UNM GAME NOTES | NEVADA GAME NOTES | LIVE AUDIO | LIVE STATS
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team is set to begin the 2016 Mountain West Conference Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fourth seeded Lobos are set to take on fifth seed Nevada Thursday in the quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. PST/3:30 p.m. MST.
A potential semifinal matchup with either San Diego State or Utah State would take place Friday at 6 p.m. PST/7 p.m. MST. The Championship game is set for Saturday at 3 p.m. PST/4 p.m. MST.
The Lobos enter the tournament with history on their side. New Mexico has won four MW Tournament Championships, the most of any program past or present. Three of those championships came in the last four years, when the Lobos became the first team to win three in a row from 2012-14. Of the 11 coaches in the MW, head coach Craig Neal is one of three with MW Tournament-winning experience.
The current Lobo squad will look to win the program’s fifth tournament title and carve their own place in history. New Mexico enters the tournament with the league’s best shooting mark of 46.8 percent, led by Tim Williams’ league-leading 61 percent shooting percentage.
They will take their shooting precision into a third game against Nevada, looking to complete a perfect record against them this season. The Lobos began conference season against them on Dec. 30, winning, 88-76. On Saturday, the Lobos defeated the Wolf Pack again, 71-66. The first win was a big spark when the Lobos needed to start a run. It was the first of a three game win streak and a run of seven wins in nine games. New Mexico will try and use Saturday’s win to propel them to a similar run and a conference title.
The Coaches:
Head coaches Craig Neal and Eric Musselman have a unique history dating back to their time with the CBA’s Rapid City Thunder. From 1989-90, Neal played point guard for the Thunder while Musselman was the team’s young head coach. Neal went on to play professional basketball until 1995 and eventually became an NBA scout before beginning a decorated collegiate coaching career. Musselman went on to become an NBA head coach, but now the two find themselves as head coaches in the tough MW Conference.
Series History:
The Lobos are 6-1 all-time against Nevada, with the series starting in 2013. The Lobos’ only loss to Nevada came on Feb. 14, 2015 in a 66-63 overtime loss on the road. The Lobos are 2-0 against them since. This will be the first time the two programs have met in the postseason.
Broadcast Information:
The quarterfinals and semifinals will be televised on CBS Sports Network. Fans can find CBSSN on Comcast channels 274/838 (HD), DISH channel 158 and DirecTV channel 221. The MW Championship game will be televised on CBS.
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.