ALBUQUERQUE, N.M – The New Mexico men’s basketball team begins its Mountain West schedule Tuesday night by visiting No. 13 Colorado State. Game time at Moby Arena is 8:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on FS1 and on the Lobo Radio Network.
The conference opener is between two of the five Mountain West teams ranked in the top 40 of the NET, with Colorado State at No. 15 and New Mexico at No. 35. It is also a matchup of the only two players in the nation averaging over 16 points and six assists per game in the Lobos’ Donovan Dent and the Rams’ Isaiah Stevens.
The Lobos are 12-1 this season and have won 11 straight, tied for the fourth longest active win streak in the nation. New Mexico is coming off an 87-54 win over Eastern New Mexico on Friday to wrap up non-conference play. Jamal Mashburn, Jr., who leads UNM in scoring at 18.0 ppg, returned to the lineup against ENMU after missing over a month due to injury.
Colorado State is also 12-1 this season and is ranked for a school-record sixth straight week. The Rams are led by Stevens, the preseason Mountain West Player of the Year, who recently became the school’s all-time leading scorer.
The teams are meeting in the conference opener for second straight year, as UNM won last year’s league opener 88-69 over CSU at The Pit. The Rams won the rematch in Fort Collins to conclude the regular season as the teams split the season series. New Mexico leads the all-time series 78-52, while Colorado State leads 38-26 in Fort Collins, including a 27-25 mark at Moby. The Rams have won six of the last eight meetings overall and the last five in Fort Collins, with UNM’s last road win in the series coming in 2017-18.
New Mexico’s home conference schedule begins on Jan. 6 as it hosts Wyoming. Game time for that contest is 8 p.m. at The Pit and it will air on CBS Sports Network and Lobo Radio Network. Tickets are on sale now at GoLobos.com/tickets.