House and Mashburn Named Preseason All-Mountain West
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Two members of the New Mexico men’s basketball team were honored Thursday as the 2023-24 Preseason All-Mountain West Team was announced. Graduate guard Jaelen House and senior guard Jamal Mashburn, Jr. were recognized as the Lobos were the only team with multiple selections to the five-man team.
The preseason All-Mountain West honors and projected order of finish was announced at the start of the conference’s media day in Las Vegas. New Mexico was selected third in the preseason Mountain West poll, its highest spot since 2019-20 (third).
House and Mashburn’s honors mark the first time in seven years that the Lobos had two players selected to the preseason All-Mountain West Team. In 2016-17, both Elijah Brown and Tim Williams were recognized.
Mashburn was named preseason All-Mountain West for the second straight season. A first-team All-Mountain West selection last season, he led the league in scoring both overall (19.1 ppg) and in conference play (21.0 ppg). He had 17 20-point games and two 30-point games last season, highlighted by a career-high 33 points at Nevada.
House is coming off a season where he earned first-team All-Mountain West honors from the media (second team by the coaches). He is the first Lobo in history and just the third player in Mountain West history to have consecutive seasons with at least 500 points and 125 assists. He averaged 16.9 points and 4.7 assists per game while setting the UNM single-season steals record with 86 last season, ranking second nationally with 2.69 steals per game.
Joining House and Mashburn on the preseason All-Mountain West Team were Isaiah Stevens of Colorado State (the preseason MW Player of the Year), Tyson Degenhart of Boise State and Lamont Butler of San Diego State. Reese Waters of San Diego State was the Preseason Newcomer of the Year and Dedan Thomas of UNLV was the Preseason Freshman of the Year.
Reigning Mountain West champion and NCAA Runner-Up San Diego State is the preseason favorite in the conference, gaining 25 of the 31 first place votes. Boise State was picked second, earning four first-place votes. The Lobos had one place vote as they were picked third, followed by Nevada in fourth, who also had one first place vote. Colorado State, UNLV, San Jose State, Fresno State, Utah State, Wyoming and Air Force rounded out the predicted order of finish.
The Lobos will begin the season on Oct. 26 when they host CSU Pueblo in an exhibition at The Pit. The regular season tips off Nov. 6 when New Mexico hosts reigning SWAC champion Texas Southern.
2023-24 Lobo Men’s Basketball season tickets are on sale now at GoLobos.com/tickets. Individual game tickets will go on sale on Monday (Oct. 16).