Lobos Tip-Off Season Monday Night by Hosting Nicholls
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M – The New Mexico men’s basketball team opens the 2024-25 regular season Monday night as it hosts Nicholls at The Pit. Game time is 7:00 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network and on the Lobo Radio Network.
Tickets for Monday’s season opener are on sale now at GoLobos.com/tickets. Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. and fans are invited to arrive early for a chance to have their photo taken pregame with the 2024 Mountain West Championship trophy on the concourse.
The Lobos are led by preseason All-Mountain West selections Donovan Dent and Nelly Junior Joseph. Dent led UNM with 19 points and five assists in the 74-70 exhibition victory over UTEP last week. Joseph, who ranks fourth among active Division I players with 43 career double-doubles, had 16 rebounds and five blocks in the UTEP exhibition.
Nicholls is coming off a 20-14 season, its first under head coach Tevon Saddler, who is the nation’s youngest head coach. The Colonels were picked third in the preseason Southland Conference poll, earning three first-place votes. Nicholls is led by Jamal West, Jr. and Robert Brown III, who were both preseason All-Southland selections.
New Mexico is 91-30 all-time in season openers and has won 21 straight openers since a loss to Cal in the first game of the 2002-03 season. The Lobos are 52-5 in home openers in the Pit, having won their last 20 home openers since that same loss to Cal in 2002-03.
It will be the third all-time meeting between New Mexico and Nicholls, all at The Pit, with the Lobos having won both previous matchups. The teams last met in 2015-16 season, an 75-63 victory for UNM. The teams also met in 2009-10, an 83-59 Lobo win at The Pit.
Following Monday’s season opener, New Mexico will travel to Las Vegas for a Friday matchup with No. 22 UCLA. The Lobos and Bruins will play in the second game of a Las Vegas Hoopfest doubleheader at Lees Family Forum in Henderson, following the Santa Clara-Arizona State contest. The UNM-UCLA game will tip-off at 9:00 pm MT (8:00 pm MT) and air on CBS Sports Network.