postseason NIT that comes with the top seed for the conference tournament.
The Aggies could also end up at No. 2 if a three-way tie would occur between the Aggies, Utah State and Boise State if Nevada lost on Saturday at Fresno. Again using the head-to-head records against the other two schools, NMSU and Utah State would be 3-1 against the other two schools, and the Broncos would be 0-4 since both teams swept Boise. The UtAgs would earn the No. 1 seed after splitting with Nevada.
On Tuesday, Menzies said it didn't matter where the Aggies ended up to start the tournament, focusing his attention on Thursday's 6:30 p.m. game against San Jose State and Saturday's 7 p.m. against Hawaii.
"Obviously you want the one seed, but you are going to have to go through two upper echelon teams to win it," Menzies said. "And in the first round, you have to beat a team that could potentially beat any of those teams one through four, which has been proven throughout the course of the conference."
Jason Groves can be reached at jgroves@lcsun-news.com
