ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team lost to UNLV Tuesday night, 71-66, inside WisePies Arena. The Lobos are now 9-8 on the season and 2-3 in the Mountain West. UNLV improved to 9-9 overall and 2-3 in league play.
Sophomore Dane Kuiper had a career night for the Lobos, scoring a team-high 17 points. He hit his first six shots of the game and finished 6-for-10 from the field, which included three from beyond the arc. Three other Lobos scored in double figures. Elijah Brown finished with 13 while Tim Williams and Jalen Harris each had 11 points.
Obij Aget led the team in blocks, finishing with a career-high seven, all coming in the first half. Those seven blocks bumps him over 100 for his career, moving him into seventh on the all-time block list with 106.
The Lobos led 7-3 into the first media timeout of the game and held UNLV to just seven points within the first seven minutes of the game. An 8-0 run for the Lobos forced UNLV to take its first timeout of the game. They finished the first half on a 13-11 run to lead UNLV by six at halftime, 37-31.
“I thought our guys played extremely well,” said UNM coach Craig Neal. “They played hard. It seemed like they were a little bit off their step.”
The Lobos’ offense struggled to get going in the second half as they only scored nine points eight minutes into the half. UNLV scored 22 in that stretch to take lead, 53-46.
“We couldn’t get anything going or stops in transition,” Neal said. “They have tomorrow off to regroup and then we’ll meet on Thursday and push forward.”
New Mexico did hold off the Runnin’ Rebels for the next three minutes, pushing themselves to retake the lead with a Jalen Harris 3-pointer, 55-53. The Lobos were up 62-61 with 3:57 left to play but UNLV finished the game on a 10-4 run to claim the victory.
The Lobos shot better than the Rebels, 48 percent to 38 percent, but UNLV went 9-of-21 from the three (42.9 percent). The Lobos edged UNLV in the paint, 24-22 and beat them off the fast break 10-6.
New Mexico will look to snap its three-game skid this weekend as it travels to Colorado State Saturday. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m., and the game will be available on ROOT Sports.