It was back to the grind for the Fresno State men's basketball team on Friday.

A 5 a.m. wake-up call in Ruston, La. -- that's 3 a.m., for those stuck on West Coast time -- followed by a delay of more than an hour waiting for the flight crew for the Bulldogs' connection to Dallas, then on to El Paso and a bus ride to Las Cruces, N.M.

Somewhere in there, coach Rodney Terry said the Bulldogs will have put a 59-58 loss at Louisiana Tech behind them, even with the circumstances at the end of the game when a call by official Verne Harris gave Tech a second chance to come up with a game-winner in the final 6 seconds.

It did.

"This time of year, you can't have a hangover," Terry said. "Even if you win this game, you're only going to have it for one night, anyway. ...

"It's how you walk out of here. It's how you carry yourself, with the body language you're supposed to have. There's always going to be adversity and tough things you have to go through. You have to get off the mat and you have to bounce right back up because no one is going to feel sorry for you."

The Bulldogs (9-13, 1-5 Western Athletic Conference) have proven their elasticity playing on quick turnarounds, most recently beating San Jose State at the Save Mart Center two days after blowing a lead in the final 15 seconds of regulation and losing to Hawaii in overtime.

But New Mexico State (14-7, 4-2) is a tough matchup for the Bulldogs and their four-guard lineup. The Aggies lead the conference in rebounding margin at plus-7.3 and play at a tempo even faster than Louisiana Tech, which was ranked 30th in possessions per game before taking on Fresno State.

The Aggies are ranked 22nd in Division I with 73.6 possessions per game, the most in the WAC, while the Bulldogs are 310th with 64.6. New Mexico State also is leading the conference in scoring at 78.0 points per game and 78.2 in its six conference games.

Fresno State again will have to get the game going at the speed that it wants, which could be more difficult against a team that has been strong on the glass -- the Aggies were plus-13 in rebounding margin in their loss to Nevada on Thursday, plus-12 in a victory at San Jose State, plus-17 in winning at Idaho and plus-11 in a victory over Utah State.

The Bulldogs held Louisiana Tech to 49 shots -- it had been averaging 62.2 in its conference games. But the Aggies present physical mismatches that Louisiana Tech and its four-guard look did not, with 6-foot-6 forward Wendell McKines and 6-11 center Hamidu Rahman.

McKines is tied for the WAC lead in scoring with the Bulldogs' Kevin Olekaibe at 18.2 points per game, and is leading the conference with 10.3 rebounds per game.

Fresno State senior guard Jonathan Wills said the Bulldogs would use their speed to get the Aggies "to play a game they're not comfortable playing."

"We've faced some big teams," he said. "We've played teams like that. We've just got play our game, you know, and we have to match their physicality."