Getty Donnie Tillman and New Mexico State look for a deeper postseason run this season.
The New Mexico State men’s basketball team plays its first real home game in 615 days when tipping off against UC Irvine on Tuesday.
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The game (9 p.m. ET start time) isn’t on TV, but anyone in the US can watch UC Irvine vs New Mexico State live on ESPN+:
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Once signed up for ESPN+, you can watch UC Irvine vs New Mexico State live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4 or 5, Xbox One or Series X/S, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), Samsung Smart TV, Oculus Go, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
UC Irvine vs New Mexico State Preview
New Mexico State last played a home basketball game before COVID-19 hit the U.S. in early 2020.
The Aggies played their “home games” in Texas last season due to COVID-19 restrictions in New Mexico. Home for the Aggies consisted of Eastwood High School in El Paso, Texas, and UTEP’s arena — the Don Haskins Center.
NMSU will face UC Irvine at the Pan American Center on Tuesday, which marks the first home game since March 5, 2020. That’s 615 days ago.
“It was a whole season of watching on TV or listening on the radio,” NMSU head coach Chris Jans said per KTSM’s Colin Deaver. “We’re hopeful we get a great crowd and the students rally behind us, everyone wants that sixth man. Regardless of how big the crowd is, I think it’ll be really good. There will be excitement.”
NMSU went 12-8 last season and made the WAC tournament title game before falling to Grand Canyon. UC Irvine had an 18-9 record last season.
The Anteaters return leading scorer and senior forward Collin Welp, who averaged 15.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. Sophomore guard Dawson Baker also returns after averaging 10.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and one steal per night.
“It’s not ideal to play such an experienced team so early in the season with as many newcomers as we have,” Jans said per Deaver. “They’re a great defensive and rebounding team and they have role identification, which is great, especially when you have so many guys back.”
NMSU has 13 new players but returns its top scorers in Jabari Rice and Donnie Tillman. Rice, a junior guard, led the team with 13.2 points per game last season. He also averaged 5.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest. Tillman, a senior forward, averaged 11.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game.
“We’ve been at our best when we have deep teams and competition on the daily,” Jans said per Deaver. “A lot of programs do it differently, they want to know who their top 7-8 guys are and who’s going to play every night. That’s not really our style. We want guys to compete every day and have someone nipping at their heels so they can’t take days off. We have that this year when we’re healthy.”