ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos travel to Colorado State for a Wednesday night matchup of the top scoring offense and the top scoring defense in the Mountain West. Tip is set for 6:30 p.m. on the Mountain West Network.
UNM enters the game 11-4 on the season, 3-1 in conference and has won five of its last six games. CSU enters the game 13-2 on the season, 4-0 in conference and has won its last six games. On the season, the Lobos are averaging a conference-best 72.3 points per game with the Rams allowing a conference-low 54.1 points per game. Further, both teams have the top two scoring margins in the Mountain West with CSU leading at +15.1 and UNM second at +10.9, as well as the top two teams in the conference in rebounding margin with the Lobos leading at +7.3 and the Rams second at +2.5.
SERIES HISTORY
UNM is 51-42 all-time against Colorado State and 14-25 on the road. UNM is 3-2 in the last five games and 3-2 in the last five games played in Fort Collins.
The teams split last season with each team winning on the road as the Lobos won by four and the Rams won by six. Joana Magalhães averaged 16.0 ppg with 5.5 rpg last season against CSU, with Destinee Hooks averaging 14.5 ppg and Alyssa Hargrove averaging 7.5 ppg, 7.0 apg, 6.0 rpg and 2.5 spg between the two games.
UNM averaged 40.5 rebounds per game with a +5.0 rebounding margin and averaged 10.5 made three-pointers and 14.0 apg in the two games last season. The teams were comparable in shooting percentage with UNM shooting 40.8% and CSU shooting 40.4%.
LAST WEEK RECAP
The Lobos outscored their opponents 75.5 to 49.5 (+26.0) last week and had a +20 rebounding margin, outrebounding Wyoming and San José State by an average of 50.0 to 30.0. UNM averaged 12.5 steals per game and 10.5 three-pointers per game, as well as registered a season-high 13 three-pointers against the Spartans and a season-high 58 rebounds against the Spartans.
UNM held both the Cowgirls and the Spartans to single digits in two quarters of the game, the first and fourth for the Cowgirls and the first and second quarters for the Spartans.
Cacia Antonio led the team with 14.5 ppg and also averaged 7.0 rebounds per game while Laila Abdurraqib averaged 10.5 ppg off of the bench. Emma Najjuma and Jessie Joaquim both averaged over 10 rebounds a game with Najjuma at 12 and Joaquim at 11 and Najjuma registering 15 rebounds against Wyoming and Joaquim registering 16 rebounds against San José State.
The 89 points scored and 14 steals against the Spartans are tied for the most in a conference game this season with the 32 made field goals and 13 made three-pointers the second most. The 58 rebounds are also the most by a team in any game this season.
NOW THAT’S A STAT
UNM's 89-51 win at San José State was its second road win by at least 30 points this season (also won by 32 points at New Mexico State). No other MW team has a single 30-point win on the road in 2025-26. Only UConn (four) and LSU (three) have more such wins in DI than the Lobos.
FAST START
UNM is outscoring opponents 248-191 (+57) in the first quarter, 285-220 (+65) in the second quarter and 533-411 (+122) in the first 20 minutes.
In the conference opener, the Lobos scored the first 14 points against Boise State with six different Lobos contributing to the points, and against Wyoming, the Lobos scored the first 10 points of the game. Further, UNM held Wyoming (5), Boise State (4) and San José State (4) to single digits in the first quarter and held San José State to single digits in the second quarter (8).
WIN THE QUARTER
The Lobos have won the second quarter in eight games this season, scoring 20-plus points in seven games (twice with 28 points, twice with 22 points, twice with 24 and once with 20) and holding opponents to 16 points or fewer in eight.
Further, UNM has outscored its opponent in the first quarter nine times (NAU, UNO, UTM, CSU, UA, UH, BSU, UW, SJSU), the third quarter eight times (UNO, NAU, NMSU, UTM, UA, UH, UNLV, SJSU) and the fourth quarter 10 times (NAU, AT, UTM, UC, CSU, UH, BSU, UNLV, UW, SJSU).
The Lobos have also held their opponent below 10 points in a quarter in eight games this season (five in the fourth quarter against NAU, five in the second quarter against Chicago State, four in the second quarter against NMSU, seven in the second quarter against UTM, nine in the fourth quarter against Houston, four in the first quarter against Boise State, five in the first quarter against Wyoming and seven in the fourth quarter against Wyoming, and four in the first quarter at San José State and eight in the second quarter at San José State). The Lobos held the Cowgirls to single digits in two quarters, the first time doing it twice in a game this season, and repeated it the next game against San José State.
Four times, the Lobos have held their opponent below 20 points at the half: 12 points (San José State), 15 points (New Mexico State), 17 points (Chicago State) and 18 points (UT Martin).
UNM is 9-0 when leading after the first quarter, 11-0 when leading at the half and 9-0 when leading after the third quarter.
60-70
While the trend right now is 6-7 and scoring 67 points, for the Lobos the trend is 60-70.
UNM is 7-0 when allowing 60 points or less, including holding four opponents below 50 points and three teams to 45 points or fewer. UNM is also 9-1 when scoring 70 or more points.
ALL ABOUT THE THREE
UNM has held seven opponents to under four three-pointers in a game and four opponents to under 20 percent from three-point range, including New Mexico State (14.3%), UT Martin (16.7%), Cincinnati (18.8%) and San José State (19.4%). 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 5.9 three-pointers per game, going 89-300 (29.7%) with an average of 20.0 three-point attempts per game.
For the Lobos, they are making 8.5 per game and shooting 31.2%, led by Nayli Padilla with 32 made three-pointers (2.1 per game) and is shooting 36.0%. Laila Abdurraqib is second with 25 (1.7 per game) with Abdurraqib shooting 41.0% from three-point range. Padilla is fourth in the MW in three-pointers made per game with Abdurraqib 10th. As a team, UNM is second in made three-pointers per game but has made the most three-pointers (127).
Nationally, UNM is 39th in three-pointers per game and 21st in three-point attempts per game (27.1).
OWN THE BOARDS
The Lobos lead the MW in offensive rebounds per game (14.3), rebounding margin (+7.3), rebounding offense (42.3), and in defensive rebounds per game (28.0). Of note, the Lobos’ +7.3 rebounding margin is +4.8 better than the next team in the MW. UNM is 50th in the NCAA in rebound margin, 37th in rebounds per game, tied for 54th in defensive rebounds per game and 61st in offensive rebounds per game.
UNM has outrebounded its opponent in 10 games and is 10-0 when doing so.
As a team, UNM had a season-high 59 against San José State with the largest rebounding margin against UT Martin (+35). Of note, the 58 rebounds are the most in a game amongst MW teams this season. UNM is led by Emma Najjuma, who has 102 rebounds.
HOW MUCH DO YOU BENCH?
On the season, the bench has scored 387 points, accounting for 35.7% of the points. UNM is 56th in the NCAA and leads the MW in bench points per game (25.8).
Laila Abdurraqib has led the bench in scoring in six games, Nayli Padilla four times, Jessie Joaquim twice, Destinee Hooks, Kaia Foster and Drew Jordon once.
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 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 Joaquim.
At the Florida Gulf Classic, the bench scored half of UNM’s points against Chicago State, led by 16 from 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-high 11 rebounds.
Against Houston, Joaquim led the team in points (13) and rebounds (12) off of the bench, accounting for half of the bench points. The bench also had seven of UNM’s 12 steals with two each from Padilla, Abdurraqib and Jordon. At San José State, the bench scored 43 points (48.3%) of the points with Foster tied for the team lead with 15 points and Abdurraqib scoring 10 points off the bench. In addition, Joaquim led the team in rebounds (16) off of the bench and Tyler Jones led the team in assists (six) off of the bench.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
The Rams have conference wins over Nevada, Utah State, Grand Canyon and Fresno State. CSU is 7-1 at home with its two losses on the season against Stanford and Utah.
CSU is led in scoring by Lexus Bargesser at 16.0 points per game, with the Ram also leading the team in rebounding at 6.0 rebounds per game and assists (3.1 per game). Bargesser has led the team in scoring in 10 games, has scored in double figures in 13 games and has two double-doubles.
Four Rams (Bargesser, Hannah Ronsiek, Brooke Carlson and Kloe Froebe) have started all 15 games with Madelyn Bragg starting in 11 including the last two games.
Nationally, the Rams are 20th in scoring defense (54.1) and 21st in field goal percentage defense (34.9). The Rams average 10.5 turnovers per game, ranked fifth in the NCAA and are 23rd in fouls per game at 13.6.
In conference games, CSU is averaging 65.8 points per game and allowing 56.0 points per game, led by Carlson at 13.3 points per game and Bargesser at 12.8 points per game. Bargesser is averaging 7.5 rebounds per game. Froebe is averaging 3.8 offensive rebounds per game, ranked second in the MW, and Ronsiek is second in the conference in minutes played at 36.1 per game.