Lobos Face Bulldogs in White Out Game Sunday

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos host the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. to close out the week in a designated White Out game. Sunday will be the third all-time meeting between the two programs and the second meeting in Albuquerque. UNM won the first meeting in the series 76-54 on Nov. 27, 2004 in The Pit and Gonzaga won the second meeting 67-56 last year in Spokane.

Both teams enter the game 3-2 on the season with GU defeating Rice 72-69 on Thursday night and Wyoming 62-51 on Nov. 17. Gonzaga’s two losses this season were against Stanford (89-58) and California (86-65). For UNM, the Lobos have also won their last two games, defeating South Carolina State 80-38 on Wednesday and Western New Mexico 85-56 on Nov. 15.

PROMOTIONS: The first 1000 fans through the northeast entrance will receive a rally towel. Sunday’s game will also be a UNM Children’s Hospital Diaper Drive, with boxes placed at the northeast entrance to drop off diapers.

BASKETBALL IS A WORLD GAME
Between UNM and Gonzaga, there are 11 international countries represented and 12 when counting the United States. UNM has players from six international countries in Germany, Democratic Republic of Congo, Spain, Mozambique, Finland and Portugal, while Gonzaga has players from seven in England, the Netherlands, Portugal, New Zealand, Turkey, Spain and Canada.

Gonzaga has eight international players with UNM having six. Both teams have players from Portugal and Spain.

4-FOR-4 DEAL   
The Lobos had a season-high four players score in double figures in the last two games: against Western New Mexico, the Lobos were led by 15 from Destinee Hooks, 13 from Viané Cumber, 12 from Hulda Joaquim and 10 from Hargrove, and against South Carolina State, Joaquim led with a career-high 14 points, followed by 13 from Cumber and Hooks and a season-high 12 from Amhyia Moreland.

GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES
UNM has had a player score 20-plus points in three of the games this season. Destinee Hooks has scored 20-plus points twice (21 vs. Northern Arizona and 28 at Texas Tech) and Viané Cumber scored 23 against Morehead State.

In addition, the Lobos have had three different players lead the team in scoring in a game this season, with Hooks leading the team in three (NAU, Texas Tech and Western New Mexico), Cumber in one (Morehead State) and Hulda Joaquim (South Carolina State). UNM has also had three different players lead the team in rebounds this season with Cumber (NAU and Morehead State) and Joaquim (Western New Mexico and South Carolina State) doing it twice and Amhyia Moreland leading in rebounds once (at Texas Tech).

BLOCK IT UP
Blocks have been a prevalent statistic in all five games this season with the Lobos, finishing with five or more blocks in four of the five games.

In the last game against South Carolina State, Amhyia Moreland finished with a career-high six blocks, with the Lobo matching her career high of four by halftime. Of note, she is the first Lobo to record six blocks in a game since Antonia Anderson did it against UC Riverside on Nov. 5, 2019 and one of 12 Lobos to record six or more blocks in a game dating back to 2003. While Carol Moreland holds the program record of most blocks in a game, done twice in 1978, Nike McClure holds the most recent record of blocks in a game with nine, done in 2018 against Oklahoma.

The Lobos finished with 10 blocks against Morehead State, the most in a game since 2021, when UNM had 11 against Houston Baptist on Nov. 23. Seven different Lobos had at least one block with Hulda Joaquim, Destinee Hooks and Alyssa Hargrove leading with two apiece. Lara Langermann recorded her first career block, with Lydie Mwamba, Moreland and Reza Po all contributing one.

UNM has 31 blocks this season with Moreland with 10, Hargrove with five, Joaquim with four and Hooks, Po and Mwamba with two. As a team, UNM is 14th in the NCAA in blocks per game (6.2) and second in the Mountain West. Moreland is tied for fourth in the MW in blocks per game at 2.0 and 38th in the NCAA.

QUITE THE STEAL
The Lobos have created six or more steals in each of the games this season, including 13 in each of the last two games, averaging 9.6 steals per game.

Alyssa Hargrove leads the team in steals with 12 (2.4 per game), with four against Western New Mexico and three against South Carolina State. She’s recorded multiple steals in four of the five games. Hargrove led the team in steals against NAU, TTU and WNMU and tied for the team lead against South Carolina State.

MOUNTAIN OF STATS
Among the Mountain West teams, the Lobos rank in the top two in nine categories, leading the conference in three.

UNM leads the conference in assists per game (16.6), field goal percentage (.453) and rebounding margin (+8.2). UNM is second in points per game (75.4), three-point field goal percentage (.345), rebounds per game (41.8), three-pointers per game (8.0), rebounding defense (33.6) and blocks per game (6.2).

UNM has two of the top-three highest assists in a game this season with a conference-best 24 against South Carolina State and tied for second with 21 assists in the game against Morehead State. The 10 blocks are tied for the second most in a game this season.

On an individual level, Viané Cumber leads the conference in three-pointers per game (3.0) with a conference-best 15 made three-pointers and her three-point percentage (.429) is second in the MW. Cumber’s seven three-pointers against Morehead State is the most made by a MW player this season with her 12 attempts in the game also the most.

Destinee Hooks’ 28 points at Texas Tech is tied for the most points scored by a MW player this season, with her 11 made field goals in the game the most by a MW player. Hooks is tied for fifth in the conference in points per game at 16.6 with Cumber ninth at 14.6. Hooks is also fourth in field goal percentage (.586) with Cumber 10th (.446). Joana Magalhãesis tied for second in the conference in assists (18) and assists per game (3.6) with Alyssa Hargrove tied for ninth in assists (14) and assists per game (2.8) and Reza Po tied for 11th in assists (13) and assists per game (2.6).

KEEP IT BELOW 10
The Lobos have held an opponent below 10 points in a quarter four times this season, doing it twice in a game twice, with both occurring in the second and third quarters.

UNM held Morehead State to eight points in the second quarter and seven points in the third quarter and held South Carolina State to nine points in the second quarter and five points in the third.

FAST-BREAK POINTS
On the season, UNM has scored 66 fast-break points, while limiting opponents to 39. The Lobos held NAU to five fast-break points, Western New Mexico to four and South Carolina State to two.

The Lobos have had the edge in fast-break points in four of the five games.

PAINT POINTS
While a small sample size, the Lobos trend of prioritizing the paint points has continued from last season with UNM scoring 196 of its 377 points in the paint, accounting for 52.0% of the points and an average of 39.2 points per game. The Lobos are outscoring opponents 196-138 (+58) in the paint and have outscored opponents in the paint in three games (2-1 in those games).

In the season opener, UNM scored 42 of its 78 points in the paint, 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. UNM had a season-best 56 paint points in the game against Western New Mexico, accounting for a season-high 65.9% of the total points. In the last game against South Carolina State, UNM outscored the Lady Bulldogs 48-18 in the paint, scoring 60.0% of the total points in the paint.

CONSISTENT V 
Viané Cumber has scored in double figures in all five games this season, the only Lobo to do so. She scored a season-high 23 points against Morehead State to lead the team in scoring, had 14 in the season opener against Northern Arizona, 10 at Texas Tech and 13 in each of the last two games against Western New Mexico and South Carolina State.

She picked up right where she left off in the season opener, scoring 14 points with two three-pointers and nearly tallied a double-double with a team-high eight rebounds. She also played a team-high 32:13 without recording a turnover.

She took over in the game against Morehead State, scoring a game-high 23 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for her first double-double of the season, hitting seven three-pointers. It was one point and one three-pointer shy of matching her career highs in both categories. Cumber went 4-4 from three-point range in the fourth quarter and went 5-5 in the final two quarters while bringing down five rebounds.

The Lobo senior recorded her third double-digit game of the season at Texas Tech with 10 points behind two three-pointers and repeated it against Western New Mexico with 13 points, which she matched that total against South Carolina State.

She is currently averaging 14.6 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game, 1.8 assists per game and shooting 44.6% from the floor and 42.9% from three-point range. Cumber is second on the team in points per game and third in rebounds per game and steals per game (1.0).

Further, Cumber has scored in double figures 41 times and 20 or more points seven times in her career.

ABOUT GONZAGA
Averaging 67.8 points per game, the Bulldogs have three players averaging double figures, led by 18.2 ppg from Yvonne Ejim, followed by Allie Turner (15.4 ppg) and Inês Bettencourt (10.2 ppg). Ejim also leads the team in rebounds at 9.6 per game, while Turner leads with three blocks. Maud Huijbens has a team-high 15 assists, one of four players with 10-plus assists, and Claire O’Connor has recorded seven steals, accounting for approximately a fourth of the team’s total of 27.  Like UNM, the Bulldogs are averaging 8.0 three-pointers per game, and are 14th in the NCAA in three-point percentage at 42.1% with Turner 21st in the NCAA in three-point percentage at 54.8%.

Four players (Ejim, Bettencourt, Huijbens and O’Connor) have started all five games for GU with Turner starting the last three games and Esther Little has started in two.

As a team, GU is allowing 72.8 ppg and holds an 8.4 rebounding advantage over opponents of 37.2-28.8.

GU was picked as the WCC preseason favorite, receiving five first-place votes and 92 points, edging out Washington State (91 points). Ejim and Huijbens were both named to the All-WCC Women’s Basketball Preseason Team with Ejim also named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List, Wade Award Watch List, Katrina McClain Award Watch List, Naismith Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year Watch List and Preseason Becky Hammon Player of the Year Watch List.