It's a midnight special, and the Hawaii Warriors are the play as home faves against the New Mexico State Aggies.
Reggie Theus has done a great job at New Mexico St as the Aggies are 18-6 (8-3 in the WAC) in just his second year.
The 6-9 Tyrone Nelson (10.6 ppg / 6.6 rpg) missed the team's first eight games but he now joins a frontline that includes the 7-0 Martin Iti and the 6-9 Hatila Passos, plus 6-5 small forward Justin Hawkins, the team's leading scorer and rebounder at 16.1 ppg and 7.2 rpg. The team also features a solid three-guard rotation of Fred Peete, Elijah Ingram and Shaun Davis (combined 26.9 ppg).
However, the Aggies are coming off a bad week, losing last Monday at Utah State (75-63) and last Saturday at Fresno State (75-69). Now they stay on the road to face a very good home team in Hawaii.
The Rainbows trounced Boise State Saturday night 74-50, upping their home mark to 11-2. The Rainbows have three big guards: 6-5 Matt Lojeski (15.9-5.4-4.7), 6-6 Bobby Nash (11.2-4.1) and 6-5 Matt Gibson (10.2-4.4). Up front, the 6-8 Ahmet Gueye (11.8-8.0) is by far the best player, but the 6-8 PJ Owsley and the 6-11 Stephen Verwers contribute.
When these teams met in Las Cruces (1/4), the Rainbows blew a second half lead but still covered (+7½) in the 92-86 loss. In that game, New Mexico State shot 53.6% and had 35 free throw attempts to Hawaii's 12 (three players, including Gueye fouled out). Revenge works in this one. Lay the points with Hawaii.
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Lenny Del Genio: Hawaii -5½ vs New Mexico St
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