Nelly Junior Joseph Repeats as 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 for the second straight week after leading the Lobos to a pair of wins to keep UNM atop the conference standings.
Joseph’s honor is his fourth of the season, as he was also honored on Nov. 11, Jan. 6 and Feb. 3. He becomes the third Lobo to win the award in consecutive weeks, joining J.R. Giddens (2007-08) and Roman Martinez (2009-10). His four awards this year ties Drew Gordon (2011-12) for second most in a season by a Lobo, trailing only Giddens’ school-record five awards in 2007-08. It is his 11th 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 seven Mountain West Player of the Week honors, extending the program record for a season. In addition to Joseph’s four awards, Donovan Dent has been Mountain West Player of the Week three times. New Mexico is the third team in Mountain West history to have two players win at least 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 87-65 victory over Colorado State, the Rams’ most lopsided loss in three years, Joseph became the first ever Mountain West player to post a statline of 18 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks, four assists and three steals.
Joseph capped the week in New Mexico’s 88-53 win at Air Force, UNM’s largest margin of victory in a road conference game since 2011-12, with 14 points and a career-high 21 rebounds. The 21 rebounds were the second-most ever by a Lobo in a Mountain West game (Drew Gordon’s 23 vs. Utah in 2010-11) and the most by any player in a Mountain West game since 2015-16 (Cameron Oliver of Nevada with 21 at UNLV).
The Lobos (20-4, 12-1 MW) return home for a pair of games at The Pit this week. New Mexico hosts Wyoming on Wednesday (8 pm) and Utah State on Sunday (2 pm). The Utah State game is already sold out, but tickets for the Wyoming game and the Lobos’ final two home games (Mar. 1 vs. Air Force, Mar. 7 vs. UNLV) are on sale now at GoLobos.com/tickets.