New Mexico Visits No. 22 St. John’s Sunday at Madison Square Garden
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M – The New Mexico men’s basketball team plays its first true road game of the season, playing No. 22 St. John’s Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. The NYC Hoops for Heroes Classic, benefitting the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, will tipoff at noon ET (10 am MT) and air on FS1 and the Lobo Radio Network.
New Mexico (3-0) is looking to record its second ranked win of the season, having topped then-No. 22 UCLA last week in the Las Vegas Hoopfest. The Lobos are coming off a 100-81 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at The Pit on Tuesday. Donovan Dent became the first Lobo in history to have 25 points and 10 assists with no turnovers in the win over the Islanders. Nelly Junior Joseph, who played his first three collegiate seasons in New York at Iona, leads the Mountain West in rebounding at 12.3 per game.
St. John’s (3-0) has opened the season with home wins over Fordham, Quinnipiac and Wagner. The Red Storm entered the AP poll this week for the first time since the 2018-19 season. RJ Luis, Jr. leads SJU in scoring at 16.3 points per game.
New Mexico is making its first appearance at Madison Square Garden since the 1990 NIT. The Lobos are 0-3 all-time against St. John’s with the last meeting coming in 1999-00, a 70-62 Red Storm win at The Pit in the CoSIDA Classic. The only previous meeting in New York came in the 1965 NIT Quarterfinals at the previous Madison Square Garden (MSG III which closed in 1968).
The Lobos are looking record two ranked wins in non-conference play for the first time since 2012-13, when they topped No. 21 UConn in the Paradise Jam final and won at No. 8 Cincinnati.
Sunday’s game is the fourth all-time meeting between UNM head coach Richard Pitino and his Hall of Fame father Rick. Rick’s Louisville teams won the first two matchups, over Richard’s FIU team in 2012-13 and his Minnesota team to open the 2014-15 season. The Lobos defeated Rick’s Iona squad in The Pit in 2022-23 in the last matchup between father and son.
Following Sunday’s game, the Lobos return home for a two game homestand at The Pit. New Mexico hosts Grambling State on Thursday (7:00 pm) and Texas Southern on Sunday (6:00 pm). Tickets are on sale at GoLobos.com/tickets.