ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos return to the road to face their fourth Big 12 team of the season against Arizona on Sunday afternoon.
After going 1-1 at the Florida Gulf Classic to close November, UNM enters the game 6-3 on the season. For Arizona, the Wildcats are 6-1, with all seven games at home, and coming off of a 63-57 loss to Southern on Wednesday.
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 21st meeting against the Wildcats and the 10th meeting in Tucson. The Lobos last played Arizona in Tucson in 2021. Of note, the last two meetings have ended with identical final scores of 77-60 with Arizona winning both times.
UNM’s last win in the series was in 2009, an 81-61 win in Tucson.
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.
In the game against Chicago State, UNM closed the first quarter on a 6-0 run on three-pointers from Hooks and Cacia Antonio for the 20-12 lead through the first. The run continued into the second quarter with a Craig layup and Alyssa Hargrove basket to extend the lead to 12 less than a minute in, ultimately scoring the first 18 points of the quarter to grow the lead to 38-12. Chicago State’s first points came at the 4:07 mark on a free throw. Of note, the 24-0 run between the first and second quarter marked the longest run for the Lobos this season. New Mexico outscored the Cougars 24-5 in the second quarter, holding CSU to 12.5% shooting in the second quarter while shooting 52.4%, and held the Cougars to 19.4 % in the half.
UNM is outscoring opponents 146-117 (+29) in the first quarter, 191-120 in the second quarter (+71) and 337-237 (+100) in the first 20 minutes.
WIN THE QUARTER
The Lobos have won the second quarter in seven games this season, scoring 20-plus points in six games (twice with 28 points, twice with 22 points, once with 24 and once with 20) and holding opponents to 16 points or fewer in six.
Further, UNM has outscored its opponent in the first quarter four times (NAU, UNO, UTM, CSU), the third quarter four times (UNO, NAU, NMSU, UTM) and the fourth quarter five times (NAU, AT, UTM, UC, CSU).
The Lobos have also held their opponent below 10 points in a quarter four times this season (five in the fourth quarter against NAU, five in the second qurter against Chicago State, four in the second quarter against NMSU and seven in the second quarter against UTM).
Three times, the Lobos have held their opponent below 20 points at the half: 15 points (New Mexico State), 17 points (Chicago State) and 18 points (UT Martin).
UNM is 4-0 when leading after the first quarter, 6-0 when leading at the half and 6-0 when leading after the third quarter.
NO THREES FOR YOU, BUT WE’LL TAKE THEM
UNM has held three opponents to under 20 percent from three-point range, including New Mexico State (14.3%), UT Martin (16.7%) and Cincinnati (18.8%). In addition, the Lobos held Colorado and Chicago State to 20 percent with Chicago State making three, three-pointers and Colorado four. Opponents on average are making 5.1 three-pointers per game, going 46-162 (28.4%).
For the Lobos, they are making 8.8 per game and shooting 32.4%, led by Nayli Padilla with 22 made three-pointers (2.4 per game) and is shooting 40.7%. Laila Abdurraqib and Destinee Hooks have both made 15 (1.7 per game). Padilla is second in the MW in three-pointers made with Hooks and Abdurraqib tied for 10th. As a team, UNM is third in the MW in three-point percentage.
Nationally, UNM is 34th in three-pointers per game and 26th in three-point attempts per game (27.1).
MAKING THE MOST OF THE OPPORTUNITY
Nayli Padilla started the first three games of the season after starting one game last season and made the most of her increased minutes.
In the three games, the sophomore averaged 10.7 points per game with 4.7 rebounds per game, 1.7 steals per game and 2.0 assists per game in 33.8 minutes per game. For comparison, last season she averaged 3.7 points per game, 2.2 rebounds per game, 1.6 assists per game and 0.6 steals per game in 25 games.
Padilla scored nine points with five rebounds, four assists and three steals in the season opener. In the game against North Carolina A&T, she scored a then-career-high 15 points, the second-most points by a Lobo in the game, with a then-career-high three, three-pointers.
The Spaniard scored eight of her points in the fourth quarter, with a three-pointer that gave UNM a 58-57 lead and another three-pointer 37 seconds later to put UNM up by four. When the Aggies were within two at 64-62, Padilla drove to the basket and dished it off to Jessie Joaquim for the layup and added a free throw with five seconds left for the final point. She also added two steals, four rebounds, two assists and block in the win.
While she now comes off the bench, her production remained as she led the Lobos in scoring against New Orleans (with 17 points), at New Mexico State (14 points) and against Cincinnati (with a career-high 19 points behind a career-best seven made field goals and career-best five three-pointers). She added a season-high six rebounds and tallied three assists against the Aggies. Padilla went 4-5 from three-point range against NMSU and has made three or more three-pointers in five games. She also created a career-best four steals against Chicago State and has recorded at least a steal in six games with four games with multiple steals.
Padilla is second in the MW in three-pointers per game (2.4) and nationally, the Lobo is 50th in three-pointers (22), 83rd in three-point percentage (40.7) and 91st in three-pointers per game.
RELIABLE HOOKS
Destinee Hooks has scored in double figures in all nine 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. NC A&T was the eighth time scoring 20-plus points at UNM. 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.
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 points 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).
Through nine games of the season, Hooks is averaging 15.9 points per game, shooting 44.1% from the floor. She’s also averaging 4.4 rebounds per game, including a team-high 20 offensive rebounds.
Hooks is fourth in the conference in scoring, seventh in offensive rebounds per game (2.2), eighth in free-throw percentage (.706), ninth in field-goal percentage and is tied for 10th in three-pointers per game. Nationally, she is 71st in points (143), 76th in field goals (52) and 62nd in field goal attempts (118).
HOW MUCH DO YOU BENCH?
The bench proved to be a sign of strength for the Lobos in both exhibition games, with 33 points against Adams State coming from the bench and 26 points at UTA. Additionally, the bench combined for seven assists, five steals and 25 rebounds at UTA and six steals and 29 rebounds against ASU.
UNM got 21 points and 11 rebounds from the bench in the season opener and the bench scored 18 points at Colorado. Against New Orleans, UNM’s bench accounted for 51 points (51.5%), with two players in double figures, 21 rebounds (51.2%), nine assists (42.9%) and nine steals (50.0%).
In the game at NMSU, the bench scored 36 of the 77 points (46.8%), with Nayli Padilla leading the team in scoring coming off the bench. The bench also accounted for 20 rebounds, six three-pointers and half of UNM’s steals (five). Against UT Martin, the Lobo bench scored 25 points (32.5%), led by 11 from Abdurraqib, and registered 26 rebounds (46.4%) led by a game- and season-high 10 from Jessie Joaquim.
At the Florida Gulf Classic, the bench scored half of UNM’s points against Chicago State, led by 16 from Drew Jordon and 11 from Padilla, and recorded 23 rebounds with Emma Najjuma leading the team with a game-high 10 rebounds. The bench was also credited with nine steals. In the second game against Cincinnati, UNM’s bench accounted for 48.3% of the points, led by Padilla’s game-high 19. Najjuma also added a game- and season-high 11 rebounds.
On the season, the bench has scored 235 points, accounting for 35.8% of the points.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Under first year head coach Becky Burke, the Wildcats won their first six games of the season before losing against Southern on Wednesday.
Arizona is averaging 75.4 points per game with a season high of 87 against Northern Arizona, and has three players in double figures. Mickayla Perdue leads the team with 17.6 points per game and has led the team in scoring in four games and tied for the lead in one. Daniah Trammell is averaging 12.6 points per game and Noelani Cornfield is averaging 12.1 points per game. Cornfield leads the team with 57 assists and 15 steals. As a team, Arizona is shooting 48.6% from the floor and 30.6% from three-point range with an average of 4.3 made three-pointers per game.
Defensively, the Wildcats are holding opponents to 63.4 points per game (+12.0 scoring margin), 39.3% from the floor and 32.2% from three-point range with an average of 6.7 three-pointers per game. It’s by committee on the boards with Mirela Jurado leading with 38 rebounds but two players closely behind at 35 (Sumayah Sugapong and Nora Francois), with the Wildcats averaging 34.4 rebounds per game.
The Wildcats are outscoring their opponents in the second, third and fourth quarters with their largest production in the third quarter (167 points) and allowing the fewest points to opponents in the second quarter (94 points).
Three players have started all seven games in Trammell, Sugapong and Jurado, with Cornfield starting all but one game.