Aggie men's hoops aims for postseason success

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With postseason play, comes renewed hope.

Tonight in Denton, Texas, the New Mexico State Aggie men?s basketball team hopes find some hope in a season that has been a struggle in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

The Aggies, seeded sixth (last) out of the Western Division, take on Middle Tennessee, the No. 3 seed out of the Sun Belt Eastern Division.

New Mexico State finished the regular season 6-23 overall and 1-14 in league play, while Middle Tennessee finished 18-11 overall and 7-7 in conference play.

The Aggies ended a 10-game losing streak Tuesday, beating Texas-Pan American 78-61 at home.

?We needed to get some momentum and hopefully the win will carry over into the tournament,? Aggies coach Tony Stubblefield said. ?We?re still working hard and we were close to winning a lot of games in league play. We feel we can play well and win against the teams in the tournament.?

The Aggies lost several close games in league play, but their only win was a 71-66 win at Florida International.

?We have to play smart, rebound well and take care of the ball against Middle Tennessee,? Stubblefield said. ?One of the biggest things will be to play for 40 minutes. If we can get a great effort, we?ll have a chance.?

Middle Tennessee handled the Aggies 65-50 in Las Cruces on Jan. 27, a game in which the Aggies shot just 25 percent in the second half and scored 21 points.

?Middle Tennessee has a lot of good talent and they play good defense,? Stubblefield said. ?We have to be patient against them. They haven?t had their whole team all season. Mike Dean (guard) was hurt against us and Steve Thomas (forward), sat out the first semester. They are a team capable of winning the entire tournament.?

Dean leads the Blue Raiders in scoring at 14.4 points per game, while forward Michael Cuffee leads the team in rebounding at 7.4. Thomas had a big game for Middle Tennessee in the first meeting, scoring 11 points and hauling in 10 boards.

?We didn?t play real well against Middle Tennessee the first time on the offensive end,? Aggie senior guard Allen Haynes said. ?We need to be more aggressive and get better shots. The first time we played against Middle Tennessee, it didn?t seem like we had the best energy.?

Haynes and center Trevor Lawrence keyed NMSU?s win on Tuesday. Haynes scored a season-best 19 points, while Lawrence came off the bench for his best game in a month to notch 18 points and seven rebounds.

?I believe in this team and that we can do good things,? Lawrence said. ?We?ve been close. I don?t think we have jelled as well as we could have this year, but I think we took some steps forward with the win (Tuesday).?

Other games today? in the first round include Arkansas State against North Texas and South Alabama against Florida International.

Tonight?s game begins at 7 p.m. at the Super Pit in Denton, Texas, and the game can be heard on KKVS-FM 98.7. The winner of today?s NMSU/Middle Tennessee contest will play West No. 2 seed Louisiana-Lafayette Sunday at 8 p.m.

 

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Daunting task for Blue Raiders starts against Aggies


DENTON, Texas ? For the Blue Raiders, today's goal seems attainable.

But it's the weeklong task that seems so daunting.

MTSU (18-11, 7-7) tips off at 8 p.m. today against New Mexico State (5-23, 1-14) ? the team with the league's worst record ? in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament.

But to capture a conference crown, the Blue Raiders must win four straight tournament games, a feat they've never accomplished in program history.

"But the good thing about it is that if we can win the first one, you get (Saturday) off, and you don't play again until Sunday (at 9 p.m.)," said MTSU coach Kermit Davis. "When you look at it like that, it's more like a Thursday-Saturday conference week, and then go into just a three-day tournament.

"But either way, you can't have a bad night here, and who knows what's going to happen in all these games?"

Indeed, this Sun Belt Tournament field may be the most balanced and unpredictable in years.

Little separates the top-tier teams from the league's lower tier, and that's assuming anyone can even categorize the two.

Louisiana-Lafayette is the defending tournament champion, while Western Kentucky carries the most tradition and perhaps the most poise into the bracket.

Meanwhile, Denver and Arkansas-Little Rock actually tout the tournament's pair of No. 1 seeds.

And to clutter the field even more, North Texas is a tough draw as the tournament host, and MTSU has recently looked like the team that attracted preseason hype of a title run.

"You just have to think of it as a one-game tournament and try to win one game each day," said MTSU senior Mike Dean. "Anybody could win this thing, and everybody knows that."

Added Davis: "Lafayette, one through five, is probably the best starting five out there. Then Denver may be the best overall team. Little Rock is probably the toughest physically. North Texas is the host team. And then Western has won a lot close games.

"I absolutely believe that there are six, maybe seven, legitimate teams that go down thinking they can win three or four in a row."

For the third straight season, Davis' squad carries a reasonable amount of momentum into the postseason.

In the final month of each of the last three regular seasons, the Blue Raiders have won five of seven games heading into the tournament.

In addition, MTSU is scoring at an 81.3-point clip in the last seven outings.

"We're starting to play our best ball right now, and that's the way it's been," Dean said. "Coach Davis never gives up, and that has rubbed off on this team. He always coaches like he's not going to let your season end, and that's the way we play. The further you go in the season, you have to keep playing harder and harder, and that's why I think we're ready for this."

MTSU's game versus New Mexico State is the last of three men's games at The Super Pit Friday. South Alabama and Florida International play at 1:30 p.m., while Arkansas State and North Texas tip off at 5:30 p.m.

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