WSU men’s basketball will travel to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to take on New Mexico State at 6 p.m. Saturday. The Cougars’ last game was Tuesday which resulted in a 103-94 win against California State Northridge.

The Aggies (5-1) are on a three-game win streak and are 3-1 at home this season. Coming off a win over University of Texas at El Paso, New Mexico State is looking dominant offensively in the second half of games. Aggies Head Coach Chris Jans said the Miners were a tough opponent.

“We expected kind of what we got,” Jans said. “I was curious to see how we would be. I was curious what our mindset was and I thought it was really good.”

The Aggies have been victorious in the last nine meetings against the Miners.

The first half of the game was full of mistakes and missed shots. The Aggies had multiple turnovers and UTEP was able to capitalize on this throughout the first half. However, New Mexico State managed to stay ahead by going on a 9-0 run, taking the lead 28-26 at the half. The Aggies would go on to win 62-58.

On the other side of the court the Cougars (4-1) are coming off a high-scoring game over CSUN. Looking back at the game against the Matadors, WSU’s confidence should be riding high.

The team defended its home court with a 103-94 win over CSUN and it was the first time since 2002 that the Cougars broke the 100-point mark in a game.

Contributing to the team’s success was a career-high performance from freshman forward CJ Elleby. He finished with a double-double, racking up 23 points with 4-6 shooting from three-point land and grabbing 11 rebounds. He also collected four assists.

Head Coach Ernie Kent has been emphasizing ball movement in the team’s offensive game plan, Elleby said.

“[Kent] harps on us all the time in practice about it,” he said. “We got to move the ball and get off the top and get the ball out and move and cut.”

Senior forward Robert Franks Jr. had 22 points and seven rebounds against CSUN and senior guard Viont’e Daniels had 14 points while shooting 50 percent from behind the three-point line.

This win over the Matadors helped improve the Cougars’ win streak to three and help maintain a perfect 4-0 home record this season.

WSU will face the Aggies at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Pan American Center. The game can be seen on the WAC Digital Network.