Lobo Men’s Basketball Announces Non-Conference Schedule
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team announced its 2024-25 non-conference schedule Tuesday, featuring the Acrisure Classic over Thanksgiving, a trip to Madison Square Garden and a home game with VCU. Overall, the Lobos will play 18 games at The Pit in 2024-25 with seven home regular-season non-conference games, hosting all 10 other Mountain West teams during the new 20-game conference schedule, in addition to one home exhibition game.
All 10 of the Lobos’ Division I non-conference opponents were in the top 300 of the NET last season, with seven of them having made a NCAA Tournament appearance in the past two seasons. Four opponents (UCLA, St. John’s, VCU and either USC/Saint Mary’s) finished last season ranked in the top 100 of KenPom.
The season begins on Nov. 4 when the Lobos host Nicholls, a program that won 20 games last season and reached the Southland Conference Tournament final. The opening week will be capped with a trip to Las Vegas for a neutral site matchup with UCLA on Nov. 8. The venue for that game will be announced later this summer.
New Mexico will host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the 2022 and 2023 Southland Conference champions on Nov. 12 before a trip to New York to play St. John’s at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 17. It will be the Lobos’ first game at MSG since reaching the 1990 NIT semifinals.
UNM will host a pair of games against the last four SWAC champions, reigning champion Grambling State on Nov. 21 and Texas Southern, who won the 2021-23 SWAC titles, on Nov. 24.
New Mexico will conclude its November schedule with a trip to Palm Springs, Calif., for the Acrisure Classic. The Lobos open the tournament against Arizona State on Thanksgiving night (Nov. 28, 9:30pm MT, TruTV) and will play either USC or Saint Mary’s in the second game of the event (Nov. 29, 7:30pm/10:00pm MT, TruTV). Tickets are currently on sale for the Acrisure Classic at https://acrisurearena.com/.
The December non-conference schedule includes three home games for the Lobos, hosting New Mexico State on Dec. 7, Western New Mexico on Dec. 14 and VCU on Dec. 18.
In the preseason, the Lobos will host UTEP in a charity exhibition on Oct. 28 at The Pit, with the game raising money for the UNM Children’s Hospital.
“This year’s non-conference schedule will be exciting, to say the least,” said head coach Richard Pitino. “There are so many great opportunities for quality wins and we look forward to the challenge.”
Game times and TV designations for the 2024-25 schedule will be announced at a later date, as will the 20-game Mountain West schedule. Season ticket renewals are currently on sale at GoLobos.com/tickets. New season tickets will go on sale later this summer.