NCAA basketball on Thursday night and we will see the New Mexico State Aggies take on the San Diego State Aztecs in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament, which is being played at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington. The game has a start time of 9:57 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TruTv. Vegas odds have the Aztecs listed as 7 point favorites, while the total sits at 128.
Stat Pack: The New Mexico State Aggies got the automatic bid that the WAC hands out for winning the conference tourney. Overall the Aggies have gone 26-9, which includes a 4-1 mark in neutral courts. This is a strong offensive team that comes in averaging 77.2 ppg (39th) on 49.1% shooting overall (9th) and 37.3% from long range (64th). They do hit just 68.8% from the charity stripe, which is 212th in the nation. Daniel Mullings, paces the team with 16.8 ppg, while also dishing out 119 assists and producing 64 steals. DK Eldridge (11.5 ppg), Tshilidzi Nephawe (11.1 ppg) and Sim Bhullar (10.3 ppg) also average in double digits for the Aggies. Bhullar leads the team in boards with 7.9 per game. This team can also play some defense, as they come in allowing just 66.9 ppg (91st) on just 40.1% shooting (33rd).
For the Aztecs they arrived at the big dance via an at-large bid. They have a very nice year, going 26-4 overall and spent plenty of time in the top ten of the polls this year. Offensively the Aztecs are not great, ranking 196th in scoring (70.8 ppg) and 303rd in shooting (43.7%). They are 111th in 3pt shooting (35.8%) The Aztecs are led by Zavier Thames (16.8 ppg) and Winston Sheppard (12.1 ppg), while leading the team in rebounding is Josh Davis at 9.7 rpg. Skylar Spencer is a defensive force inside with 82 blocks on the year, but not much of a scorer as he averages just 5 ppg. The Aztecs are fueled by their defense that ranks 2nd in scoring (56.6 ppg) 8th in defensive FG% (38.3%) and 4th in 3pt defense (28.7%).
Pick: I like the Under in this one. The Aztecs are a patient team on offense, while their defense is stifling, as they come in allowing just 57.8 ppg on the year, including just 53.2 ppg in their last 5 games. On offense the Aztecs have scored just 68.4 ppg on the year, but they have really struggled down the stretch, scoring just 62.8 ppg in their last 5 games and New Mexico State can really play some defense as well. The Aggies have allowed just 67.5 ppg on 40.6% shooting on the year, while in their last 9 games they have given up just 57.4 ppg. Both teams will play this one close to the vest and rely on their defense and that may very well keep this game from putting up more than 120 points.
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