New Mexico State sees plenty to build on in first CUSA win of season

Through Dec. 20, Sam Houston was one of two Conference USA teams ranked above New Mexico State in both the NCAA Net rankings and the KenPom rankings. Sunday, Dec. 21, was a chance for the Aggies to make a statement, and that’s what they did.

NM State (7-3, 1-0 Conference USA) opened conference play with an 87-78 win over the Bearkats (7-4, 0-1) at home. A 3-pointer in the final seconds from Sam Houston’s Po’Boigh King made the score a little more flattering for the visitors, as the Aggies were thoroughly in control throughout.

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TAKEAWAYS FROM THE GAME: New Mexico State earns first conference win against Sam Houston

NM State led by double digits for the vast majority of the contest and shot over 50% from the field in both halves to end at a 51.5% mark. Four Aggies scored in double figures, with guards Elijah Elliott and Jayland Randall leading the way off the bench with 18 and 16 points, respectively.

Adding marks of 13 assists, only seven turnovers and 38 points in the paint leaves NM State coach Jason Hooten confident about what the offense can become.

“We see how good we could be offensively … when we share the ball,” Hooten said. “We had 13 assists today, seven turnovers, and that’s probably all you can ask for, turning the ball over 7 times against a good defensive team. We shot the (3-pointer) pretty well today. We’ve shown that when we do that, we’re a good team. At halftime, we were 12-22 from (2-pointers) … We had over 50 paint touches today, so we reached a lot of our goals. I think when we do that, we’ve shown that we’re a pretty good basketball team.”

The Aggies’ defense also showed what it was capable of, at least for a half. The Bearkats only made eight of 32 shots, were held to a 18.8% mark from 3-point range and committed nine turnovers in the first half. Only one Sam Houston player, Kashie Natt, made more than one shot before halftime.

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Whether it was a defensive decline from NM State, the Bearkats returning to their normal form on…

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Publish date : 2025-12-22 11:05:00

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