NMSU hits the road to participate in NCAA tournament

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — The New Mexico State University men's basketball team is hitting the road for the NCAA tournament.

The team left Las Cruces on Tuesday morning.

"Well, it's exciting. It's not just exciting for the basketball players or athletic program. It's exciting for the whole University and Las Cruces and maybe even for the state of New Mexico. Because this is s big national stage," said Mario Moccia the athletics director for NMSU.

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"It's a great feeling that our small town of Las Cruces can be in the national spotlight for several days. It's a 5-12 game, I think the fans in the arena with the exception of the Yukon fans, always root for the underdog. The fans start going crazy for the Aggies. So yeah I'm excited about what we are going to encounter in Buffalo, New York," said Moccia.

NMSU will be playing University of Connecticut Thursday in Buffalo, N.Y. Tip-off is set for 4:50 p.m. MT.

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"We've had a great season. We've won on the road. We know we have battle-tested upperclassmen so I have no doubt that even on a national stage on national TV on national ranked opponent that we'll acquit ourselves pretty well and hopefully everything works out all right," said Moccia.

You can watch March Madness NCAA tournament games on CBS4.

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