The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team is on a five-game winning streak. New Mexico State is on a nine-game winning streak.

The Rainbow Warriors are big. The Aggies are a little bigger.

Hawai'i can score, reaching 85 points three times this season. New Mexico State can score a little more, reaching 100 points three times this season.

Well, you get the idea.

"They've got a little bit of everything," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said of the Aggies. "They're big, they're athletic, they can score inside and they can score outside. But we feel like if we play our game, and don't get caught up in theirs, we'll be OK."

The 'Bows (9-4) and Aggies (10-3) will meet today in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams at Las Cruces, N.M. Tip-off is scheduled for around 4 p.m. (Hawai'i time) in the Pan American Center.

The Aggies are the highest-scoring team in the WAC, averaging 84 points per game, and Las Cruces is nearly 4,000 feet above sea level.

"It's that dreaded altitude I always tell you about," Wallace said. "So we can't run and gun with a team like that. We want to run, we just have to be smart about it and pick our spots."

NMSU finished in a tie with Hawai'i for fourth place in the WAC last season. However, the Aggies are considered the most improved team this season.

All you need to know about NMSU's improvement is this: the two top players from last season are playing reserve roles. And both — Tyrone Nelson and Elijah Ingram — are pretty good.

Nelson, a 6-foot-9 forward, was a first-team All-WAC selection last season, and Ingram, a 6-foot guard, was a second-team pick.

Both were hampered by injuries early in the season, and are still battling to regain the starting roles they had last season. Nelson missed the first eight games with a broken hand; Ingram has been playing despite a sore Achilles heel.

"Elijah has been playing hurt the whole year, but he's so valuable to us," NMSU head coach Reggie Theus said. "And Tyrone is not there from a stamina standpoint yet. But the thing is, we've been winning with some of these guys coming off the bench, and everybody realizes that. Sometimes, when things are going well, you don't want to make too many changes."

Ingram and Nelson are sharing the spotlight with several touted newcomers.

Justin Hawkins, a 6-7 forward, leads the team in scoring and rebounding, with averages of 17.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. He is a transfer from Utah.

Hatila Passos, a 6-9, 230-pound center, is contributing 11.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, and is shooting an amazing 82.2 percent from the field (37 of 45). He is a junior college transfer.

His back-up, 7-foot Martin Iti, is averaging 7.3 points per game and shooting 70.0 percent from the field. He is a transfer from Charlotte.

"We're big, we're athletic, and a lot of our advantages come from our inside people," Theus said. "We try to give our big people the ball in places where they can put it in the basket."

Nelson, in the five games since his return from injury, is averaging 11.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

Ingram is contributing 10.3 points per game, and starting guard Fred Peete — a transfer from Kansas State — is adding 10.6 points per game. In all, the Aggies have five players averaging double-figure points.

"They're bigger, better, and much deeper than they were last year," Wallace said.

But Theus is equally concerned about the 'Bows, especially since the Aggies are surrendering 75.5 points per game.

"Hawai'i has some size to match us, and (Ahmet) Gueye is really athletic for a big guy," Theus said. "But what makes them scary is they're so efficient as a unit. They know how to find the open man, and their perimeter guys can really shoot it."

Wallace is expected to start Matt Gibson at point guard, Matt Lojeski at shooting guard, Bobby Nash at small forward, P.J. Owsley at power forward, and Gueye at center.

NOTES

The Pan American Center is expected to display a photo montage on its jumbo-screen scoreboard in tribute to Wallace prior to tonight's game. Wallace is in his final season as head coach at Hawai'i.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.