Lobos, Saint Mary’s in NIT Should Showcase Offense
New Mexico Game Notes | WNIT Bracket | Ticket/Parking Information | Purchase Tickets
|
|||||||||||||
New Mexico vs. Saint Mary’sALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Johnson Center doesn’t have shot clocks generally, so the New Mexico facilities staff needs to bring them from Dreamstyle Arena.
They might not be needed.
In what should be a fun clash of offensive basketball, the New Mexico Lobos open the 2018 WNIT against Saint Mary’s at 7 p.m. in Johnson Center on UNM’s main campus. Dreamstyle Arena, which would potentially be available for a WNIT second round game should the Lobos advance, is hosting the Ty Murray PBR through Sunday.
The Lobos rank 19th nationally in offense at 80.2 points per game, and Saint Mary’s is 67th at 71.2 points per game. Lobo post Jaisa Nunn will have her hands full as Saint Mary’s features a strong front court. The Gaels were second nationally in rebound margin (+10.8) and ninth in field goal percentage (.479). Megan McKay (.612, 10th), Stella Beck (.599, 17th), and Sydney Raggio (.536, 40th) all rank in the top 50 nationally in field goal percentage, but all are behind Nunn, who is eighth nationally at .622 from the floor.
That’s the main difference as Saint Mary’s features a strong inside game, and they don’t hit three-pointers at nearly the rate UNM does. In fact, UNM nearly doubles the number of threes per game, with UNM averaging 8.9 made per game and Saint Mary’s at just 4.7 per game.
The matchup showcases six 400+ point scorers on the floor. Nunn (537), Cherise Beynon (534) and Tesha Buck (473) will hit the court for UNM, while for Saint Mary’s Stella Beck (462), McKay (447) and Raggio (426) all are over that mark. All three for Saint Mary’s have broken the 1,000-point marks in their careers, while Beynon and Buck have done so for UNM (with Buck’s split between UNM and UWGB).
Beynon is now up to sixth nationally in total assists (229) and eighth in assists per game (6.9). She is one of two Lobos in school history with 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists (Mandi Moore being the other.)
The 2017-18 is the first in Lobo history to feature two 500-point scorers on the same team, and Buck is 27 points away from making it three.
The selection is the first WNIT berth for the Lobos since the 2009-10 season, when the Lobos defeated SMU 66-51 before losing in the second round at Oregon. Overall, the Lobos have played in eight NCAA Tournaments, six WNITs and twice in the WBI. UNM has an overall postseason tournament record of 14-15, and UNM is 10-5 in its five previous WNIT appearances, including a championship game appearance in 2001 and a quarterfinal appearance in 2009.
For Lobo head coach Mike Bradbury, it marks his sixth postseason appearance in the last seven seasons, and his fourth NCAA or WNIT appearance in the last five.
The Lobos and Saint Mary’s played just one common opponent, and that was Boise State. UNM split with the Broncos, winning 100-83 in Albuquerque and losing 91-85 in Boise, while Saint Mary’s beat Boise State early in the season 74-72 in Boise.
The Gaels finished 20-10 on the season, and the finished second in the West Coast Conference at 13-5, but they were upset in the quarterfinals by the No. 7 seed Pacific 77-73.
NOTES: The two teams have only met once before, and that was on November 3, 1996, a 71-60 overtime win in Moraga for the Lobos in Don Flanagan’s second season … the winner of the game will play the winner of the Rice-Texas State game … the radio broadcast of the game will be on 770 AM instead of 610 AM.