New Mexico State media day in Salt Lake City
New Mexico State had media day in Salt Lake City on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s NCAA Tournament game against Auburn.
Jason Groves, Wochit
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl sees a lot of his own club in New Mexico State.
“We have been the New Mexico State of the SEC,” Pearl said on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s NCAA Tournament first round game between No. 12 NM State and No. 5 Auburn at the Vivint Smart Home Arena at 11:30 a.m. “We play with 10 guys and we fly around and we turn you over and we shoot a lot of 3s.
“But we haven’t played against a team like New Mexico State unless we have gone against ourselves.”
Auburn is fourth in the country in made 3-pointers with 11.3 per game. New Mexico State makes 9.4 per game.
Neither team is especially big in the interior, relying on help and athleticism on the defensive end.
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What the Aggies don’t want to do is get into a track meet with Auburn. NM State is smart about its chances in transition, but the Aggies are better served to make sure they are back in transition after missed shots and long rebounds.
“It’s a fine line because one of our best qualities is when we get our speed involved in the game and we are just playing free,” Jans said. “They want to do that too. We have to get right to that line and pick our spots because for us to go against their halfcourt defense and try to slug it out, it’s going to be really hard to score in the half court.”
A trendy 12-5 upset
It happens nearly every season and it’s happened six times since 2014. The No. 12 seed upset is the trendy pick each and every year and New Mexico State has received some of that attention since Selection Sunday.
It did not happen last year, however, so perhaps the Aggies are due.
“Everyone is good so we do not take anyone for granted, just come out and play hard because we know Coach Jans is going to put us in the best position to win,” Aggies guard Shunn Buchanan said.
Auburn was a 5.5-point favorite on Wednesday and opened as a 7.5-point favorite.
“We don’t pay too much attention to it,” Auburn point guard Jared Harper said. “It is another motivation this year. We are playing our best basketball this time of the year, so we are not thinking too much of what other people are saying.”
JoJo Zamora returns to SLC
Aggies guard JoJo Zamora is back in Salt Lake after transferring from the University of Utah. He averaged 6.9 points in 32 games at Utah in 2016-17. Zamora has scored 7.5 points per game for the Aggies this season after sitting out last year.
“He won a couple of games for us singlehandedly for us this year,” Jans said. “He’s capable of that. As a coach, you want him to be a bit more consistent. Sure is nice bringing someone off the bench that you know can change a game with three or four shots, and he is capable of doing that.”
Sports Editor Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.
If you watch
When: 11:20 a.m. MT, Thursday, March 21
TV: TNT (On Comcast, TNT is channel is 32; on DirecTV, TNT is channel 245; on Dish, TNT is channel 138.
Radio: 99.5-FM
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Jason Groves, Wochit
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Publish date : 2019-03-20 03:00:00
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