Lobos Tip-Off Season Monday Night by Hosting Texas Southern
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M – The New Mexico men’s basketball team opens the 2023-24 regular season Monday night as it hosts Texas Southern at The Pit. Game time is 7:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network and on the Lobo Radio Network.
The game is the second part of a season-opening doubleheader at The Pit, with the New Mexico women’s team also opening their season by hosting Texas Southern, with that game starting at 5:00 p.m. Fans attending the doubleheader will be granted admission for both games. Women’s basketball ticket holders will be permitted to stay for the men’s game, while men’s basketball ticket holders are invited to arrive early and attend the women’s game, with gates opening at 4:00 p.m. Tickets for Monday’s season openers are on sale now at GoLobos.com/tickets.
The Lobos are led by returning All-Mountain West guards Jamal Mashburn, Jr. and Jaelen House, one of three pairs of teammates nationally returning after each scored over 500 points last season. They are joined by two other 500-point scorers, Nelly Junior Joseph (from Iona) and Isaac Mushila (from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), as New Mexico is the only team in the nation with four players who scored at least 500 points last season at the Division I level. UNM is coming off a pair of exhibition wins over CSU Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands. Donovan Dent averaged 24.5 points and 5.0 assists in the exhibitions to lead the Lobos, starting in place of House, who missed the contests due to injury.
Texas Southern is coming off of three straight SWAC Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances, and is the conference’s preseason favorite this season. Senior guard PJ Henry, who averaged 12.4 points last season, is the SWAC Preseason Player of the Year.
New Mexico is 90-30 all-time in season openers and has won 20 straight openers since a loss to Cal in the first game of the 2002-03 season. The Lobos are 51-5 in home openers in the Pit, having won their last 19 home openers since that same loss to Cal in 2002-03.
It will be the eighth all-time meeting between New Mexico and Texas Southern, all at The Pit, with the Lobos holding a 6-1 edge in the series. The teams last met in the 2015-16 season opener, an 80-69 victory for UNM. The Tigers’ lone win in the series came in 1994-95, a 73-67 win in the Lobo Classic.
Following Monday’s season opener, New Mexico will make its first road trip of the season, visiting No. 23 Saint Mary’s on Thursday. Game time is 8:00 p.m. MT (7:00 p.m. PT) and the game will air on ESPN+.