RUSTON – Louisiana Tech wraps up the regular season with two home games this week, starting on Thursday night against New Mexico State inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Thursday, March 6 | 6:30 p.m. CT
Location: Thomas Assembly Center (Ruston, La.)
TV: ESPN+
Radio: LA Tech Sports Network | LA Tech Athletics app
Tickets: LATechSports.com/Tickets
 
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (19-10, 8-8 CUSA)
LA Tech had arguably its best game of the season this past Saturday, overpowering Sam Houston in a 90-66 victory in Huntsville. After dropping their first five conference road games, the Bulldogs have won three of the last four. It was the fourth largest margin of victory by the 'Dogs in a CUSA road game and was the biggest home loss for the Bearkats since 1994.
 
Not to sound like a broken record, but it was another second-half blitz that led LA Tech to victory. The Bulldogs put up 54 points in the stanza, scoring on 24 of their 32 offensive possessions while shooting 71.4 percent from the field including a stretch of 10 straight made field goals. They have now scored 40+ points in the second half 15 times this season as opposed to doing so just six times in the first half. LA Tech is shooting 50.4 percent from the field in the second half as well.
 
The Bulldogs continue to be money from the foul line, making 18 of their 21 free throw attempts versus the Bearkats. Over its last three games, LA Tech has made 60 of its last 67 attempts from the charity stripe (89.6 percent). The team currently ranks second in CUSA and 46th in the country in free throw percent­age at 76.0, which would set a new LA Tech program record for a single season (record us 74.2 percent set back in 1976-77).
 
AJ Bates was named CUSA Freshman of the Year after having his best game as a Bulldog against the Bearkats, recording career highs in points (20), assists (nine), and steals (four) while playing all 40 minutes. The nine assists were the most by a CUSA fresh­man this season while the four steals tied for the most by a CUSA freshman. He is averaging 10.0 points over the last six games.
 
Amaree Abram scored all 14 of his points in the second half at Sam Houston. He hit two three-pointers, giving him a team-high 62 made triples on the season which ranks ninth in CUSA. Over his last eight games, he is averaging 14.1 points while shooting 47.6 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from three. Abram is also averaging 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals during this stretch.
 
After starting the first 28 games of the season, Sean Newman Jr. missed the Sam Houston game due to an ankle injury. Even so, he continues to rank third in the country in both total assists (228) and assists per game (8.1).
 
Al Green scored 19 points versus the Bearkats, making four of his seven three-point attempts. During CUSA play, he is shooting 46.6 percent (27-of-58) from three-point range, which is the second-best percentage in the league.
 
Daniel Batcho reached double-digit points for the 26th time this season, registering 18 points (5-of-6 from the field) at Sam Houston. He continues to rank second in the country in field goal percentage (68.6), a mark that would currently set a new program record and be the third best in CUSA history. He also has 59 total blocks this season, which ranks 24th in the nation.
 
ABOUT NEW MEXICO STATE (16-13, 9-7 CUSA)
New Mexico State has been hot and cold this season. The Aggie started off Conference USA very hot, winning their first four league games which was part of a 7-game winning streak. Following the conference wins right out of the game, NM State had a stretch of losing six of its next seven games.
 
However, the Aggies have found success again by winning four of their last five including a 65-47 victory against WKU this past Saturday. It was the fewest points allowed by NM State this season, holding the Hilltoppers to just 26.9 percent shooting from the field. With two league games left, the Aggies find themselves alone in fourth in the CUSA stand­ings with a 9-7 mark.
 
New Mexico State has been successful in large part because of its defense. The Aggies rank No. 1 in the league in scoring defense (61.6), field goal percentage defense (39.6), and three-point field goal percentage defense (26.5) during conference play. For the season, they rank top 30 in the country in all three cat­egories. In half of NM State's 16 conference contests, the Aggies have held their opponent to under 60 points (are 8-0 in those games).
 
The top two scoring threats for the Aggies this season have been Maine graduate trans­fer Peter Filipovity and two-year starter Chris­tian Cook, averaging 14.3 and 12.5 points per game, respectively, during conference play.
 
The forward Filipovity is shooting 47.1 percent from the field and ranks second in the league with 8.9 rebounds per game during league action. Cook is the three-point scoring threat, having hit a team-high 67 triples while shooting 38.3 percent from beyond the arc this season.
 
THE SERIES
LA Tech trails in the all-time series versus New Mexico State, 17-6. The Aggies have dominated the series, win­ning 16 of the first 20 matchups before the Bulldogs swept the series last season. NM State won for the 17th time in the series back on Jan. 4 in Las Cruces, handing LA Tech its biggest CUSA loss in program history.
 
The two programs first met in 1977 in the Roadrunner Classic in Las Cruces. It was not until 2001 that the Bulldogs and Ag­gies met again, this time as league foes in the Sun Belt Conference. The following season, LA Tech left to join the Western Athletic Con­ference, a league that NM State would join in 2005. The two teams became league foes for a third time last season when NM State joined Conference USA.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For all the latest in Bulldog Basketball, follow us on X (@LATechHoops), Instagram (@LATechHoops), and Facebook (LATechMBB).