Lobos Return to The Pit Monday Night Against Mississippi Valley State
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Coming off of a 2-0 week, the Lobos are back in action on Monday night as they host Mississippi Valley State at 7 p.m.
UNM enters the contest 6-2 following a win over New Mexico State and Eastern Illinois this past week and are in the midst of a six-game homestand that includes three games this week. On the other end, MVSU is 1-7 on the season, but has faced a challenging schedule that includes No. 1 South Carolina, then-No. 1 LSU and then-No. 5 Utah. Monday will be the first meeting all-time between the two programs.
The Lobos had four players average double figures last week, led by Paula Reus (20.0 ppg), as well as Nyah Wilson (17.0 ppg), Charlotte Kohl (12.0 ppg) and Aniyah Augmon (10.0). Kohl is coming off of her second double-double of the season following a 15-point, 13-rebound outing against New Mexico State, and defensively, averaged 9.5 rebounds between the two games. Augmon recorded eight steals last week, and enters the game having recorded multiple steals in the last four games in addition to scoring in double figures in the last five games.
BATTLE ON THE BOARDS
The Lobos have shown their ability to control the boards, outrebounding their opponents 338-309 (+29) and outrebounding opponents in five games.
Charlotte Kohl leads the team with 69 rebounds (8.6 per game), with a 20-rebound performance, an 18-rebound outing in the final exhibition against Adams State, had a team-high eight rebounds in the first exhibition and grabbed nine against Texas Southern to start the season. Of her 69 rebounds, 33 are on the offensive end and her 4.13 offensive boards per game are the most in the conference. Kohl is 50th in the NCAA in rebounds, 18th in offensive rebounds per game and 75th in rebounds per game.
UNM outrebounded Texas Southern 49-36 (+13), Tarleton State 45-35 (+10), Texas A&M-Commerce 47-33 (+14), Eastern Illinois 47-46 (+1) and New Mexico State 47-33 (+14).
The Lobos are ranked 54th in the NCAA in rebounds per game (42.3), an improvement from last season in which the Lobos finished 177th in the NCAA in rebounds per game with 36.5. In addition, the Lobos have made an improvement in rebounding margin, finishing last season 246th at -2.0, compared to this season where the Lobos are currently ranked 119th with an +3.6 rebounding margin. UNM is ranked 48th in defensive rebounds per game at 29.1.
PAINT POINTS
UNM outscored opponents in the paint in seven games this season and by a 284-192 (+92) margin, with a +24 margin against Texas Southern (38-14), +8 margin at Pepperdine (34-26), a +10 margin against Tarleton State (34-24), a +22 margin against Texas A&M-Commerce (50-28), a +2 margin (32-30) against Georgia Tech, a +16 margin against Eastern Illinois (36-20) and a +26 margin against New Mexico State (42-16). UNM has scored 284 of its 532 points (53.4%) in the paint thus far.
GET AHEAD, STAY AHEAD
So far this season, the Lobos have led for:
•37:53 and led after each quarter against Texas Southern
•36:30 and never trailed at Pepperdine
•39:21 and never trailed against Tarleton State
•32:47 and led after each quarter against New Mexico State
UNM is outscoring opponents 123-110 (+13) in the first quarter and 250-230 (+20) through the first two quarters. UNM is also outscoring opponents 145-134 (+11) in the fourth quarter.
In 2022-23, the Lobos were 18-4 on the season when leading after the first quarter and 18-4 overall when leading at the half. When leading at the end of the third quarter, the Lobos were 19-4 overall last season. This season, UNM is 4-1 when leading after the first quarter, 5-0 when leading at the half and 4-0 when leading after the third quarter.
DEFENSE DELIVERS
Three times this season the Lobos have held their opponents to five or fewer points in a quarter. In addition, UNM has held an opponent to under 20 points in the first two quarters twice this season.
WILSON’S WORLD
Nyah Wilson has made quite the first impression in her first season as a Lobo, finishing in double figures in six games with 20 or more points in three games, and setting several career highs.
In the last three games, she’s scored 17 points (tying the team high), 21 points and 13 points, while also going 9-10 and 6-6 from the free-throw line. Last week, she averaged 17.0 points per game and went 8-9 from the free-throw line.
On the season, she’s scored 123 points and leads the team in points, and is fourth in the MW in points per game (15.4) and seventh in free-throw percentage (.809). Wilson is also ranked 26th in the NCAA in free throws (38) and 28th in free throw attempts (47).
STEAL THE SHOW
Aniyah Augmon has recorded multiple steals in the last four games with three more against Eastern Illinois and five against New Mexico State. She’s had five or more steals in two games this season.
In her three years at UNM, she’s had 18 games with multiple steals and 36 games with a steal. She currently is second in the MW in steals per game at 3.1 as well as 11th in steals (25) and 24th in steals per game in the NCAA.
In eight games, she’s already surpassed her season total of steals from her freshman (24) and sophomore (23) seasons.
ABOUT MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE
MVSU is 1-7 on the season, 1-5 on the road, but has played a challenging schedule against then-No. 5 Utah, then-No. 1 LSU and No. 1 South Carolina. When not taking into account those three ranked teams, Mississippi Valley State is averaging 63.8 points per game while allowing 74.8 points per game. The Devilettes get stronger as the game goes on, scoring 93 points in the third quarter and 92 points in the fourth quarter.
Overall on the season, MVSU is averaging 53.8 points per game while allowing 86.0 points per game and is led in scoring by Sh’Diamond McKnight at 14.8 points per game. McKnight also leads the team in rebounds with 33 (an average of 4.1 per game), in free throws (going 21-30 from the line), assists (30) and in steals (22).
McKnight has led the scoring in the last three games, four times overall, with Jaylia Reed leading in three games and Amberly Brown in one.
Three Devilettes have started all eight games in McKnight, Reed and Brown. From there, MVSU has used a rotation of starting lineups with Syann Holmes starting six including the last five, Lizzie Walker starting four including the last two, Lucia Lara starting the last three, Sadie Williams starting two and Kerrigan Johnson starting one.
Following Monday’s game the Lobos remain at home to host Southern Utah (Dec. 7) and Hampton (Dec. 10).