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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team (2-0) will look to continue its strong start to the season as the Lobos match up against Rio Grande Rival New Mexico State (2-1) Friday night at 7 p.m. in WisePies Arena – The Pit. This will be the first of two games this season against the Aggies.
The Lobos enter the game looking for their third straight win. They are coming off a 95-79 win over Houston Baptist earlier this week. That game saw senior Tim Williams go off for a career-high 31 points. He was 10-for-11 from the field and 11-for-12 from the foul line. He also finished with 11 points for his second straight double-double and his eighth in his career as a Lobo. Williams leads the Lobos after the first two games, averaging 24.5 points per game and 11 rebounds per game. The Lobos are shooting 53.8 percent from the field and 76 percent from the foul line.
New Mexico State is coming off a 58-48 win over Samford Wednesday. Earlier in the week, the Aggies fell to Colorado State 64-61. Eli Chuha is lead the Aggies, averaging 13.7 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game. The Aggies are shooting 42 percent after three games, and are 39-of-55 from the free-throw line (70.9 percent).
The Coaches:
Lobos head coach Craig Neal has a career record of 61-38. He is 2-0 so far in 2016-17. New Mexico State’s head coach Paul Weir is in his first year as head coach of the Aggies and is 2-1 in 2016-17. Weir and Neal were on the same staff at Iowa.
The Series:
New Mexico and New Mexico State will face off for the 217th time in the Lobos’ oldest rivalry. UNM holds a 120-96 advantage in the series, which began in the 1903-04 season. UNM has won 15 of the last 18 Rio Grande Rivalry meetings with Craig Neal on the sidelines (2007-08 present).
The game is part of a department-wide competition known as the “Rio Grande Rivalry”. All of the two schools’ athletic teams compete for points in the competition. The Lobos have claimed victory every year of the rivalry, which began during the 2007-08 academic year. Currently, the 2016-17 Rio Grande Rivalry is led by the Lobos, 12.0-3.0.
The Lobos have only lost to the Aggies in one sport this season. When playing at home, the Lobos hold a 73-38 advantage. The Lobos have won seven of the last nine meetings in WisePies Arena – The Pit.
Broadcast Information:
The game will be televised on ESPN3. The broadcast can be found HERE.
For fans tuning in on the radio, Robert Portnoy will give the play-by-play action alongside analyst and Lobo great Hunter Greene on 770 KKOB, the flagship station of the New Mexico Lobos. This feed will also be available via the TuneIn Radio App.