LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — After seven games in Conference USA play, the New Mexico State men’s basketball team stands at 3-4. The Aggies are tied for seventh in the league standings and rank fourth in Conference USA in the NET rankings, placing them 126th nationally.

The team recently returned from a two-game road trip. NMSU started the journey with a 73-71 loss to conference leader Liberty. Despite coming from a 17-point deficit, the Aggies had a chance to win in the final seconds, making it a tough loss. This season, NMSU has been the closest team to beating Liberty at home, where the Flames remain undefeated at 10-0.

Two days later, the Aggies bounced back with a strong performance, defeating Delaware 97-68 and securing their first road victory of the season.

NMSU went 1-1 last week, including a narrow two-point loss to the top team in CUSA. While head coach Jason Hooten and his team are not focused on moral victories, they have taken positives from the week and are confident about what they can achieve moving forward.

“The Liberty game just kind of showed us that if we really focus on beating adversity, we can be at the top of this league,” said senior guard Anthony Wrzeszcz on Monday.

“Our guys understand how good they can be,” said head coach Jason Hooten. “At times, we’ve shown we can be one of the best teams in this conference. But we have to be consistent. We’ve got to be able to do it against really, really good competition, which is what we’re going to see for the next however many games we have left now.”

Up next, NMSU begins a three-game home stand with two games this week at the Pan American Center. The Aggies will face rematches against Missouri State on Thursday and FIU on Saturday.

NM State heads into Thursday’s game as the third-best scoring offense in Conference USA since the start of league play. After seven games, the Aggies are averaging 78.0 points per game and shooting 46.9% from the floor, the second-best mark in CUSA.

“Seven games, except for the Middle Tennessee game, we’ve played very well offensively. We’ve moved the ball. I thought once we really started to understand our identity and what we do great, we’ve really taken off,” said Hooten. “I think we are a good basketball team offensively. Defensively, except for that stretch on the road against these two teams that are coming up, we’ve been pretty good as well. We just haven’t been consistent.”

NM State will welcome Missouri State and FIU to the Pan American Center this week. In their last meetings, both FIU and Missouri State scored 89 points each to beat the Aggies on the road. Those 89 points are the most NMSU has allowed an opponent to score this season. NMSU is focused on putting together a stronger defensive performance in the rematches.

“I feel like we are just really starting to understand the scouting reports, and I feel we’ve done a good job the last two games of following our scouting reports,” said Wrzeszcz. “That’s obviously what our defense is predicated on. We have to do a good job of listening to the coaches who tell us what to do, the scouts, and just follow that. If we follow that, we’ll be successful.”

New Mexico State opens up its three-game homestand with a contest against Missouri State on Thursday. Tipoff at the Pan American Center is at 7:00 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network.