Jones leads New Mexico State against Florida International after 28-point outing

Florida International Panthers (9-10, 2-6 CUSA) at New Mexico State Aggies (10-8, 3-5 CUSA)

Las Cruces, New Mexico; Saturday, 2 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: New Mexico State takes on Florida International after Jemel Jones scored 28 points in New Mexico State’s 84-75 loss to the Missouri State Bears.

The Aggies are 7-2 on their home court. New Mexico State averages 77.1 points and has outscored opponents by 7.8 points per game.

The Panthers have gone 2-6 against CUSA opponents. Florida International has a 0-2 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

New Mexico State is shooting 44.8% from the field this season, 1.5 percentage points higher than the 43.3% Florida International allows to opponents. Florida International has shot at a 46.2% rate from the field this season, 6.0 percentage points greater than the 40.2% shooting opponents of New Mexico State have averaged.

The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jones is shooting 42.4% and averaging 16.7 points for the Aggies. Julius Mims is averaging 12.2 points over the last 10 games.

Corey Stephenson is shooting 41.5% from beyond the arc with 2.2 made 3-pointers per game for the Panthers, while averaging 17.2 points and 6.2 rebounds. Julian Mackey is averaging 12.1 points over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Aggies: 4-6, averaging 79.5 points, 33.1 rebounds, 14.1 assists, 6.4 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 46.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.0 points per game.

Panthers: 4-6, averaging 82.7 points, 35.2 rebounds, 15.4 assists, 9.3 steals and 4.3 blocks per game while shooting 47.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 78.2 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.