ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— It’s conference time for the Lobos with the Mountain West schedule beginning on the road on Saturday, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m. MT against Nevada.
UNM enters MW competition 9-4 and 1-1 on the road, while Nevada is 6-7 and 4-2 at home on the season. Historically, UNM is 16-6 all-time, 8-4 in Reno, and has won four of the last five games including the last two against the Wolf Pack.
MW OPENERS
Historically, the Lobos are 13-11 in MW openers, 7-6 when opening on the road, but under Coach Mike Bradbury are 6-1 and have won the last three conference openers.
This will be the third time that UNM has opened conference with Nevada (with the other two games in Reno), and the Lobos winning both games (51-47 on Dec. 30, 2015 and 88-69 on Dec. 31, 2020).
ON ANY GIVEN NIGHT
The Lobos have been led in scoring by five different players (with five games of players sharing the team high) and in rebounds by five different players with two games of multiple players sharing the team lead this season.
Vianè Cumber and Paula Reus have led in scoring in three and two games, respectively, and Nyah Wilson, Charlotte Kohl and Aniyah Augmon once. Reus and Kohl have led or tied for the team lead in points in six of the last seven games. Reus has led or tied for the team lead in points six times this season. On the boards, Kohl has led in five games, Augmon and Wilson in two each and Cumber and Reus in one apiece.
CONSISTENT CONTRIBUTORS
Aniyah Augmon and Paula Reus have scored in double figures in a team-high eight games, while Nyah Wilson has scored in double figures in seven games with three games scoring 20 or more points. Reus has scored in double figures in the last three and six of the last seven. Charlotte Kohl has scored in double figures in four of the last six games, five times this season, and has three double-doubles on the season. Vianè Cumber has scored in double figures in five games with two games with 20-plus points.
GET THE REBOUND
The Lobos have shown their ability to control the boards, outrebounding their opponents 553-499 (+54) and outrebounding opponents in eight games.
Charlotte Kohl leads the team with 109 rebounds (8.4 per game), with two 20-rebound performances, an 18-rebound outing in the final exhibition against Adams State, and grabbed nine against Texas Southern to start the season. Of her rebounds, 50 are on the offensive end and her 3.9 offensive boards per game are the second most in the conference. Kohl is third in the MW in rebounds per game and 40th in the NCAA in rebounds and 25th in the NCAA in offensive 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), New Mexico State 47-33 (+14), Mississippi Valley State 56-39 (+17), Western New Mexico 42-36 (+6) and No. 20 Gonzaga 35-30 (+5).
The Lobos are ranked 42nd in the NCAA in rebounds per game (42.5), an improvement of 135 spots 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 109th with an +4.3 rebounding margin. UNM is ranked 40th in defensive rebounds per game at 29.5. Among MW teams, UNM leads in rebounds per game, is third in defensive rebounds per game and tied for third in offensive rebounds per game (13.1).
PAINT POINTS
UNM has outscored opponents in the paint in 10 games this season and by a 408-302 (+106) margin.
To date, the Lobos finished 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), a +26 margin against New Mexico State (42-16), a +10 margin against Mississippi Valley State (32-22), a +8 margin against Hampton (18-10) and a +4 margin against Western New Mexico (30-26).
UNM has scored 408 of its 835 points (48.9%) in the paint this season.
SHOWING RANGE
While the Lobos have found success in the paint, they have also found their footing from behind the arc, finishing with double-digit three-pointers in the last three games.
UNM made a season-high 11 in the game against Hampton and hit 10 in each of the last two games against Western New Mexico and No. 20 Gonzaga. UNM also had 10 against Montana State.
Vianè Cumber leads the Lobos with 28 three-pointers with Paula Reus (18) and Nyah Wilson (10) also in double figures this season. Cumber has made three or more three-pointers five times this season, with Reus making three or more three times and Wilson twice. Paris Lauro has made seven in the last two games combined, including going 4-5 from three against Western New Mexico.
SHARE THE BALL
The Lobos have finished with their two highest assist totals of the season in three of the last five games, with a season-high 20 in the game against Hampton and 19 in the game against Western New Mexico and Mississippi Valley State.
UNM assisted on 20 of the 23 made baskets (87.0%) against Hampton and 19 of the 25 made baskets (76.0%) against Western New Mexico, and also assisted on 19 of its 27 made baskets (70.4%) against Mississippi Valley State.
On the season, the Lobos have assisted on 53.7% of made baskets and averaging 12.8 assists per game.
PAULA FINDING HER STRIDE
Paula Reus has found her stride of late, scoring in double figures in the last three games and six of the last seven games. She set her career high in points with 25 against Eastern Illinois, making a season-high four three-pointers.
Reus has scored in double digits eight times this season and 29 times in her three years. UNM is 7-1 this season and 22-7 all-time when Reus reaches double figures, with the lone loss this season occurring against No. 20 Gonzaga.
She has been close to a double-double several times with four games of eight rebounds and 15 points and nine rebounds in the WNMU game, has had at least one steal in the last five games with two games with two steals in that span, and has been a facilitator with five assists in two games.
Reus leads the team in points (158, 12.2 ppg) and made field goals (63), and is second in three-pointers (18), assists (28, 2.2 apg), blocks (6, 0.5 bpg), steals (13, 1.0 spg) and rebounds (82, 6.3 rpg).
ALL ABOUT AUGMON
Aniyah Augmon has scored in double figures in eight games this season, including a stretch of five consecutive games (16 against Texas A&M-Commerce, 11 against Montana State, 17 against Georgia Tech, 10 against Eastern Illinois and 10 against New Mexico State).
She showcased her all-around ability to take over a game at Pepperdine, leading the Lobos with 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
In addition to being sixth in steals per game, Augmon is ranked fifth in assists per game (3.8), 19th in scoring (10.8) and 14th in rebounds per game (5.8) in the MW.
She’s recorded four games with 15-plus points, six assists three times and nine rebounds twice with seven games with six or more rebounds this season.
THE CUMBER EFFECT
Vianè Cumber has scored in double figures in five games this year with nine points in two, leading the Lobos in scoring three times.
Among one of the best three-point shooters in the conference, she has made three or more three-pointers five times: four in the season opener, three at Pepperdine and again against Tarleton, a career-best eight against Montana State, two against Eastern Illinois and five against No. 20 Gonzaga.
While she didn’t make a three against New Mexico State, following a three against Eastern Illinois, she had 14-straight games with at least one.
In her career, she has made a three in 41 games with 31 games with multiple threes and had 19 games making three or more three-pointers. Further, Cumber has scored in double figures 24 times and 20 or more points four times (two times came this year).
ABOUT NEVADA
Nevada enters MW play 6-7 on the season, 4-2 at home, and has lost its last two games (72-59 to BYU and 66-60 to Western Kentucky). The Wolf Pack shares one non-conference opponent with the Lobos in Pepperdine, with Nevada winning 64-41.
The Wolf Pack are led in scoring by Audrey Roden (13.2 ppg) and Claire Jacobs (10.0 ppg). Roden leads the team with 38 steals and is tied for the team lead with 29 assists, while Lexie Givens leads with 82 rebounds (6.3 rpg), as well as in blocks (20).
Overall, Nevada is scoring an average of 63.8 points per game and allowing 64.3 points per game. Nevada has outscored its opponents in the first two quarters (191-173 in the first and 206-197 in the second), but is also getting outscored in both the third (229-214) and fourth (220-207) quarters as well as in overtime (17-12). Collectively, Nevada is being outscored 836-830 on the season.
As a team, Nevada leads the MW in steals at 173 (13.3 per game), with 10 games of double-digit steals and two games with 20-plus steals. The Wolf Pack had 23 in the season opener against Sacramento State and 24 against Stanislaus St.
Following Saturday’s game, the Lobos return to The Pit to host Boise State on Jan. 6 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at golobos.com/tickets.