'Tonight, it was my night:' Allen has Aggies first 41-point performance in 20 years as NMSU skates past Abilene Christian

LAS CRUCES — It was the only time this season Teddy Allen smiled and laughed after missing a free throw.

After all, he didn't expect to have a shot at scoring at least 40 points in a game, let alone have the opportunity come on a pair of free-throw attempts in the final 35 seconds with Abilene Christian pointlessly fouling down by 11 points. Nor did he expect to finish with 41 points after getting another opportunity at the line moments later.

The outcome of New Mexico State's 77-63 win wasn't in question, but the crowd still rose to its feet as they watched the Aggies redshirt junior guard attempt to become the first NMSU player to score 40 points in a game in nearly 20 years.

With 38 points scored already, "Teddy Buckets'" first attempt bounced off the front of the rim, kissed the backboard and rolled off the side. Allen couldn't believe it. He was a 90% free-throw shooter who had missed seven free shots all season. He had only missed two free throws since the start of the new year. Assuming he made the second attempt, he was destined to finish with 39.

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The crowd let out an exasperated groan in disbelief.

Everything had gone perfectly for Allen until that moment. He hit NMSU's first 3-point attempt of the night on a wide-open shot off the right wing after coming off a screen on an inbounds pass, then he hit four more shots in the first half to score 12 of the Aggies 28 first-half points. The Wildcats notorious hyper-aggressive defense, which they rode to a victory over Texas in last year's NCAA Tournament, did little to overwhelm Allen. His five made field goals in the opening period accounted for more than half of NMSU's made shots as they took a 28-24 lead into the halftime locker room.

"Honestly, I didn't feel any different than any other day," Allen said. "Sometimes, the ball just finds you, really, and that's really true."

Head coach Chris Jans wasn't actively tracking how many points Allen had. When the crowd started cheering after he was fouled with 42 seconds left, he turned to associate head coach James Miller and asked, "What's that about?" Miller replied Allen was about to shoot two free throws for a chance at a 40-point performance, something that hadn't been done since Eric Channing pulled off the feat against North Texas on Jan. 26, 2002.

Jans said he knew Allen was cooking, but he had no idea he was on the verge of becoming the first player to break the mark since he became the Aggies head coach in 2017.

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He still recognized Allen had the hot hand in the second half, and he started calling plays for him inside the final 10 minutes as the Aggies clung to a precarious lead that fluctuated between three and 12 points. Any time Allen — or very rarely another Aggie — would splash a 3-pointer or rattle off five or six straight points, the Wildcats answered with a quick spurt of their own. Not enough to take their first lead since they led 12-11 with 12:29 left in the first half, but enough to make Jans and NMSU uncomfortable.

So they turned to Allen.

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"He's just understanding how we're trying to play and some of the schemes we utilize on the offensive end and understanding that he doesn't always have to be the creator. Let other people create for you sometimes," Jans said. "...He just made shots efficiently. Six for 11 from (3-point range), 13-20 from the field, nine for 11 from the (free-throw) line. I didn't feel like he did anything differently. The ball went in the hole and he got in a little bit of a zone, and he's got that kind of capability."

For the first 10 minutes of the second half, Jans was generally pleased with Allen's performance. His fourth 3-pointer of the night midway through the final period brought his point total to 26 and stretched the lead to 54-43. But as he hopped down the court, an official caught him cursing at the opposing bench. He was immediately hit with a technical foul, which Jans did not take kindly.

"I was ticked off. He knows he can't do that. I talk to the guys all the time about it. You never know what's gonna change the rhythm of the game, and that did," Jans said of Abilene Christian's 9-1 run which pulled them within three points in the final seven minutes.

Allen answered by scoring 10 of the Aggies next 13 points. They re-took their double-digit lead with three minutes remaining.

ACU couldn't slice into the deficit, and the Wildcats began to intentionally foul. Allen hit two free throws with 48 seconds left to bring his point total to 38. Then ACU's Reggie Miller missed a 3-pointer, and Allen grabbed the rebound. The crowd of 5,014 Aggie fans cheered. They didn't need an announcement from the public address announcer. They knew what Allen had the opportunity to do.

Allen hadn't looked at his point total on the jumbotron, but his teammates kept their eyes on it. They hugged him as he walked down the court for his eighth and ninth free-throw attempts of the night.

He laughed as he missed his first shot. The crowd sat back down after his second. No standing ovation or congratulatory chants.

Yet.

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ACU's Coryon Mason was slammed with a technical foul for using choice language with a referee after he committed his fifth and final foul. Allen, who has been the Aggies technical free-throw shooter any time he's been on the court this season, had two more attempts at the line.

The crowd stood back up.

And Allen nailed both attempts. He finished with 41 points, tying himself for fifth in school history for points scored in a single game and the second-most points scored by an Aggie in the Pan American Center. The student section rang with chants of "MVP," something Allen took with a grain of salt. He'd heard that chant before.

"The ball just found me tonight," Allen said. "Tonight, it was my night."

What's next

NMSU begins an East Texas swing Thursday when it travels to Sam Houston State before taking on Stephen F. Austin Saturday. ACU returns to Abilene Thursday against Seattle for its first home game since Jan. 8.

Stephen Wagner is a sports reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can found on Twitter at @stephenwag22 and reached at SWagner@lcsun-news.com.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Allen has Aggies first 41-point performance in 20 years as NMSU skates past Abilene Christian