Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Aggie men’s basketball team faces big games this week

It’s rivalry week for the Aggie men’s basketball team when they travel to the University of New Mexico for a Wednesday night game and then host UTEP on Saturday.

Obviously these games are important for the program. The Aggies are 3-13 in the past four years against their rivals and the rallying cry in the past has been to get better for conference play, then the conference tournament. But these games mean a lot to the people of Las Cruces and the Aggies need to play well in them this year.

Do they have to win both? I don’t think that’s the case. I do think they have to be in the UNM game and they do have to beat UTEP on Saturday.

The Lobos are supposed to be a good team and playing in the Pit is historically tough. Not that I think it’s insurmountable to get a victory there. There will be a good crowd as always and a good atmosphere for this one. And, you know, as a player this should be the type of game you love playing in. The Aggies should be excited about playing in a great atmosphere. No one in the crowd is going to block a shot or grab a rebound. The game will be decided on the court.

I expect the Aggies to play hard and with that they should defend and rebound well. Why not? If the Aggies play hard they should do both of these things effectively — they’re athletic enough to hold their own in these departments.

I think a KEY to the game will be the Aggies ability to shoot the 3-pointer. This will be a key to follow all year.

In their exhibition game against Eastern New Mexico the Aggies went 3-of-17 from deep and then followed that up with a 5-of-14 performance in their season opener at Northern Colorado. If the Aggies can hit one of every three 3-point attempts, they should be OK.

As for UTEP, the Miners are off to a slow start. That doesn’t mean they won’t be better by Jan. 1. But right now they’re a team the Aggies can — and should — beat in Las Cruces.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The aggies aren't 3-13!

Marvin Menzo is 3-13 vs. our rivals!
He can't beat unm or utep and the fans have stopped showing up!!

Coming up, 3-14!

Jefe

Anonymous said...

4 and 13 now.

What a great win!!!