Nelly Junior Joseph Named Mountain West Player of the Week

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – New Mexico’s Nelly Junior Joseph was named Mountain West Player of the Week, the conference announced Monday. Joseph was honored after leading the Lobos to a victory at Utah State on Saturday in the first meeting between 9-1 teams in the conference in 14 years.

Joseph’s honor is his third of the season, as he was also honored on Nov. 11 and Jan. 6. It is his 10th career conference player of the week honor, as he was a seven-time MAAC Player of the Week selection over his three seasons at Iona.

With the award, the Lobos have earned six Mountain West Player of the Week honors, a program record for a season. In addition to Joseph’s three awards, Donovan Dent has also been Mountain West Player of the Week three times. New Mexico becomes the third team in Mountain West history to have two players win three awards in a season, joining 2010-11 San Diego State (Malcolm Thomas and Kahwi Leonard) and 2018-19 Nevada (Jordan Caroline and Caleb Martin).

In the 82-63 victory over Utah State, the Aggies’ most lopsided home loss in nearly 30 years, Joseph had 15 points and 13 rebounds for his league-leading 11th double-double of the season. He went 7-of-7 from the floor, marking the Lobos’ best perfect game from the field in four seasons. He scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half as UNM erased a six-point halftime deficit to outscore USU 52-27 in the second half.

The Lobos (18-4, 10-1 MW) returns home Wednesday for a matchup with third-place Colorado State (8-2 MW) at The Pit. Game time is 8:30 p.m. and the game will air on FS1. Tickets for that game are on sale at GoLobos.com/tickets.