Lobos Remain Unbeaten with 82-74 Victory Over Iona
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team remained unbeaten on the season with an 82-74 victory over Iona in front of a crowd of 14,534 at The Pit on Sunday evening. The Lobos (11-0) held off the Gaels (7-3) in the second half to start a season with 11 straight wins for the fifth time in program history.
Five Lobos scored in double figures, led by Jaelen House’s game-high 22 points. KJ Jenkins had a season-high 17 points off the bench, while Morris Udeze had 13 points, Jamal Mashburn, Jr. had 12 points and Josiah Allick added 10 points.
The game was the 21st all-time father-son coaching matchup in Division I basketball history, as Richard Pitino’s father, Hall of Famer Rick Pitino, coaches Iona. It was the third time the Pitinos had coached against one another, with Richard getting his first win in the series.
HOW IT HAPPENED
House got off to a strong start for the Lobos, scoring nine of the team’s first 11 points as they took a 11-4 lead over the opening six minutes. The Gaels answered with an 8-0 run to cut to take a 12-11 lead with 11:30 left in the half. A 14-2 run by the Lobos gave UNM a 25-14 lead with 8:00 to play in the half. UNM used a 12-2 run to lead 37-20 with 3:20 to go, its largest lead of the game. A late Gael 7-0 run cut the deficit to single digits before Jenkins’ triple at the buzzer made the halftime score 44-33. Jenkins and House each had 13 in the first half to lead UNM.
The Lobos scored the first four points of the second half to take a 48-33 lead with 16:00 to play, their largest second-half advantage. The Gaels cut the lead to seven at 55-48 at the midway point of the half. The Lobos pushed the lead back to 12 with 8:30 to play before Iona once again got it to seven at 65-58 with 7:00 to go. It was a three-point game, 71-68, with 5:00 left after an 11-1 Gael run and it remained a three-point game at 76-73 with 2:30 to go. With one minute to play, House hit a floater in the lane to give UNM an 80-74 lead. The Lobos would seal the win at the free throw line in the final minute for the eight-point win.
House finds Udeze for the AND-1. #GoLobos
Watch on @FS1 pic.twitter.com/4J36lioCBW— Lobo Basketball (@UNMLoboMBB) December 19, 2022
LOBO NOTES
• UNM improved to 11-0 for the first time since 2012-13
• New Mexico is one of the final five unbeaten teams in the nation
• The Lobos had the same starting lineup for the 11th straight game to open the season
• The Lobos shot a season-high 56.0% from the floor
• Mashburn scored in double figures for the 32nd consecutive game, the longest active streak in the Mountain West
• Mashburn reached the 1,000 career point milestone in the game
• The crowd of 14,534 was the largest at The Pit since 14,540 against San Diego State in the 2015-16 home finale
QUOTABLE
“Obviously a great win for our program. I am very appreciative of our fans. That was a great night for them and they are unbelievable. I am also extremely appreciative of my father and Iona to come play this game. He didn’t need to do it. He was trying to help out his son. That goes a long, long way when we can fill this place up again. We made some big plays down the stretch. We needed to rebound the ball better, but I thought our guards made some really big guards down the stretch. Sitting here at 11-0, I thought we would be improved, but probably not sitting here like this. It was a great win because Iona is going to win a lot of games.” – Richard Pitino
UP NEXT
The Lobos conclude the non-conference schedule on Tuesday by hosting Prairie View A&M. Game time at The Pit is 7 p.m. and the game will air on the Mountain West Network.