MIDWESTERN STATE VS. CAMERON
Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017 | 7:30 p.m.
D.L. Ligon Coliseum | Wichita Falls, Texas
Records: Midwestern State (12-4, 5-3); Cameron (12-6, 5-3)
Radio: ESPN 95.5 FM
Watch: Mustangs Digital Network 
Listen: Mustangs Digital Network 
Live Stats: MSUMustangs.com 
 
ON THE COURT
Midwestern State and Cameron square off in the 73rd rendition of the Red River Rivalry Tuesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. The teams are tied for fourth place in a stacked Lone Star Conference race. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
1- Midwestern State boast a 16-point margin of victory during the Lone Star Conference's current long winning streak of six games, but four of the games have been decided by seven or fewer points.
2- Cameron claimed its first win in 26 seasons at D.L. Ligon Coliseum last season upsetting the Mustangs 80-75 on Jan. 30, 2016. The loss snapped MSU's 17-game winning streak against the Aggies under the dome.
3- Midwestern State and Cameron will be playing its third game in six days. Both teams are coming off of a grueling 1,453-mile trek to face Eastern New Mexico and Western New Mexico. The Mustangs and Aggies swept the weekend double dip into the Land of Enchantment.
4- Tuesday's game marks the third time Cameron competes on the floor at D.L. Ligon Coliseum this season. The Aggies beat St. Mary's (60-45) before taking their first loss of the season against NAIA Our Lady of the Lake in overtime (84-78) on Nov. 18-19 during the Patterson's Auto Center Classic.
5- Midwestern State junior forward Igor Ibaka erupted for career bests of 28 points and 20 rebounds Saturday at Eastern New Mexico to join former MSU forward Khapri Alston, who went for 27 points and 25 rebounds last season at Angelo State as the only two Lone Star Conference players to post 20-20 performances or grab 20 rebounds over the past two seasons. In fact, Alston's 25 boards were the most in D2 in 2015-16. Neither performance was good enough to merit LSC Player of the Week honors.
 
ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
 
TEAM NOTES
* Midwestern State's six-game winning streak is the longest since the Mustangs rattled off 13 straight wins from Nov. 27, 2015 to Jan. 23, 2016.
* The Mustangs' current six-game winning streak is the longest in the Lone Star Conference and second only to Colorado Mines' seven-game string in the South Central Region.
* Midwestern overcame a double-digit deficit to win for the third time this season erasing Eastern New Mexico's 14-point lead to win 108-104 in overtime Saturday afternoon in Portales.
* The Mustangs rank 11th in NCAA Division II in forced turnovers at 18.44 per game. MSU has forced at least 20 turnovers in seven games this season. Midwestern forced 19 turnovers against Western New Mexico and 18 versus Eastern New Mexico last week.
* Midwestern has scored 335 points off of turnovers this season -- an average of 20.9 points per game.
* The Mustangs rank 16th nationally in field goal percentage defense (39.8), 18th in offensive rebounds per game (14.31), 34th in steals per game (8.5) and 39th in scoring margin (+10.4).
* MSU ranks fifth in the D2 Media Poll South Central Rankings.
 
PLAYER NOTES
#0- Senior guard Brandon Neel has scored in double figures in each of his last 10 games. He leads the Mustangs in scoring both for the season (13.0 ppg) and is averaging 16.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists a game during LSC play.
#3- Junior guard Devante Pullum leads the Lone Star Conference with 5.1 assists per game after posting a career-high 12 last time out at Western New Mexico. He has posted 27 assists to just one turnover in his last 103 minutes of basketball.
#4- Junior guard Shawn Nottingham connected on 5-of-6 shots from the field for a season-high 11 points with three rebounds, three assists and three steals shooting 5-of-6 from the field in 26 minutes Thursday at Western New Mexico. He did not score but had four assists, three rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes in his first start Saturday at Eastern New Mexico.
#10- Senior guard Pat Smith erupted for a career-high 28 points scoring 21 points after halftime to lead MSU back from a 14-point deficit to beat Eastern New Mexico 108-104 in overtime Saturday in Portales. He shot 6-of-11 from the field with four 3-pointers while going 12-of-13 from the free throw line in 40 minutes of play.
#14- Junior guard De'Quaan Haggerty knocked down 3-pointers in wins at Western New Mexico and Eastern New Mexico and is now shooting 3-of-7 (42.9 percent) from beyond the arc this season.
#20- Junior guard B.J. Jenkins made his first appearance for MSU Saturday at Eastern New Mexico scoring four points with two assists, two steals and one rebound in 17 minutes of play. He averaged 18.1 points per game shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 46.2 percent (72-of-156) from beyond the arc with 5.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game in the NJCAA Division I Jayhawk Conference Neosho County Community College in Chanute, Kan.
#24- Sophomore forward Nemanja Krtolica has nine offensive rebounds over his last three games and is averaging just over two a game in 16 contests this season. He had seven points and five rebounds before fouling out in 20 minutes Thursday at Western New Mexico.
#32- Senior forward Magnus Richards matched a season high with 18 points with seven rebounds and four blocked shots while going 8-of-11 from the free throw line Saturday against Eastern New Mexico. It was preceded by a 17-point, 5-rebound effort at Western New Mexico. He is averaging 12.3 points and 6.5 rebounds with 18 blocked shots in eight games during LSC play.
#33- Junior forward Igor Ibaka enjoyed a monster week averaging 20 points and 15.5 rebounds while blocking three shots and logging three steals in wins over Western New Mexico and Eastern New Mexico. The Brazzaville, Congo native logged career bests with 28 points and 20 rebounds in a 108-104 win over Eastern New Mexico on Saturday after going for 12 points, 11 rebounds and four assists against Western New Mexico. He now has eight double-doubles this season. He ranks second in the LSC with 10.1 rebounds a game during conference play and leads the league collecting 3.6 offensive caroms per game.
#35- Junior forward Nick Powell notched his fourth double-digit performance of the season going for 15 points banging in a season-best three 3-pointers Thursday against Western New Mexico.
 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
* Cameron has won three of its last four since losing consecutive games at East Central (Okla.) and home against Angelo State. The lone loss since came 100-98 in quadruple overtime to West Texas A&M at Aggie Gym.
* The Aggies opened the season by winning seven of their first eight games with the lone loss coming to NAIA Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) in overtime (84-78) at the Patterson Auto Family Classic at D.L. Ligon Coliseum in Wichita Falls.
* The guard-heavy Aggies lead the Lone Star Conference in turnovers per game (11.1/21st in NCAA II) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.32/41st in NCAA II).
* Cameron rates 16th nationally in 3-point field goal attempts (448) while knocking down 153 of them (42nd in NCAA II in 3-point field goal makes).
* Tyler Williams (Crete, Ill.) leads a trio of sophomore guards averaging in double figures at 12.3 points per game. He has scored in double figures 13 times this season with a high of 19 points against Our Lady of the Lake. He was limited to nine points in each game last week against Eastern New Mexico and Western New Mexico going 5-of-20 from the field.
* Sophomore guard Tyus Momoh (Mansfield Timberview High) is the Aggies' top 3-point threat at 37.8 percent (37-of-98) averaging 12.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. He has scored in double figures 13 times with a high of 22 points in the season opener against Newman (Kan.). Momoh has hit 3-pointers in each of his last seven games.
* Reigning LSC Freshman of the Year J.V. Long scores 11.1 points while averaging 5.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. He has double figures in each of his three games averaging 17 points on 19-of-33 shooting (57.6 percent). Long boasts a high of 21 points in a win over Rogers State earlier this season.
* Cameron has six players averaging better than four rebounds per game.
* Andrew Brown is enjoying success in his first season as head coach at Cameron after going 119-112 in eight seasons at his alma mater -- Northwestern Oklahoma State -- from 2007-15. He served as top assistant to Nate Gamet at Cameron last season.
 
ABOUT THE SERIES
* Midwestern State and Cameron renew the Red River Rivalry for the 73rd time Tuesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
* The Mustangs own a 47-25 edge in the series which dates back to the 1968-69 season.
* The 73-game series rates as the eighth longest in program history.
* MSU is 16-3 against Cameron since 2007, but the Aggies claimed their first victory under the dome since 1990 taking an 80-75 win at D.L. Ligon Coliseum last season. The Mustangs had won 17-straight games since taking a 75-68 loss to the Aggies on Dec. 15, 1990.
* The Mustangs bounced back to clinch the Lone Star Conference championship on Cameron's home floor with a 79-59 victory on Feb. 27, 2016 before knocking the Aggies out of the LSC Postseason Tournament with an 88-72 semifinal win on March 4, 2016 at the Allen Event Center.
* Midwestern is 29-4 all-time against Cameron at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
 
THE HAGGERTY ERA
* Nelson Haggerty is in his sixth season at the helm for Midwestern State as one of the top young coaches in college basketball.
* Haggerty boasts a 133-40 mark (.769) leading the Mustangs to the NCAA Division II postseason in each of his campaigns at the helm and to  Lone Star Conference championships in four of his five seasons as head coach.
* Haggerty earned NABC South Central Region and Lone Star Conference coach of the year honors in his rookie season of 2011-12 piloting the Mustangs to their third consecutive Elite Eight showing. He repeated as LSC Coach of the Year while piloting the Mustangs to their fourth LSC title in his five seasons at head coach in 2016.
* With Haggerty on the bench (including two seasons as top assistant), MSU has advanced to three Elite Eights (2010, 2011, 2012) and to the NCAA Division II postseason six consecutive years.
* Haggerty was named HoopDirt.com Division II Coach of the Year on Jan. 10 after claiming wins over No. 11 West Texas A&M and UT-Permian Basin.
 
UP NEXT
Midwestern State face St. Mary's (Texas) in a game recently added to the 2016-17 slate Monday night at Bill Greehey Arena in San Antonio. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.