Thursday, March 13th, 10:30 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Pan American Center (13,071) -- Las Cruces, New Mexico. Television: Local. Home Record: Idaho 6-7, NMSU 14-3. Away Record: Idaho 2-13, NMSU 5-8. Neutral Record: Idaho 0-0, NMSU 0-2. Conference Record: Idaho 5-11, NMSU 12-4. Series Record: New Mexico State leads, 12-2.

GAME NOTES: Defense of their 2007 Western Athletic Conference Tournament Championship begins tonight, as the New Mexico State Aggies welcome the Idaho Vandals to the Pan American Center in Las Cruces for quarterfinal-round action. Last year, the Aggies defeated Utah State in the title game by a mere two points and accepted the invitation to the NCAA Tournament as a result. This season, NMSU was one of four teams in the WAC to finish with a 12-4 record and once the tie-breakers had been worked out the host team found itself as the third seed. In the case of the sixth-seeded Vandals, they waited until the final three games of the season to win on the road, managing to take out both Hawaii and San Jose State in unfriendly territory. However, the squad closed the regular season with a 78-58 loss to Utah State, dropping it to just 5-11 in WAC play. New Mexico State has won all but two of the previous 14 meetings between these two squads. The winner of this game will take on the winner of the Fresno State/Nevada meeting in the semifinals on Friday night.

The success of the Vandals this season can be attributed to the arrival of junior guard Jordan Brooks who was named to both the All-WAC Second Team and the all-Newcomer Team as well. Brooks became the first all-conference performer for the Vandals since the 2004-05 campaign and for good reason. A look at his stat line shows that he not only leads Idaho in scoring with 12.8 ppg, he is also first with 6.3 rpg and tops on the assist list with 129 over the course of 27 games. Add to that a team-best 47 steals, and there are few players in the WAC who have meant as much to their team as Brooks has to Idaho. Michael Crowell contributes 11.0 ppg, thanks in large part to 47.2 percent shooting behind the three-point line. Unfortunately, the Vandals have just a pair of double-digit scorers on the roster, the team placing eighth in the conference with 65.2 ppg.

Three times this season the Aggies scored at least 100 points, although one of those efforts came against tiny LeMoyne-Owen so the numbers do become a bit skewed. Nevertheless, NMSU placed second in the conference in scoring this season with 79.2 ppg, thanks to the efforts of Justin Hawkins and his 17.7 ppg. Shooting almost 40 percent behind the three-point line, the all- conference performer also pulled down 7.1 rpg to pace the program. In addition to being one of the more dominant offensive squads in the WAC, few could match the team's efforts on the glass, which resulted in 41.0 rpg. Obviously, clearing a ridiculous 65 rebounds in the regular-season finale versus Hawaii didn't hurt the cause. In that game Hawkins played just 29 minutes, yet still found the time and opportunities to post 37 points and 10 rebounds. If there's a knock on the Aggies this year it is the team's inability to convert at the free-throw line where they are a mere 63.9 percent successful.

Hopefully the Aggies didn't go overboard with their blowout win against Hawaii on Saturday and left something in the tank to defend their tournament crown. But lucky for NMSU, this game is in friendly surroundings and against an opponent that is in over it's head.

Predicted Outcome

New Mexico State 93, Idaho 74