ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos are spending another weekend on the road, this time headed to Las Vegas to face their second nationally ranked team of the season in No. 25/23 UNLV on Saturday at 2 p.m. PT/ 3 p.m. MT.
UNM is coming off of a comeback win on Wednesday against Wyoming, rallying from down 13 in the third quarter to win 68-61 behind two 20-point scorers in Nyah Wilson (23 points) and Aniyah Augmon (22 points), both career highs. The duo also combined for nine steals with Wilson credited with a career-high four and the 11th multiple steal game of the season for Augmon after a five-steal outing. The Lobos enter the game 12-6 on the season, 3-2 in conference and 2-2 in away games.
For UNLV, the Lady Rebels are 15-1 on the season, 5-0 in MW games and 6-0 at home. UNLV leads the all-time series 41-27 and 28-10 in games played in Las Vegas, with UNM’s last road win on Jan. 17, 2021.
WHAT’S TRENDING
The Lobos are:
•3-0 in games decided by 1-4 points
•5-0 when shooting 40% or better
•8-2 when outrebounding opponent
•9-1 when leading after the 1st quarter, 9-0 when leading at the half and 9-0 when leading after the 3rd
•10-0 when UNM has a higher FG% and 6-0 with a higher 3-point FG% than its opponent
•11-0 when scoring 60 or more points
CONSISTENT CONTRIBUTORS
Aniyah Augmon has scored in double figures in a team-high 13 games, while Nyah Wilson has scored in double figures in 12 games (with scoring 20 or more points in five games) and Paula Reus in 11 games. Reus has scored in double figures in six of the last eight and Augmon and Wilson in the last five games. Charlotte Kohl has scored in double figures five times and has three double-doubles on the season. Vianè Cumber has scored in double figures in eight games with three games with 20-plus points.
UNM is 9-2 when Reus scores in double figures, 9-3 when Wilson scores in double figures and 9-4 when Augmon scores in double figures.
Augmon and Wilson have scored in double figures in all five conference games, with Cumber and Reus in three.
STEAL THE SHOW
Aniyah Augmon has recorded multiple steals in 11 games with eight at Pepperdine, three against Tarleton State, Eastern Illinois, Hampton and Utah State, five against New Mexico State and Wyoming, two against Boise State and Montana State and four against Georgia Tech and Colorado State. She’s had five or more steals in three games.
In her three years at UNM, she’s had 23 games with multiple steals and 41 games with a steal. She currently is fourth in the MW in steals per game at 2.5 and her 42 steals are 19 more than the second-highest player on the team. In MW games, Augmon leads the conference with 14 steals and a 2.8 steals per game average.
It took her eight games to surpass her season total of steals from her freshman (24) and sophomore (23) seasons.
WILSON’S WORLD
Nyah Wilson has made quite the first impression in her first season as a Lobo, finishing in double figures in 12 games, with 20 or more points in five games, and setting several career highs.
In her first true game as a Lobo, Wilson finished with 20 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal. The Dallas, Texas, native went 5-8 from the floor, a perfect 4-4 from behind the arc and nearly perfect at the free-throw line going 6-7. Her 20 points set a then-career high, as did her five made field goals, her four made three-pointers and four attempts.
She later bested that with 22 points on nine made field goals against Texas A&M-Commerce, scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter.
She added 16 points against Tarleton, setting a career high in rebounds (nine), made free throws (eight) and minutes played (33). She improved her career best in free throws, going 9-10 in the game against Georgia Tech and had a career-high 11 rebounds against Southern Utah, the first time with double-digit rebounds in her career.
In her first MW game at Nevada, Wilson went 9-12 at the free-throw line and finished with a team-high 21 points to go with eight rebounds, three assists and her first career block. In the game against Boise State, Wilson went 3-4 from three-point range and tied for the team high with two steals. Against Utah State, Wilson again finished in double figures with 16 points, with perhaps no basket bigger than the three-pointer she hit with 1:17 remaining to put UNM up 66-64 for the final lead change. Wilson created a career-high three steals, her fourth time in the last five games with multiple steals. She continued her streak of double-digit points and multiple steals at Colorado State with 17 points, going 7-11 from the floor and was credited with two steals, and again against Wyoming behind a career-high 23 points and career-high four steals.
Wilson has scored in double figures in all five MW games and has registered multiple steals in the last four.
On the season, she’s scored 242 points (13.4 ppg) for the team high in points and second in steals with 23. She is 10th in the MW in points per game and fifth in free-throw percentage (.756). Wilson has made the second-most free throws and taken the second-most free throws amongst MW players. In conference play, Wilson is averaging 17.6 ppg and is fourth in the MW in scoring as well as in field-goal percentage (.564) and steals per game (2.2).
ABOUT UNLV
The Lady Rebels’ conference wins have come against Utah State (107-68), Colorado State (83-78), San José State (91-55), Air Force (76-64) and San Diego State (67-60).
The Lady Rebels are led by Desi-Rae Young’s 19.4 ppg, 8.9 rpg and 26 steals, while Kiara Jackson is also averaging double figures with 12.4 ppg. Alyssa Brown leads with 15 blocks and is second on the team with 8.2 rpg. In conference games, UNLV has three in double figures with Young (22.8 ppg), Amarachi Kimpson (10.8 ppg) and Nneka Obiazor (10.6 ppg).
As a team, UNLV is scoring a MW-best 81.8 ppg while allowing 61.9 ppg, and is shooting 45.0% from the floor and 35.2% from behind the arc. Amongst conference teams, UNLV leads in scoring, scoring margin (+19.9), free-throw percentage (80.8), rebounding margin (+7.8), and assists per game (16.1), and is second in three-pointers made per game (8.1), assist/turnover ratio (1.5) and offensive rebounds per game (12.6), and third in field-goal percentage. In MW games, UNLV averages 84.8 ppg and is allowing 65.0 ppg, with a +19.8 scoring margin.
Nationally, UNLV is third in the NCAA in turnovers per game (10.8), fifth in free-throw percentage, seventh in assist/turnover ratio, 15th in scoring, 19th in scoring margin and bench points per game and 32nd in rebound margin. Jackson is third in assist/turnover ratio (3.7), Young is 25th in field goals (123) and 33rd in field-goal percentage (56.4) and Alyssa Durazo-Frescasis 11th in three-point percentage (45.7), 36th in three-pointers per game (2.7) and 40th in three-pointers (43).