ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos travel to Florida for Thanksgiving, set to face Chicago State Friday and Cincinnati Saturday in the Florida Gulf Classic in Naples. Both games will be streamed for free on the Women’s Sports Network with Friday's game at 11 a.m. ET/ 9 a.m. MT.
UNM enters the week 5-2 on the season with Chicago State 1-5.
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the first meeting against Chicago State.
RELIABLE HOOKS
Destinee Hooks has scored in double figures in all seven games and led the Lobos in scoring in four games, scoring 20 or more points in three. Hooks led the Lobos with a game-high 22 points at Colorado and followed that up with a game-high 20 points against North Carolina A&T. In the game against UT Martin, Hooks scored a game-high 15 points and scored a game- and season-high 24 points against Texas Tech. Texas Tech was the ninth time scoring 20-plus points at UNM.
Hooks went off for 12 points in the second quarter against the Buffs, using a personal 7-0 run in the first 2:03 of the quarter to give UNM a 19-18 lead, and went 5-7 from the floor and 2-3 from three-point range. The Lobo guard continued to pace the Lobos with six point in the third quarter. In addition to leading the team in points, she also led with seven rebounds (four offensive).
Against North Carolina A&T, Hooks scored eight of her 20 points in the second quarter on an 8-0 personal run that included four layups. Hooks also recorded her second steal of the game that led to an Alyssa Hargrove three with four seconds left that gave UNM a 32-26 lead at the break to close a 7-0 UNM run in the final 1:20 (which started with her layup). In the last game against Texas Tech, Hooks scored eight points in the second quarter to go with three rebounds and an assist to lead all scorers with 10 points at the break, and added eight more points in the third quarter to pace the Lobos.
Through the first seven games of the season, Hooks is averaging 17.0 points per game with 2.0 three-pointers per game, shooting 46.4% from the floor. She’s also averaging 4.4 rebounds per game, including a team-high 15 offensive rebounds.
Hooks is second in the conference in scoring, and is tied for fifth in three-pointers per game and seventh in field-goal percentage. Nationally, she is 22nd in points (119), 25th in field goals (45), 17th in field goal attempts (97) and 88th in points per game.
FAST START
The Lobos scored the first six points of the game against UT Martin and never trailed in the 77-45 win, continuing a trend of getting out to fast starts.
The Lobos also made four of their first five shots in the season opener against Northern Arizona with Nayli Padilla accounting for five points. At Colorado, CU scored the first six points of the game, but three-pointers from Destinee Hooks and Clarissa Craig tied the game and two free throws by Craig and a basket by Joana Magalhães continued the Lobo run for the 10-6 UNM lead.
Against New Orleans, the Lobos scored the first seven points, built a 15-4 lead within the first 4:29 with the lead growing to 21 at 27-6 behind a 9-0 run in a span of 1:11. A jumper from Hooks with 18 seconds left closed the quarter with UNM leading 37-12. The Lobos shot 72.2% in the first quarter on 13-18 shooting with five three-pointers. UNM scored 65 points in the first two quarters.
UNM is outscoring opponents 119-94 (+25) in the first quarter, 153-97 in the second quarter (+56) and 272-191 (+81) in the first 20 minutes.
WIN THE QUARTER
The Lobos have won the second quarter in six games this season, scoring 20-plus points in five games (twice with 28 points, twice with 22 points, once with 20) and holding opponents to 16 points or fewer in five.
Further, UNM has outscored its opponent in the first quarter three times (NAU, UNO, UTM), the third quarter four times (UNO, NAU, NMSU, UTM) and the fourth quarter three times (NAU, AT, UTM). The Lobos have also held their opponent below 10 points three times this season (five in the fourth quarter against NAU, four in the second quarter against NMSU and seven in the second quarter against UTM).
UNM is 3-0 when leading after the first quarter, 5-0 when leading at the half and 5-0 when leading after the third quarter.
ABOUT LAST WEEK
UNM went 1-1 on the week, outscoring its opponents 67.0-63.5. Two players averaged double figures in Destinee Hooks (19.5 ppg) and Cacia Antonio (10.5 ppg). The duo have been the most consistent of the Lobo scorers, with Hooks reaching double figures in all seven games on the season and Antonio in all four games she’s played in.
Hooks led the Lobos in scoring in both games with 15 against UT Martin and a season-high 24 against Texas Tech, both of which were game highs. Hooks also led with four steals and tied for the team lead in rebounds at 4.5 (Clarissa Craig). Alyssa Hargrove led with seven assists.
ART OF THE STEAL
The Lobos are averaging a conference-best 11.3 steals per game behind four games with double-digit steals: 18 against New Orleans, 16 against North Carolina A&T, 14 in the season opener against Northern Arizona and 10 against New Mexico State.
UNM was credited with 14 steals against Northern Arizona with six players recording at least one steal, three players with multiple steals and two players setting career highs in steals. Nayli Padilla finished with a career-high three steals and Joana Magalhães registered a career-high six steals. Magalhães’ steals were the most by a MW player in the first two days of the season.
Against A&T, UNM recorded 11 steals in the first 20 minutes (six in the first quarter, five in the second), finishing with 16 in the game. Six players had at least one steal with five with multiple steals.
In the first three games, Magalhães was credited with six steals twice. The sophomore is averaging 2.4 steals per game and is 41st in the NCAA in steals (17). Her season high last season was four, which she did twice, and finished the season with 44 steals.
Alyssa Hargrove had a career-best seven steals in the game against New Orleans with UNM creating a season-best 18 steals as a team. The seven steals are tied for the 17th most in a game by a DI player this season. Drew Jordon was credited with three and Laila Abdurraqib and Tyler Jones each had two. UNM had 13 steals in the first two quarters with seven in the first quarter (Hargrove had three).
Hargrove added three steals against New Mexico State, and now sits at 172 steals and 55 blocks for her college career. The only other active DI players with at least 170 steals and 50 blocks are LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson, TCU’s Maddie Scherr, UCLA’s Charlisse Leger-Walker and Howard’s Nile Miller.
Additionally, Hargrove has recorded a steal in six games with five games with multiple steals. She is tied with Magalhães for 41st in the NCAA in steals (17).
UNM is 68th in the NCAA in steals per game and leads the MW in steals per game. Magalhães and Hargrove are tied for fourth in steals per game (2.4).
For comparison, UNM reached double-digit steals in 11 games last season, with the season high of 15, and averaged 7.9 steals per game.
SHARE THE WEALTH
Eleven players scored in both exhibitions with two reaching double figures in the first exhibition and five in the second exhibition. Of UNM’s 25 made baskets at UT Arlington, 18 were assisted, an improvement from the 15 assists on the 32 made baskets in the first exhibition.
Against NAU, 10 Lobos scored with three reaching double figures and 18 of the 28 made baskets were assisted.
In the game against New Orleans, UNM had 21 assists on 35 made field goals, and at New Mexico State, 10 different Lobos scored, assisting on 16 of the made field goals (55.2%). Ten Lobos again scored against UT Martin, with 15 of the made baskets assisted on (55.6%).
Alyssa Hargrove leads the team with 22 assists (3.1 per game) and is fifth in the conference in assists per game. As a team, UNM is second in assists per game (14.7).
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Out of the Northeast Conference (NEC), Chicago State is 1-5 on the season with a 59-54 win over Winthrop and losses to Cleveland State, then-No. 15 Notre Dame, Illinois State, Western Illinois and Northern Illinois.
Of note, former UNM linebacker Brian Urlacher’s niece Kace Urlacher plays for Chicago State and is averaging 7.5 points per game, 2.0 steals per game, 2.5 assists per game, 2.5 rebounds per game in 20.9 minutes per game. The junior forward has appeared in Chicago State's first two games, against Cleveland State and Winthrop.
As a team, the Cougars are averaging 58.3 points per game with a season high of 75 points against Western Illinois and is led by Aiyanna Culver at 20.5 points per game. Culver has led the team in scoring in four games with Keona McGee and Marisa Gant leading the team in the last two games, respectively.
McGee is the only player to start all six games with Culver starting all four games that she’s played in (hasn’t played in the last two games).
Kyla Mount leads the team with 5.5 rebounds per game with McGee leading with 10 assists and Tania Allen leading with six steals.
Six Cougars return from a season ago with Culver the leading returner at 14.6 points per game as well as a team-high 55 three-pointers, 102 assists and 49 steals.