DIV 1

Defense Delivers for NM State in 78-62 WAC Tourney Semifinal Win over Utah Valley

Postgame Press Conference | NM State head coach Chris Jans and senior forward Johnny McCants

LAS VEGAS – Let's toss a hypothetical scenario out here, shall we?

Two basketball teams – one a co-regular season champion, the other a college basketball vagabond throughout an uneven 2020-21 season – are set to duke it out for a trip to the WAC Tournament title game.

The co-champ has the league's Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year on it. That other squad has some dude they call "Johnny from Cruces," and another cat who looked like he had no semblance of an outside shot through the first 14 games of the year.

Who are you picking? Well, wait. Before you answer, there's another important piece of information you should probably know.

The "other squad" is NM State, it's playing in the Orleans Arena in the month of March and their head coach just said, "we're playing Aggie basketball." If you're still confused on who to pick in this situation, trust us: pick the Aggies.

Donnie Tillman's star power continued to shine bright in The Entertainment Capital of the World as he dropped in a season and team-high 23 points, a devastating dose of defense held the 2021 WAC Player of the Year scoreless in 29 minutes of action and third-seeded NM State advanced to the WAC Tournament championship game for the ninth-consecutive time by suffocating second-seeded and WAC co-champion Utah Valley 78-62 Friday night at the Orleans Arena.

The Aggies, winners of 11-consecutive WAC Tournament games, will play top-seeded and 2021 WAC co-champion GCU Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. MT from the Orleans Arena with the winner capturing the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.