Wednesday, February 22, 2012

So, when it's Thursday night in Las Cruces

... Hawaii comes into town to match up with New Mexico State. Make that the 7-3 Aggies versus the 6-4 Rainbow Warriors so there are definite end-of-the-season finish implications for the contest.

UH owns a January 21 91-87 victory over Marvin Menzies' team, this despite committing 21 turnovers. In that win, Zane Johnson went for 29 points (7-13 on treys) plus Davis Rozitis totaled nine points and five boards in 14 minutes. But Johnson's shooting accuracy has been way off of late -- just 21% from long distance in the last quartet of games.

In that loss, Bandja Sy busted out for 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead NMSU in both categories. Hamidu Rahman followed with 16 points (contrast that with Vander Joaquin's 11).

Hawaii is coming off a 94-79 road loss to Montana while host New Mexico State handled Drake 71-55.

In weighing the remainder of the regular season, the Aggies host San Jose State next and then road it at Nevada followed by Fresno State.

Gib Arnold's group moves on to Ruston after this one and then returns home to face surging Idaho and then Utah State.

Calling it a critical game for both teams is a bit of an overstatement but the victor will certainly gain an advantage in the standings.

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