UNM Hosts Texas Southern Monday to Open Season

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos officially begin their 2023-24 campaign at home on Monday evening at 5 p.m. with Texas Southern as part of a doubleheader with the Lobo men.

Fans attending the doubleheader will be granted admission for both games. Women’s basketball ticket holders will be able to stay for the men’s game, while men’s basketball ticket holders can 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.

Historically, UNM is 3-0 all-time against Texas Southern, with the last meeting occurring back on Dec. 2, 2003, a 103-41 win. All three games have been played in Albuquerque with the Lobos outscoring the Tigers 266-112 and scoring an average of 88.7 points per game compared to 37.3 per game in the series for TSU.

SEASON OPENERS
UNM is 6-1 in season openers and 5-0 when opening the season at home under Coach Mike Bradbury.

The Lobos have outscored opponents 565-448 (+117) and averaging 80.7 points per game in season openers in Bradbury’s seven seasons.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
The Pit has proven to be a home court advantage for the Lobos of late, with five seasons with an 80% or better winning percentage in the last 10 years.

In the last 10 years, UNM has gone 119-43 (.735) in The Pit with seven seasons with 10-plus home wins and three seasons with 15-plus wins.

UNM has gone 31-4 over the last two years, 14-3 last season and 17-1 the year prior, which doesn’t include going 2-0 in the only two home games in 2020-21.

In Coach Bradbury’s seven years, the Lobos have led the MW in attendance in six (with the lone year the COVID season when UNM had two home games without any fans in attendance). UNM finished 18th in the NCAA last season in attendance and has finished in the top 20 six times in the last seven years (exception was 2020-21 COVID season).

THREE’S COMPANY
The trio of Viané Cumber, Aniyah Augmon and Nyah Wilson scored in double figures in both exhibitions with Cumber producing identical stat lines of 16 points and seven rebounds in both.

Augmon filled the stat sheet with 13 points, five assists, four steals and two rebounds in the first exhibition, and in her first appearance for UNM, Nyah Wilson scored 15 points and added five rebounds and a steal. Against Adams State, Wilson finished with 11 points while Augmon finished with 10 points.

BATTLE ON THE BOARDS
While the sample size is small, the Lobos have shown their ability to control the boards in the two exhibitions this season, outrebounding their two opponents 104-51. Newcomer Charlotte Kohl has led the Lobos in both contests in rebounds and is coming off of an 18-rebound outing in the last exhibition against Adams State. Kohl also had a team-high eight rebounds in the first exhibition.

UNM outrebounded Adams State 56-25 (+31) and Eastern New Mexico 48-26 (+22).

PAINT POINTS
UNM has outscored opponents in both exhibitions, with a +16 margin in the exhibition against Eastern New Mexico (42-26) and an overall +22 margin.

ABOUT TEXAS SOUTHERN
Texas Southern is coming off of a 2-27 overall record and 2-16 record in the SWAC and lost its top-two scorers from a season ago. However, the Tigers return their top-three rebounders from a season ago in Jaida Belton (6.2 rpg), Alisa Knight (5.1 rpg) and Taniya Lawson (4.4 rpg), with Belton standing at 6-4. The Tigers can present a challenge when it comes to height with three players over six feet with Belton, Imani Morris (6-3) and Jordyn Turner (6-2), and with all players on their roster over 5-7.

The Tigers return just four players from last year’s roster.

UP NEXT: Following Monday’s game, the Lobos head on the road to face Pepperdine on Thursday.