Prairie View at New Mexico State, 6:00 PM, wacsports.com
A trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico is on tap for today in our Under the Radar Game of the Day. New Mexico State fans are truly in a good mood today as their football team, in its final season in the Sun Belt, just clinched their first bowl game appearance in 57 years yesterday. They will be looking to follow that up with a win on the hardwood tonight as their basketball team welcomes in the SWAC’s Prairie View A&M Panthers.
The New Mexico State men’s basketball team enters play tonight at 6-1 overall, with only a loss at St Mary’s as a mark against them. They have just completed a sweep on rival UTEP with an 80-60 road win Thursday night. AJ Harris scored 18 points in the latest victory, while Jemerrio Jones had a double-double with 11 points and 13 boards. Also keep an eye on Keyon Jones, who came off the bench to score 10 points and pull down 7 rebounds, as well as the always-dangerous Zach Lofton, who UTEP held in check but did drop 30 on Colorado State in a win earlier this season.
The Aggies’ opponent tonight is (with the exception of yesterday’s Grambling State win at Georgia Tech) the only SWAC team to have made any noise at all so far this season. The Panthers of Prairie View enter today only 2-4 on the year, but those two wins gave them the Middleweight Championship in the MGM Main Event in Las Vegas, defeating both Eastern Kentucky and Georgia State. Last time out, they narrowly fell at UC-Santa Barbara 69-66. Gary Blackston had 21 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in the UCSB loss, while JD Wallace pulled down 14 rebounds to go with 8 points. Blackston was the key to their championship in Vegas as well, with 21 points and 10 rebounds in the finals. If the team continues to get these types of performances from its key players, not only will they be a major factor in the SWAC this season, but they have a great chance to pull off the upset in Las Cruces today!