It took 42 hours on the road and a few crazy setbacks, but we are finally in the Pacific Northwest and ready to watch the Horns begin the best postseason tournament in sports. Recipients of a 4-seed, the Longhorns draw the 13-seed New Mexico State Aggies, the winners of the WAC’s auto-bid. The Aggies held off Utah State to win the conference tournament despite throwing an inbounds pass out of bounds in the waning seconds with only a two-point lead.

Coached by Reggie Theus, the Aggies run an up-tempo game with high defensive intensity. NMSU’s possessions per game is 24th nationally. They will throw out a lot of full-court pressure and trap in the half-court sets, so it will be important for D.J. Augustin to stay out of foul trouble. When Augustin is not on the floor, pressure-oriented defenses have a field day with Texas’ less-seasoned guards.

New Mexico State is ranked 5th nationally in free throw rate, which indicates that they attack the rim a great deal and draw fouls in shooting situations. Unfortunately for the Aggies, they don’t have much success when they get there. Point guard Elijah Ingram shoots 84% from the charity stripe, but all of the other players with significant minutes are shooting 70% or worse.

The high tempo scheme employed by Theus also forces the Aggies to run fairly deep on the bench. Nine different players average over 15 minutes per game. If Texas allows the Aggies to run the game at their preferred pace, fatigue and depth could definitely come into play. The Horns only truly run six deep — perhaps now seven, if Craig Winder continues to pull solid minutes — and cannot affod to get into a track meet with NMSU.

Ingram is the only Aggie who takes many three pointers, and is making them 42% of the time. Former Kansas State guard Fred Peete and senior guard Shaun Davis also take a fair number from behind the arc, but neither is as dangerous as Ingram. For a Texas team that has often shown a weakness in guarding the perimeter, this could be an excellent matchup. The Horns like to collapse and clog the lane, so it could come down to a battle between the big men for NMSU and the sagging Texas defense.

The Aggies definitely have some trees in the lane that could cause problems for a much smaller Longhorn squad. Martin Iti is a 7-foot center coming off the bench for Coach Theus, while forwards Justin Hawkins and Tyrone Nelson rebound remarkably well. Texas needs to be careful to avoid offensive possessions that result in defensive rebounds and easy outlets into transition. And on the defensive end, the Horns need to keep the NMSU bigs off the glass. They are a great rebounding team and can get a ton of points off second-chance opportunities.

For now, I need to get some food and head over to the Spokane Arena. TV is obviously CBS, although there are also three other games that will be on across the country. I’m thinking the pull of Kevin Durant might make this the “national” game for any areas not tied regionally to any of the other games, but if you’re not from the Austin area, you may want to try a sports bar.

Post-game thoughts will be up late tonight, as we’ve got the USC/Arkansas game after ours. And if time allows on Saturday, I may try to write up the crazy journey to the game. Enjoy the wall-to-wall basketball action, and Hook ’em Horns!