Gonzaga plays host to New Mexico State in home opener
· Yahoo Sports
It seems like an eternity since No. 15 Gonzaga showed out in their season opener, knocking off Purdue at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Nov. 2. Now, before another high-profile matchup with LSU at the Spokane Arena on Nov. 14, New Mexico State (1-0) will make the journey north to take on the Zags at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7, with Gonzaga as 21.5-point favorites back home in the Lilac City.
Scouting the Aggies
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The Aggies began their season with a 73-66 win over Division II opponent Western New Mexico, losing top player Gabe Warren to a torn ACL just six minutes into the game. Warren, a 6-6 senior guard who transferred to Las Cruces from Holy Cross, averaged 12.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game last year and tallied six points in those six minutes against Western New Mexico.
With Warren not available for the rest of the season, New Mexico State will now begin to look for other scoring options starting on Saturday in The Kennel. Former Rider and Louisiana Tech guard DJ Dudley filled in for Warren in the opener with 22 points on 7-for-14 from the field (4-for-5 from three), a proven shooter from beyond the arc after leading Louisiana Tech in threes made last year (59) on 36% from deep. 6-8 forward Mark Lavrenov commanded the paint, dropping 17 and 10 to help aid Dudley in the tight win.
The Aggies and fourth-year head coach Jason Hooten will continue to keep guard KK Robinson (4 points, 2-for-8 shooting in 13 mins) on a minutes restriction after Robinson has missed the last two seasons with torn ACLs at Arkansas Little Rock. Robinson, a 7th-year senior now due to those injuries, was a part of the 2019-20 Oak Hill Academy team that featured future NBA players Cole Anthony and Cam Thomas. In his last full season, Robinson averaged 15.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game en route to First-Team All-Ohio Valley Conference honors, starting his career with Arkansas and Texas A&M.
An enormous advantage that Gonzaga has in this matchup will be in the frontcourt. While New Mexico State boasts an array of skilled guards, the size will be an issue. Along with the 6-8 Lavrenov, 6-9 French forward Leopold Levillain was the Aggies’ best supplemental interior player in the opener. 6-9 forward Stephon Payne remains ineligible after trying to join Gonzaga forward Chauncey Wiggins in the Waco “5-in-5” lawsuit.
What remains as a wild card is 7-0 Adrame Diongue, a former four-star prospect who began his career at Washington State in the 2022-23 season and hasn’t quite found his footing collegiately. Diongue only played nine minutes in the season-opener due to foul trouble and could find more time on the hardwood to deal with the trio of Braden Huff, Massamba Diop, and Izan Almansa.
Keys for the Zags
As a result of a lack of size, Western New Mexico was able to outrebound the Aggies by nine (!!!) in the season opener, which kept the game close as both teams struggled from beyond the arc. Look for Gonzaga to take major advantage of this on Saturday after outrebounding Purdue in their opener.
To take advantage of this, the Zags need to get out in transition and capitalize on fast-break points. Western New Mexico only had two fast-break points against New Mexico State in their seven-point loss despite outrebounding them. If Gonzaga can turn defensive boards into quick outlets and dominate the offensive glass, this game will get out of hand pretty quickly.
The Zags also need to use their home court advantage to supplement the two points above. In the home opener of what’s expected to be another huge season for coach Mark Few and Co., especially coming off a big win against Purdue and awaiting another big matchup against LSU, this could be seen as a trap game for Gonzaga. However, the Zags need to use a possibly raucous home crowd to their advantage to suffocate New Mexico State, who’s now without one of their top players for the season, from the get-go.
Final Thoughts
This is a great opportunity for a get-right game for Huff and Diop after some struggles in the opener against Daniel Jacobsen and Purdue. New Mexico State doesn’t have the size to match up with these two in the frontcourt, and off the bench, Almansa should dominate as well.
This matchup will also be an interesting test for the five guards (Xaivian Lee, Davis Fogle, Isiah Harwell, Nathan De Sousa, and Javon Bennett). I would expect to see all five get a good amount of run, especially De Sousa and Bennett, who are defensive pests off the bench and could fluster the opposing guards for New Mexico State. The Aggies will rely heavily on their guard play this season, especially with Warren unfortunately done for the year.
In a tune-up before a week off prior to a matchup with LSU at the Spokane Arena, I would expect Few and the Zags to go all out to fix some flaws from the opener. I expect all gas, no brakes from the jump and am excited to see what the bench can produce as well.
The game can be caught live on SWX, the final game of the season that the local NBC affiliate will broadcast the game live with Greg Heister, Dan Dickau, and Richard Fox. The game can also be heard on the radio on 590 AM and 96.1 FM.