LAS CRUCES – The New Mexico State men’s basketball team finds itself in foreign territory – dead last in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Aggies lost 66-55 on Saturday to UT Arlingtonton at the Pan American Center in a game between two teams searching for their first conference win.
“To lose at home is flat out unacceptable and we have lost four in a row,” said Aggies coach Greg Heiar, whose team is 7-11 overall this season. “You should play with more energy, more vigor, more grit.
“I’m sick for Aggie Nation because I know what this place is about. It’s about winning. I’m about winning too. I’m very disappointed. We are going to go back to work, continue to work and work until we get this thing fixed.”
NM State is the only winless team in WAC play at 0-6 on the season. NM State is 0-6 in conference play for the first time since the 1954-55 season under Presley Askew when the Aggies started 0-9 in the Border Conference and it’s the first five-game conference losing streak since 2004-05 when the Aggies Lost 10 straight in the Sun Belt.
The New Mexico State men’s basketball team is suffering the longest losing streak since the 2010-11 season when the Aggies lost seven straight early in the season.
“This is unchartered territory for me,” Heiar said. “At Wichita State in 2012, we lost three conference games in a row. That team went to the Final Four. … I said to a group of friends that if we lost this third game, I will walk to and from work for the next three days. It’s like here, this is unchartered territory for this university, men’s basketball, our fans, our community. … It’s something I and we have to figure out.”
Kyle Feit provided a spark for an otherwise sputtering Aggie’s offense in the first half. Feit was 3 for 3 from 3-point range in the first half, hitting back-to-back triples to give NM State at 33-26 halftime lead.
“The coaches put together a great game plan for us,” said Feit, who finished with 11 points. “In the first half, we weren’t great, either. We weren’t playing anywhere near to our capability. We have to string a full 40 minutes together where we play hard, hit first and do everything GH and the staff preaches. We just have to lock in. We are too casual sometimes.”
NM State was just 37 percent from the field in the first half. That trend continued into the second half, where the Aggies were outscored 40-22 on 8 for 30 shooting (26.7 percent) in the second half. The Aggies were 32 percent from the field for the game.
“We are struggling to score in the paint versus contact, we are struggling at times with ball movement,” Heiar said. “We are constantly holding the ball and the defense continues to reset and then guys have to make one on one plays. There is plenty of video out on all of the teams and you have to give them credit. In the second half, they did a good job of making it difficult for us to score the ball.”
UTA opened the half on a 17-2 run. UTA’s Shemar Wilson hit a transition 3-pointer off of one of NM State’s 16 turnovers to make it 50-37 with just over eight minutes to play.
Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.
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