Big WAC week ahead for Aggies
Grand Canyon, Bakersfield will visit Las Cruces
LAS CRUCES — This week will be a challenge for the New Mexico State men’s basketball team.
It’s early in the Western Athletic Conference season and the Aggies (15-2, 2-0 WAC) — riding a 13-game win streak — will face two of the top teams in the league, hosting Grand Canyon on Thursday and defending WAC Tournament champion Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday night at the Pan American Center.
NMSU is focused on Thursday’s matchup with the Grand Canyon, which some national publications picked to win the WAC. CSUB was also picked to win the league in some preseason publications.
The Aggies were picked by the league’s coaches and media to win the conference.
“We go into every game trying to win,” NMSU coach Paul Weir said. “Obviously, those two teams were picked ahead of us. Grand Canyon’s right now the darling of our league. We have just to go out and do what we do and continue to do what we have been doing all year long, which is be the underdog and play as hard as we can.”
Grand Canyon (10-6, 1-0 WAC) has been improving every year it has been in the WAC. It finished second in the league last year and beat NMSU in Phoenix last season. However, the Lopes have struggled in Las Cruces since they joined the WAC prior to the 2013-14 season. GCU, in its final year transitioning from Division II to Division I, has lost to NMSU by at least 20 points in the previous three meetings at the Pan American Center.
Weir said this is the best GCU team he has seen. Especially since the Lopes got back WAC Preseason Player of the Year Josh Braun last Saturday after he missed a lot of non-conference play with a knee injury.
“Grand Canyon is a really good team and probably the best team we have played since Arizona State,” Weir said. “They play really well and them getting Josh Braun back makes them even better. We have our work cut out for ourselves Thursday night.”
Braun came back to score 31 points and went 7-of-13 from three in the Lopes’ 82-72 win over Utah Valley last Saturday. The Lopes have solid guard play as senior DeWayne Russell leads the conference in scoring with 23.9 points per game and is sixth in the conference with a 42.3 percent 3-point field goal percentage.
“Russell is special and playing at a really high level,” Weir said. “Probably the most explosive guard in our league right now. Getting to the free throw line at a really good clip and shooting the ball extremely well, which makes him a really tough guard. Josh Braun always has been an amazing 3-point shooter. He’s a lot like (New Mexico’s) Elijah Brown, he’s just great at getting to the free throw line. When you can do both those elements, it makes you hard to guard. Braun has always been really good at that.”
INJURY REPORT: Weir said NMSU redshirt sophomore guard Sidy N’Dir is close to coming back, but didn’t have a date for when he will return.
N’Dir has been out since early December with a torn ligament in his foot. Weir said N’Dir’s cast is off and he’s doing exercises and working his way back.
Weir said it was doubtful Marlon Jones would return this season from a shoulder injury, but that the team would know more after Jones sees a doctor at the end of the week.
If Jones does not return this season, he should be eligible for a medical redshirt since he played in only three games this season.