WAC Preseason Player of the Year Jabari Rice primed to lead conference power New Mexico State
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (BVM) — The New Mexico State Aggies have been pegged as the preseason favorite to claim their fourth straight Western Athletic Conference regular season title, and there’s no bigger reason for optimism about this year’s team than junior guard Jabari Rice.
The Houston native is coming off a breakout sophomore season in which he helped the Aggies finish 16-0 in conference and 25-6 overall prior to the COVID-19 outbreak which prevented what would’ve been New Mexico State’s eighth NCAA Tournament appearance in nine years.
Rice was named an All-WAC first-teamer after leading the Aggies in total points (384) and free throw percentage (.827) while his 12.8 points per game were second-best on the team and a substantial improvement from his freshman season when he averaged only 3.4.
“I just expected to have a good season; I didn’t expect to have that good of a season,” Rice said in an Aggie Student Athlete Spotlight interview. “When you pray about and when you really work hard, it comes back to you. I didn’t take it as a surprise, but I kind of embraced it and I kind of kept going. I fed off of it.”
Now heading into his junior season, Rice is considered the best player in the WAC. He was tabbed by coaches and media as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year.
Presenting your @WACsports Preseason Player of the Year: @_jabariii 🏀#AggieUp | 📰 | https://t.co/VN5R8tyfEV pic.twitter.com/gxIzdJTAut
— NM State MBB (@NMStateMBB) October 27, 2020
Rice will take on his biggest role yet after the Aggies lost two of its top three scorers from last season in Trevelin Queen and Ivan Aurrecoechea, but the star guard is by no means the only player expected to step up and make NMSU the clear-cut top team in the conference.
“I definitely have to step up, but I really don’t think there’s a falloff with the scoring because we have good players,” Rice said. “I feel like we’re going to play even harder; we’re a lot more athletic. I think we have a lot of more excited guys, guys who are eager to play and I like playing with guys like that.”
Senior forward Johnny McCants joins Rice on the Preseason All-WAC first team after averaging 9.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 steals and a team-best 0.5 blocked shots while leading the Aggies in total minutes last season. Senior guard Evan Gilyard II, who averaged 7.5 points as a junior, was named Preseason All-WAC second team. Senior forward Donnie Tillman was named a Preseason All-WAC first team player by the conference’s coaches despite the fact that he’s yet to play a game for NMSU. After transferring from UNLV this past spring, Tillman was granted a waiver from the NCAA in September, making him immediately eligible for competition this season. He averaged 10 points in his one season with the Runnin’ Rebels after being named the Pac-12’s Sixth Man of the Year as a sophomore with Utah.
With the help of McCants, Gilyard II, Tillman and other newcomers who will look to make a significant impact, Rice is primed to lead the Aggies on what could be another run to the Big Dance. But he doesn’t care whether he’s the team’s leader in the stat book.
“I like to play team ball,” Rice said. “If that means I’m scoring 20 points or if it doesn’t mean I score 20 points, regardless, I just want to win.”
NMSU has done plenty of that in recent years. The Aggies have won 34 straight games against WAC opponents and their 31-game winning streak in WAC regular season games is the longest in the league’s history. While the date of their season opener and non-conference schedule is yet to be announced, they’ll open WAC competition Jan. 8 on the road against Dixie State.
