Thursday, January 22, 2009

Aggies lose to Boise State

I thought the New Mexico State Aggies played all right on Thursday night on the road at Boise State. Unfortunately, all right isn't always good enough and it wasn't in this one. NMSU fell 87-84.

Troy Gillenwater can score the ball and he did it time and again vs. the Broncos. He also rebounded much better tonight. As a whole, the team rebounded good. They grabbed 13 more boards than Boise. I can only remember one offensive board Boise got in the second half on a long tipout. You're going to give up a few here and there. It wasn't nearly as glaring of a problem as it has been in the past.

The only thing about Gillenwater I will say is this: He can score the ball. He's skilled with the ball in his hands and around the basket and he has range. But he has to be more of a presence underneath on defense. I can recall two times he made buckets, late in the game, and the Aggies gave up a layin on the other end on Boise's following possession. I think Troy could be a great player. And I remember a big block he had as well with a Boise player looking to go to the rim. He has to continue to develop and remain hungry.

Jonathan Gibson took some shots way too early in the shot clock in the second half. They were wasteful possessions and the team would have been better served to go back to Gillenwater. Boise could not match up with him. No need to hoist up a 3 with the shot clock at 26 with five minutes left in the game and your team desperate for a bucket...And I think Jonathan should be better than 68 percent from the free throw line. I like Jonathan and want to see him do great things. He's better than that.

Again, Jahmar played well. He's a fearless offensive player.

The team really needs a good performance against Idaho, one which ends in a win. It will be tough. The Vandals will be waiting for the Aggies in Moscow with last week's loss still fresh on their minds. I don't know who's going to win. I do have a hunch that it will be a very hard fought game.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is Menzies thinking. How can a great player like Troy Gillenwater be coming off the bench. Troy, and Wendell both should be starting.

Anonymous said...

It was good game to watch!
NMSU was in it and it looked like they might steal a close one on the road but, NMSU still has trouble winning the close ones.

I wish Gillenwater would play like that every nght!
NMSU was hurt by 10 T/O in the 1st half and Gibsons stupid play!!

What's the deal w/ Gibson??!!
He jacks up some terrible shots. He's the only upper classmen yet, makes freshmen mistakes!! He really hurts the team in close games!

Did you see the attendance? 3,079, is pathetic. Even on a bad night, NMSU doubles that mark.
How do you sell out a 30,000 seat stadium yet, get 3,079 fans in doors?!!
I guess BSU fans are fair weathered and only cheer for a sure thing.

Anonymous said...

Sloppy, sloppy game. The Aggies should have won going away. Instead, they need a last second 3 pointer to tie it.

So many turnovers caused by lazy passes. So many easy baskets. Disgusting.

Anonymous said...

I agree. The Aggies were really sloppy on offense. I can't count how many times they left Boise players wide open for easy shots on defense as well. The Aggies could have easily won this game by 12 or 13 points if they had just played simple defense.
When it counted the most, Boise got all the big rebounds.

The Aggies obviously have talent but you can see the lack of discipline and direction from the coaching staff. This was game was frustrating to watch.

Anonymous said...

Everybody is always talking about coach Menzies, but how are you supposed to win a game when you have 4 players scoring 76 points and the rest of the team scoring 8!! Any team will have a hard time winning when there is no help off the bench. And I agree with ANON 12:39, that Gillenwater should start in place of Rahman. Gibson takes bad shots at times but still manages to score pretty consistently. I hope this team stays together for at least one more year.

Anonymous said...

I think that the biggest reason why this team has not achieved its potential is because there is no leadership on the court. We have good players like Gillenwater, Wen, JY and Gibson but none of them have stepped up to be the leader. Because he is an upperclassmen, Gibson should be the natural leader but yet does not take the team on his shoulders. He takes shots that are ill advised and he has been doing that all season. Wen is the one that does the dirty work for the aggies, JY is our scoring machine and Gillenwater is still learning the game. I think that until someone steps up and becomes a leader on this team we will have the same problems. Its not about youth anymore, its about someone taking charge and saying this is my team.

GS

Anonymous said...

Totally agree with GS. The team lacks leadership! McKines is the closest thing to a leader, but he is also Mr. Dirty-work and lets his play do the speaking for him. I wish Jon Gibson would step up and speak up. It was difficult to watch the horrible shots he would take last night.
One a positive note: Rahman is playing better. He is averaging 1.5 blocked shots a game (4 last night in 13 minutes!). If he can get his body coordination down, then I might be a decent player for us. He's come a LONG way since the first game of the year, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

Listen, Aggies do have some raw talent. The beat goes on...opposing teams know that the Aggies can not play man to man defense, they get eaten up when they try. The 2-3 zone works but if the opposing team has shooters they are cooked. Man to Man has to be the answer, but unfortunately they can not do it. I am forever hopeful. Two at home, GO AGGIES (please).