AGGIE MEN TRY TO KEEP IT GOING AT HOME
10 voters put Ags in rankings
New Mexico State, which is getting Top-25 votes, seeks its 10th consecutive win tonight at home vs. Cal State Bakersfield.
Ever since the New Mexico State men beat then No. 6 Miami on Dec. 23, the Aggies have been receiving votes in the AP Top 25 Poll.
But this week was the most votes NMSU has received — 10 voters delivering 23 points total. (The Journal’s Geoff Grammer, an NMSU alumnus, was not among them.)
NMSU, which hosts Cal State Bakersfield (1013, 3-5) tonight, also had two plays make ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10 last week. One was Oñate alumnus Johnny McCants’ alley-oop dunk on a pass from Jemerrio Jones in Tuesday’s win over Northern New Mexico and Zach Lofton’s ankle-breaking dribble for a wide-open 3-pointer against UT Rio Grande Valley.
For a midmajor program like the Aggies (20-3, 7-0) to get attention while running roughshod through a middling-at-best Western Athletic Conference is an unexpected plus.
“For a fan that is not from this part of the country, or even a casual basketball fan, to catch us on SportsCenter only helps our awareness of what’s going on down here,” said NMSU first-year coach Chris Jans. “Being close to being ranked in the Top 25 only helps. It doesn’t help us win any games, but it helps with recruiting and our overall exposure of our program. We are hopeful that we continue to win and continue to be recognized not having any drop-off.”
The Aggies seek their 10th consecutive win tonight. Bakersfield has won three of its last four, though two have come against 2-23 Chicago State.
Meanwhile, the Aggie women (12-9, 6-1) have been hot of late as well, but their hold on first place is at stake tonight at secondplace Baksersfield (12-10, 6-2). NMSU won the first matchup 56-48 on Jan. 13 in Las Cruces.
Men
ST. JOHN’S 79, No. 1
VILLANOVA 75: St. John’s took down another of the nation’s elite, stunning Villanova for its second win over a top-five team this week — and first over the top-ranked team in 33 years.
Shamorie Ponds scored 26 points to spark the Red Storm (12-13, 1-11 Big East) to its first conference win of the season and easily its best week since Chris Mullin was in uniform, not the coach.
No. 2 VIRGINIA 59, FLORIDA STATE 55: In Tallahassee, Fla., Devon Hall scored 17 points, Ty Jerome added 15 and Virginia rallied in the second half to beat Florida State. No. 14 OHIO STATE 64,
No. 3 PURDUE 63: In West Lafayette, Ind., Keita BatesDiop scored 18 points, including the decisive putback with 2.8 seconds left, to give Ohio State an upset at Purdue, ending the nation’s longest winning streak at 19 games.
The Buckeyes (21-2, 12-1 Big Ten) grabbed a share of the conference lead as Ohio State won for the 11th time in 12 games. No. 7 TEXAS TECH 76, IOWA STATE 58: In Lubbock, Texas, freshman guard Zhaire Smith scored a career-high 21 points, including a steal that led to his alley-oop slam, and Texas Tech beat Iowa State for its fifth straight win. TEXAS A&M 81, No. 8 AUBURN 80: In Auburn, Ala., Duane Wilson made one of two free throws with 4 seconds left to lift Texas to an upset of Auburn. No. 25 MIAMI 87, WAKE FOREST 81: In Corla Gables, Fla., Lonnie Walker IV scored 19 points to lead Miami to a victory over Wake Forest. WYOMING 83, UTAH
STATE 65: In Laramie, Wyo., Hayden Dalton scored 27 points and grabbed six rebounds and Wyoming rolled to a win over Utah State.
Dalton was 8 of 13 from the field and 9 of 10 from the free-throw line. Justin James added 14 points with six assists and three steals for the Cowboys (16-8, 7-4 Mountain West) who are third place in conference behind Nevada (9-1) and Boise State (10-2). UNLV 86, NEVADA 78: In Reno, Nev., Jovan Mooring led the Runnin’ Rebels (16-7, 5-5 Mountain West) with 28 points and Shakur Juiston had 19 to beat the Wolf Pack (20-4, 9-1) in a tight game until the end.
Women
No. 1 UCONN 55, CENTRAL FLA 37: In Orlando, Fla., Katie Lou Samuelson scored 19 points and Azura Stevens added 12 to help UConn beat University of Central Florida. No. 4 LOUISVILLE 65,
CLEMSON 46: In Loisville, Ky., Asia Durr scored 15 points to lead Louisville, which survived a sluggish start, to a win over Clemson. No. 19 DUKE 59, WAKE
FOREST 51: In Durham, N.C., Lexie Brown scored 21 points, six coming in the last 2½ minutes, and Duke turned back Wake Forest in the first game since injured starter Haley Gorecki was lost for the season. No. 22 OKLAHOMA STATE 71, No. 24 TCU 54: In Fort Worth, Kaylee Jensen and Loryn Goodwin combined for 46 points and 29 rebounds as Oklahoma State pulled away from TCU.