Lobos Face Morehead State Thursday Night

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos close out the opening week of the season at home against Morehead State on Thursday at 7 p.m. UNM enters the game after dropping the season opener on a last-second shot, while Morehead State won its season opener 92-80 against Asbury.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN   
Thursday is a full-circle moment for Coach Mike Bradbury, who started his head coaching career at Morehead State, coaching the Eagles from 2007-10. In his time at Morehead State, Bradbury went 50-44 (.532), where he coached one Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, one First Team All-OVC player and three Second Team All-OVC players.

SERIES HISTORY              
UNM has only played Morehead State once, back in 2011. The Lobos defeated the Eagles 69-52 at home.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Destinee Hooks and Alyssa Hargrove were among the highlights in their first game as a Lobo, with Hooks scoring a game-high 21 points and Hargrove finishing in double figures with 12. Hargrove also led the Lobos with four assists and a game-high two steals.

Hooks had 12 points at the half on 5-7 shooting and scored five consecutive points for UNM in the fourth quarter, including a game-tying three-pointer with 49 seconds left to tie the game at 75. She later made a free throw with 2.4 seconds left that tied the game at 78.

Hargrove had seven points through the first two quarters in addition to two steals and two assists and of her 12 points, four came on fast-break layups.

Off the bench, freshman Reza Po also had a strong first game as a Lobo with five points, two assists, a steal and a block and Amhyia Moreland contributed seven rebounds, five points and a block.

FAST-BREAK POINTS
UNM had a 14-5 margin in fast-break points with two three-pointers and four layups. Two of those layups came as a result of steals while the remaining 10 points came off of defensive rebounds.

PAINT POINTS  
While a small sample size, the Lobos trend of prioritizing the paint points has continued from last season with UNM scoring 42 of its 78 points in the paint in the season opener, accounting for 53.8%. UNM outscored NAU 42-34 in the paint, with 14 points in both the first and second quarters coming in the paint to account for 28 of UNM’s 42 points at the half.

Last season, UNM outscored opponents in the paint in 24 games and by a 978-810 (+168) margin. UNM scored 47.2% of its points (978 of 2071) in the paint last season, averaging 30.6 points per game with 14 games scoring 50% or more of its total points in the paint.

ABOUT MOREHEAD STATE
The Eagles won their season opener 92-80 against Division III Asbury in which five players scored in double figures. Kate Novik scored a game-high 25 points on 9-13 shooting from the floor, with Chrishawn Coleman (16 points), Harley Paynter (13 points), Michelle Ugwah (13 points) and Kuryn Brunson (11 points) finishing in double digits. Brunson recorded a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Morehead State led for all but 26 seconds and by as many as 22 in the second quarter in the win, scoring 64 of its points in the paint and 34 off of fast breaks.

MSU was picked to finish tied for eighth in the Ohio Valley Conference with 61 points with Novik and Aileen Marquez named as players to watch, with the players selected by MSU. Novik was named Second Team All-OVC last season as a freshman.

UP NEXT: Following Thursday’s game, the Lobos travel to Texas Tech on Nov. 12.