NMSU and UTEP will be conference foes again in 2023, but bragging rights still on the line

LAS CRUCES — The last time New Mexico State and UTEP were in the same conference, 79-year-old hall-of-fame Arkansas basketball coach and UTEP alum Nolan Richardson was a college junior.

On Feb. 28, 1962, the Aggies, two years removed from having the university's name changed from the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts to New Mexico State University, played the Texas Western Miners at Las Cruces High School, where Lou Henson was coaching his final season of high school basketball. The opening of the Pan American Center was still six years away.

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Miners coach Don Haskins, in his first year with the program, led Texas Western to a 51-42 win over the Aggies in their final game as conference foes. The Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, more commonly known as the Border Conference, disbanded following the 1961-1962 season. Four of its five remaining member schools — Arizona State, Texas Western, New Mexico State, Hardin Simmons and West Texas State (now West Texas A&M) — became conference independents. Arizona State joined the Western Athletic Conference after the season.

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"That (rivalry) was big. The winner of those games would put you in the driver's seat if you won both (games), or if you split with them and your records came out the same you still had a chance to get into the NCAA Tournament," said Richardson, who played for the Miners from 1960-1963. "Knocking off New Mexico State was one of the big crown jewels that we could claim. That game, it meant something. You'd work like hell to try to win them both."

At 7 p.m. Saturday in Las Cruces, the two schools will meet for the first time since NMSU announced it will depart the WAC for Conference USA in 2023 and join UTEP in the same conference for the first time since 1962. It will also be the first non-conference rivalry game the Aggies have played since 2019 after their annual home-and-home series with UTEP and New Mexico was canceled last season. But conference standings or immediate NCAA Tournament implications won't be on the line when the schools meet Saturday night — just bragging rights.

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"We're hoping it's a big crowd," NMSU head coach Chris Jans said. "I know this fan base and how much these games mean to them, and we've adopted that same mindset. ...I just know it's going to be a hard-fought game. I know (UTEP head) coach (Joe) Golding and the way his teams play, and they're not going to give an inch. If people like to see two teams really go at one another, I would say 7 o'clock Saturday night in the Pan Am, that's going to happen."

The Battle of I-10 has since lost some of its luster, Richardson said, but the NMSU-UTEP rivalry is still a major game for both schools. The two schools have maintained their disdain for one another over the 59 years since they were conference foes, although the Aggies have won nine of the last 10 meetings and lead the all-time series 116-102, according to the NMSU men's basketball media guide.

Sophomore guard Mario McKinney Jr., a junior college transfer who has never played in the Battle of I-10, said he learned from his teammates how important the rivalry is to both schools, even as non-conference opponents. Both programs experience some of their largest crowds of the season when they welcome their nemesis to town, and both fan bases travel well for the 40-minute trip.

"I like playing in that type of atmosphere, with a lot of people," McKinney said. "You know you're going to have some critics here and there, but that's the type of atmosphere I like playing in."

NMSU will play in the WAC the next two seasons before making the jump to a new conference ahead of the 2023-24 academic year, but Richardson and Golding applauded the move to join the league.

"Obviously, them being so close, this has obviously been a great rivalry for a long time, but now it will probably be amplified (by) getting back in the same league," Golding said. "Instead of playing each other in November, we'll look forward to playing those guys in January and February and hopefully again in March at the conference tournament."

However, joining a new conference is still plenty far away for Jans. He said the team hasn't discussed the move to C-USA, although he and his staff had some initial "off the cuff" conversations. He said Monday they've remained focused on the task at hand, which was Tuesday's season-opening 62-51 win against UC Irvine. UTEP manhandled Western New Mexico 85-57 in its first game.

But the fact the schools share the same record doesn't matter, just like it didn't matter when they were Border Conference foes, Richardson said. And conference opponents or not, the teams are going to "play some basketball" Saturday night.

"When you're playing a rivalry, you don't see numbers anymore," Richardson said. "You see a guy that's got an Aggie shirt on that you've got to beat."

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: History, bragging rights on the line in NMSU-UTEP basketball matchup