NMSU Hoops: Aggies Announce 2015-16 Schedule

The defending outright Western Athletic Conference Champion New Mexico State Aggies announced a challenging 31-game 2015-16 men’s basketball schedule that features games against nine postseason tournament teams from last season.

The Aggies face five teams from last season’s NCAA Tournament in 2015-16, with Robert Morris and Wyoming coming to the Pan American Center and road contests at Wichita State, Baylor and UC Irvine.

The Aggies went 23-11 last season while winning the outright WAC Championship by five games with a 13-1 conference record. The Aggies won their fourth consecutive WAC Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament berth as well.

Additionally, NM State has a pair of games with I-10 rival UTEP, an NIT participant, a home game with CBI participant Oral Roberts and two games with I-25 rival New Mexico.

“I’m impressed with this schedule and how it shook out,” said NM State Head Basketball Coach Marvin Menzies. “We were able to put together a competitive schedule that would allow us a few opportunities to really work on our RPI as well as the opportunity to get a couple of really good home games in addition to our normal rival series games.”

A special addition to the schedule this season finds the Aggies traveling north to the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, N.M., to host Northern New Mexico.

“To have the opportunity to take the team there is a nice change of pace and a nice showcase for the guys and our fans up north,” Menzies stated. “It’s a very nice arena, it’s very well equipped for this competition and looking forward to going out there and performing in front of our fans there and bringing the show on the road.”

The Aggies face a complete WAC schedule that includes home and road games with CBI semifinalist Seattle U. and CIT participant Grand Canyon.

NM State opens the season with five straight games on Lou Henson Court inside the Pan American Center, starting with opening night against Houston Baptist on Friday, Nov. 13. The Aggies follow that contest with the first I-25 matchup with the Lobos.

The Aggies also play three home games as part of the Air Force Classic multi-team event, welcoming Tennessee Tech, Mississippi Valley State and Robert Morris. NM State makes its first road trip to Air Force on Saturday, Nov. 28.

NM State has home games with UTEP on Wednesday, Dec. 2 and Mountain West Tournament Champ Wyoming on Sunday, Dec. 13 to go with Arizona Christian on Wednesday, Dec. 30 to round out the non-conference home slate.

The Aggies have a challenging non-conference stretch starting with rivalry road games at New Mexico (Dec. 16) and UTEP (Dec. 19).

Then it’s at Baylor on Dec. 23, Wichita State Dec. 28 and UC Irvine on Jan. 2.

“I really wanted to test our young team early,” said Menzies. “We don’t have any seniors and probably two juniors that will play this year. The challenge then is to not lose their confidence early, but at the same time give them some type of frame of reference to the competition they will see if they’re able to advance in March.”

The WAC’s 14-game schedule has the Aggies hosting seven conference games. NM State hosts Missouri-Kansas City on Jan. 14, Chicago State on Jan. 16, and UT Rio Grande Valley on Jan. 30.

The WAC February home slate has Grand Canyon on Feb. 4, Utah Valley on Feb. 6, CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 18 and the Aggies final home game on Feb. 20 against Seattle U.

The 2016 WAC Tournament returns to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., March 10-12.

“For us to be able to dance again we’re going to have to play really well in March,” Menzies began. “I feel that we’ve got enough marquee games in the non-conference if we do well and perform in the conference season, we can be successful.”

Season tickets and tickets for the Santa Ana Star Center will be placed on sale in the near future and will be available at the Pan American Center Ticket Office, by calling (575) 646-1420 or online at NMStateSports.com

++NM State ++

2015-16 NM State Men’s Basketball Schedule

Date Opponent Location Time
Oct. 17 (Sat) Crimson-White Game Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Nov. 2 (Mon) Western New Mexico (exhibition) Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.

Nov. 13 (Fri) Houston Baptist Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Nov. 15 (Sun) New Mexico Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Nov. 18 (Wed) Tennessee Tech^ Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Nov. 21 (Sat) Mississippi Valley State^ Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Nov. 24 (Tue) Robert Morris^ Las Cruces, N.M. 6 p.m.
Nov. 28 (Sat) at Air Force^ Colorado Springs, Colo. Noon
Dec. 2 (Wed) UTEP Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Dec. 5 (Sat) at Long Beach State Long Beach, Calif. 5 p.m.
Dec. 13 (Sun) Wyoming Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Dec. 16 (Wed) at New Mexico Albuquerque, N.M. 7 p.m.
Dec. 19 (Sat) at UTEP El Paso, Texas 7 p.m.
Dec. 21 (Mon) Oral Roberts Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Dec. 23 (Wed) at Baylor Waco, Texas 6 p.m.
Dec. 28 (Mon) at Wichita State Wichita, Kan. 6 p.m.
Dec. 30 (Wed) Arizona Christian Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Jan. 2 (Sat) at UC Irvine Irvine, Calif. 8 p.m.
Jan. 7 (Thu) at Utah Valley* Orem, Utah 7 p.m.
Jan. 9 (Sat) at Grand Canyon* Phoenix, Ariz. 7 p.m.
Jan. 14 (Thu) Missouri-Kansas City* Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Jan. 16 (Sat) Chicago State* Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Jan. 21 (Thu) at Seattle U.* Seattle, Wash. 8 p.m.
Jan. 23 (Sat) at CSU Bakersfield* Bakersfield, Calif. 8 p.m.
Jan. 30 (Sat) UT Rio Grande Valley* Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Feb. 4 (Thu) Grand Canyon* Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Feb. 6 (Sat) Utah Valley* Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Feb. 8 (Mon) Northern New Mexico Rio Rancho, N.M. 7 p.m.
Feb. 13 (Sat) at Chicago State* Chicago, Ill. 1 p.m.
Feb. 18 (Thu) CSU Bakersfield* Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Feb. 20 (Sat) Seattle U.* Las Cruces, N.M. 7 p.m.
Feb. 27 (Sat) at Missouri-Kansas City* Kansas City, Mo. 1 p.m.
March 5 (Sat) at UT Rio Grande Valley* Edinburg, Texas 6 p.m.
WAC Tournament (Las Vegas, Nev.)
March 10 (Thu) WAC Quarterfinal TBD
March 11 (Fri) WAC Semifinal TBD
March 12 (Sat) WAC Championship 9 p.m.

NCAA Tournament (TBD)
March 17 or 18 NCAA Tournament TBD