New Mexico State Is Set to Name Theus as Coach

New Mexico State has hired Louisville assistant and former NBA All-Star Reggie Theus as its coach.

The school has scheduled a news conference Monday to announce the hiring of Theus, a Los Angeles native who attended Inglewood High.

Theus, 47, has been on Rick Pitino’s staff at Louisville the past two seasons. Before joining Pitino, he was a volunteer assistant for a year at Cal State Los Angeles. He also was coach of the Las Vegas Slam of the American Basketball Assn. during the 2002 season.

Theus, who played for Jerry Tarkanian at Nevada Las Vegas from 1976 to ‘78, spent 13 years in the NBA with Chicago, Kansas City, Sacramento, Atlanta, Orlando and New Jersey. He was a two-time All-Star with the Bulls in 1981 and 1983 and is one of only five players in NBA history to score at least 19,000 points and have at least 6,000 assists.

Under interim coach Tony Stubblefield, the Aggies finished 6-24 this season, their worst record since 1966.

Lou Henson, 73, did not coach New Mexico State this season. He was stricken with viral encephalitis before the start of the season and the disease left him partially paralyzed. Henson retired in January, only 21 victories shy of becoming the fifth coach in Division I history to win 800 games.

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Nik Caner-Medley took charge down the stretch, scoring eight of his 20 points in the final minutes to help Maryland pull out an 85-73 victory over Texas Christian in an NIT game at College Park, Md.

The Terrapins (19-12) will meet South Carolina on Tuesday night in a semifinal game at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Corey Santee led Texas Christian (21-14) with 21 points.

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Antwan Walton scored 19 points and made the go-ahead basket to help Virginia Union (30-4) hold off Bryant (R.I.), 63-58, for the Division II title at Grand Forks, N.D.

It was the third championship for Virginia Union, which also won in 1980 and 1992.

Chris Burns led Bryant (25-9) with 25 points.

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Brooke Ubelaker scored 22 points and Juwanna Rivers added 20 to lead Washburn (Kan.) to the NCAA Division II women’s championship with a 70-53 victory over Seattle Pacific (30-3) at Hot Springs, Ark. Washburn finished 35-2.