Lobos and TCU Renew Rivalry in WNIT Third Round
Time: 7 p.m.
Tickets: www.unmtickets.com
Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats
New Mexico Game Notes | TCU Game Notes
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’ll be like an old WAC or Mountain West game, with a date in the WNIT quarterfinals as the dangling prize on the end of the string. The University of New Mexico Lobos (25-10) will host the TCU Horned Frogs (21-12) in the Women’s NIT Sweet SixteenTM on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit.
Tickets for the game are on sale now online at www.unmtickets.com, or in person at Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit. All seats are general admission ($10 adults/$4 for students with valid ID & youths) except for Lobo Level seats, which are held for season ticket holders of those seats until 6:45 p.m. Thursday. Lobo Level season ticket holders who will not be using their seats are encouraged to call the UNM ticket office at 505-925-5626 or email lcherry@unm.edu or cclark5@unm.edu in advance to allow those seats to be sold.
The game will be available for out of town fans on the Mountain West Network, and Josh Suchon and Nikki Heckroth-Lobato will have the call on 770 KKOB, which is a change from UNM’s normal station for women’s basketball. 610 AM will have the men’s NCAA Tournament games on Thursday.
The Lobos got to the third round by defeated Saint Mary’s 82-80 and Rice 93-73, while TCU made it with home wins over Lamar 80-68 and Missouri State 86-51. The winner of the game will face off against the winner of the Michigan State at South Dakota game, also being played on Tuesday.
The Lobos and TCU have played 20 times previously, all between 1997 and 2012, as the teams shared a pair of conferences, the Western Athletic and the Mountain West. TCU has won the last four meetings and leads the all-time series 11-9. However, UNM leads the series in Albuquerque 6-3.
UNM features three 500-point scorers for the first time in school history in Cherise Beynon, Jaisa Nunn and Tesha Buck. Prior to this season, UNM had only had eight 500-point scorers in a season, and never two in the same season. Additionally, Nunn in the last game became the 22nd Lobo to break the 1,000-point mark, and Buck became the first Lobo to make 100 three-pointers in a single season.
UNM’s offense is currently 15th nationally at 80.6 points per game, and they squad is 17th nationally, hitting 8.9 three-pointers per game. Not only has UNM hurt opponents from beyond the arc (312 made, good for 10th nationally), but UNM is making teams pay from the charity stripe as well, as the Lobos have hit 503 free throws, good for 14th nationally.
Conversely, TCU is 28th nationally in field goal percentage at .452, and they average 74.9 points per game, which is 39th. The Horned Frog are led by Amy Okonkwo, who is averaging 14.8 points per game, shooting .509 from the field and .889 from the free throw line.