UMKC blown out by New Mexico State

The UMKC Kangaroos ended a four-game homestand with a game at New Mexico State on Saturday night at Municipal Auditorium.

It didn’t go well for UMKC.

The Aggies are in first place in the WAC and looked it, dominating UMKC 73-48.

UMKC dropped to 6-17 on the season and 1-5 in the WAC, while New Mexico State improved to 18-3 and 6-0 in conference.

The loss was the Kangaroos’ third straight.

Xavier Bishop was the only UMKC player in double figures against the Aggies. Bishop finished with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting.

Aller Leek finished with a season-high 10 rebounds for UMKC, but the Kangaroos were outrebounded by the Aggies 48-33.

Rebounding has been a core problem for UMKC for much of the season. The Kangaroos headed into Saturday’s game ranked No. 349, out of 351NCAA Division I teams, in rebounding margin at -9.8

In the games that UMKC has been successful, the Kangaroos have done so in large part by getting hot from beyond the arc. UMKC could not find the hot touch on Saturday however.

The Kangaroos made 5 of 28 (17.9 percent) three-pointers. Bishop went 2 of 6 on threes, Broderick Robinson 1 of 6 and Jordan Giles 1 of 5.

Overall from the field, UMKC went 20 of 55 for 36.4 percent.

The Kangaroos were able to hold the Aggies to 40.3 percent shooting (29 of 72). The Aggies, though, had a vast advantage on shot attempts, and it was due to their work on the boards: New Mexico State had 21 offensive rebounds.

Jemerrio Jones came off the bench for New Mexico State and finished with 15 rebounds. He also had 10 points. Zach Lofton led the Aggies in scoring with 19 points.

UMKC returns to action with a game at Grand Canyon in Phoenix on Thursday.

A loss to Grand Canyon was part of UMKC’s just completed homestand, in which UMKC went 1-3: Grand Canyon beat the Kangaroos 86-69 at Municipal Auditorium on Jan. 20.

Grand Canyon, coached by Dan Majerle, is in third place in the WAC at 4-2 and is 15-7 overall.

This story was originally published January 27, 2018 at 9:35 PM with the headline "UMKC blown out by New Mexico State."