Lobos Open Acrisure Classic Against Arizona State on Thanksgiving
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M – The New Mexico men’s basketball team travels to Palm Springs, Calif., this week for the Acrisure Classic. The Lobos open the tournament with a Thanksgiving night matchup with Arizona State (9:30 pm MT) before playing either USC or Saint Mary’s in the championship/consolation game on Friday at Acrisure Arena. Both Thursday and Friday’s games will air on TruTV and the Lobo Radio Network.
New Mexico (5-1) is coming off a 99-68 victory over Texas Southern on Sunday night at The Pit, its largest margin of victory of the season. Tru Washington led the Lobos with 19 points and 10 assists for his second career double-double, while Mustapha Amzil had 18 points, including his 1,000th career point. Donovan Dent is the only player in the nation averaging 17.0 points and 8.0 assists per game.
Arizona State (5-1) has won three straight games since an 88-80 loss at Gonzaga on Nov. 10. Joson Sanon, the reigning Big XII Co-Newcomer of the Week, leads the Sun Devils in scoring at 14.3 per game and is coming off a season-high 22 points in Sunday’s win over Cal Poly.
Thursday’s game is the 86th all-time meeting between New Mexico and Arizona State, former conference foes in the WAC in the 1960s and 1970s, but the first ever at a neutral site. The Lobos lead the all-time series 47-38, including winning the last four, sweeping home-and-home series in 1994-95/1995-96 and 2010-11/2011-12.
New Mexico is looking for its third straight title of a November tournament. The Lobos won the title last year at the Ball Dawgs Classic in Henderson, Nev., after winning the Lobo Classic at The Pit in 2022-23.
The Lobos will play either USC or Saint Mary’s on Friday, either in the championship game (7:30 pm MT) or consolation game (10:00 pm MT). The Lobos and Gaels have met the last two seasons, both at Saint Mary’s, with the teams splitting the games. UNM won in Moraga in 2022-23, before Saint Mary’s won last year. New Mexico hasn’t played USC since a 2015-16 loss to the Trojans in Los Angeles.
Following the tournament, the Lobos return home to begin a season-long four game homestand at The Pit, beginning with the Mountain West opener against San Jose State on Dec. 4.