ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—The Lobos closed out November on a three-game win streak and now welcome in a nationally ranked opponent in No. 14/13 Arizona to begin the final month of non-conference play.
Sunday’s game will tip at 1 p.m. MT on the Mountain West Network. Tickets are still available for the game at golobos.com/tickets.
UNM hosts a ranked opponent for the first time since 2017, when the Lobos hosted No. 16 Marquette on Nov. 13, 2017 and won 88-87.
Sunday’s game is the second part of a home and home with Arizona, with the Lobos facing the Wildcats in Tucson last season. Paula Reus led with 15 points followed by 14 for LaTora Duff.
Arizona enters the game 6-0 on the season with five players scoring in double figures, led by Esmery Martinez at 13.7. Martinez also leads on the boards with 9.8 rebounds per game.
For UNM, the Lobos have three players scoring in double figures, led by Shaiquel McGruder’s 14.0 ppg, with McGruder also leading in rebounds per game at 8.4.
UNM is 4-5 at home all-time against Arizona, with the last meeting on Dec. 8, 2012, a 58-53 loss.
Both teams are in the top 15 in the NCAA in steals per game with Arizona at 15th (13.0 per game) and UNM ninth at 13.7 per game. The Lobos have recorded double-digit steals in all seven games with Arizona in all but one of its six games.
LAST TIME OUT
The Lobos opened the third quarter with a 16-0 run as New Mexico concluded its road trip with a 72-55 win over Nicholls on Tuesday night.
UNM outscored Nicholls 25-11 in the third quarter and 42-25 in the final 20 minutes, using defensive pressure to force eight steals and 13 points off of turnovers in the third and fourth quarters combined.
Amaya Brown, Shaiquel McGruder and LaTascya Duff all had strong performances, with Duff finishing with a game-high 20 points, a team-high five assists and three steals, McGruder with a double-double behind 14 rebounds and 15 points and added three blocks, and Brown with 15 points, a career-high five steals, a block and seven rebounds. Of Duff’s 20 points, 18 came on three-pointers, and was the 44th career game that Duff has made multiple three-pointers and 16th time that she’s scored 20 or more points. Further, Tuesday was McGruder’s 10th career double-double and her second of the season.
UNM had 14 steals overall in the game, and has recorded double-digit steals in all seven games this season, bringing the season total to 96 with an average of 13.7 steals per game. LaTora Duff joined Brown with a career-high five steals in the game.
The third quarter is when the Lobos put the game away for good, with McGruder scoring the first five points for the Lobos to complete the double-double and LaTascya adding another three-pointer for a quick 8-0 run in the first 2:15 of the quarter. The run continued out of the media timeout with a McGruder layup that pushed the lead to double digits for the first time in the game, and four-straight points from Brown and two free throws from LaTora made it 46-30 in favor of UNM.
Nicholls scored its first point of the quarter on a free throw at the 4:50 mark of the third, with the Colonels hitting a three on their next possession to get as close as 12. Five consecutive points by Nia Johnson put the margin to 17 at 53-36 with 2:05 remaining, and an Aniyah Augmon layup as the quarter came to a close gave UNM a 14-point lead heading in to the final quarter at 55-41.
UNM outscored Nicholls 16-2 in the paint and 9-0 in fast-break points, shooting 50.0 percent (10-20) in the quarter, led by McGruder with seven points.
Brown accounted for the first five points of the fourth quarter on two free throws, a layup off of an offensive rebound and another free throw as UNM’s lead expanded to its largest point of 19 points. Nicholls made an attempt to climb back into the game with a 6-0 run that closed the margin to 12 (67-55) with 3:16 left in the game, but a LaTascya three-pointer and Reus layup ended any further threat. Reus’ layup with 2:16 was the final basket scored by either team for the final 17-point margin.
LaTascya closed with two more three-pointers in the fourth and had two steals, with Brown adding five more points and a steal to her night’s total.
IDENTITY THEFT
The Lobos have recorded 10 or more steals in each game this season, recording a total of 96 for an average of 13.7 per game. UNM is ninth in the NCAA in steals per game.
UNM opened the season with 16 at Southern Utah, and followed that up with 10 against Houston, 14 at New Mexico State and 11 in the game against Arizona State. UNM had 19 steals with six players recording multiple steals and seven with at least one steal in the win against WNMU, had 12 in the game at Texas A&M-Commerce and 14 in the game at Nicholls.
Shaiquel McGruder leads with 17 steals (2.4 per game) with LaTascya Duff second at 16 (2.7 per game). LaTora Duff and Amaya Brown each have 15 steals on the season, with LaTora averaging 2.5 steals per game and Brown 2.1 per game.
Six Lobos have had multiple steals in multiple games. LaTascya and LaTora have recorded at least one steal in every game they have played in. McGruder has had at least one steal in every game but one with multiple steals in five games. Vianè Cumber has recorded multiple steals in the three of the last four games, Brown has recorded multiple steals in five games with at least one steal in six, and Nia Johnson has had two games with multiple steals.
The Lobos have four players in the top 10 in the MW in steals per game, led by LaTascya (tied for second at 2.7), LaTora fifth (2.5), McGruder tied for sixth (2.4) and Brown tied for tenth (2.1).
B(LOCK) DOWN
UNM’s defense has also recorded multiple blocks in each game and has finished with at least six blocks in four of the last five games. Shaiquel McGruder leads with 20 blocks to date, with multiple blocks in the last five games.
The Lobos have 42 blocks and are ninth in the NCAA in blocks per game (6.0), leading the MW in the category. McGruder is seventh in the NCAA in blocks and ninth in blocks per game (2.9).
THREE FALLING
UNM built an identity last season as a three-point shooting team, and this year’s team is trying to reclaim that identity. The Lobos have finished with 10-plus three-pointers in three games this season with a season-high 11 in the game against Texas A&M-Commerce and finished with nine in the wins against Western New Mexico and Nicholls.
UNM is averaging 8.0 made three-pointers per game with 42.3 percent of UNM’s shot attempts three-pointers.
BENCH CONTRIBUTIONS
While the Lobos have started the same five every game but once this season, there has always been one player off of the bench that has stepped up when their number was called to enter the game.
In the game against WNMU, it was Viané Cumber with 15 points and 6-9 shooting, and against ASU, it was Cumber, who played a career-high 34:47 and scored eight points. Cumber is averaging 9.0 points, shooting 42.1 percent from the floor and 35.7 percent from three.
Nia Johnson has been a consistent contributor off of the bench, scoring six points in four games and a season-high 18 points in the win against Western New Mexico and has provided sparks to the Lobo offense in each appearance. Johnson is averaging 7.0 points per game and has recorded a steal in four of the last five games.
BALANCED ATTACK
UNM has had a different leading scorer in six games this season in LaTascya Duff, Amaya Brown, LaTora Duff, Vianè Cumber, Shaiquel McGruder and Paula Reus. The game at Nicholls was the first time that there was a repeat leading scorer, with LaTascya scoring a game-high 20 points.
Last week, the Lobos had three players finish in double figures in the last game and four players finish in double figures in the game at Texas A&M-Commerce. Three players finished in double figures in the games against Houston and Arizona State and four players finish in double figures in the games at Southern Utah and New Mexico State.
McGruder has reached double digits in each game this season, with McGruder scoring 13, 11, 11, 24, 14, 10 and 15 and LaTora scoring double figures in all but one with 13, 14, 13, 13 and 15. LaTascya Duff has scored in double figures in four of the five games she’s played in, twice reaching 20 points (20, 10, 16, 20) and Brown has reached double figures in four games (16, 11, 10, 15).
McGruder (14.0), LaTascya (13.0) and LaTora (12.7) are all averaging double-digit points per game.
KNOW YOUR OPPONENT
Arizona enters the game 6-0 on the season with wins over Northern Arizona, CSUN, LMU, Long Beach State, California Baptist and San Diego and are 1-0 on the road. The Wildcats are ranked 14th in the latest poll.
The Wildcats have five players scoring in double figures in Shaina Pellington (14.8), Esmery Martinez (13.7), Kailyn Gilbert (12.0), Cate Reese (11.2) and Jade Loville (11.2). Maya Nnaji is close at 9.2 ppg.
Martinez, Reese and Loville have started all six games for Arizona, with Pellington starting four (has missed the last two games), Helena Pueyo starting in three and Lauren Fields in five.
Arizona has one of the top offenses in the country, ranked fifth in scoring with 90.0 points per game and fifth in scoring margin at 33.2. The Wildcats are ninth in three-point percentage (.404) and 14th in field-goal percentage (.489) and free throws made per game (17.7). The Wildcats also rank 15th in steals per game (13.0).
The Wildcats have seven newcomers on the 2022-23 roster and return five players from a season ago. Arizona was picked to finish second in the Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll and third in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll.
UP NEXT
Following Sunday’s game, the Lobos remain at home to host Abilene Christian on Dec. 7 and New Mexico State on Dec. 11.