ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos begin a two-game homestand on Wednesday night in their second meeting of the season against UNLV.
New Mexico enters the game 13-7 on the season, 5-4 in conference play and 7-3 at home, while UNLV is 14-6 on the season, 9-1 in conference and 6-4 on the road.
SERIES HISTORY
Wednesday is the second meeting this season between the Lobos and Lady Rebels with UNLV winning in Las Vegas, 89-71 in the second conference game.
UNM had three players finish in double figures, led by 22 from Cacia Antonio, followed by 13 from Destinee Hooks and 10 from Nayli Padilla.
The Lobos are 16-14 at home and 28-45 all-time against UNLV, with the last win at home on Jan. 3, 2022 by a score of 71-68 on a LaTora Duff three-pointer with 5.4 seconds left.
FAST START
UNM is outscoring opponents 325-260 (+65) in the first quarter, 364-313 (+51) in the second quarter and 689-573 (+116) 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. UNM scored the first five points and later built a nine-point lead in the first quarter at San Diego State. Further, UNM held Wyoming (5), Boise State (4), San José State (4) and Nevada (9) to single digits in the first quarter and held San José State (8) and Colorado State (2) to single digits in the second quarter.
WIN THE QUARTER
The third quarter is UNM’s largest quarter for point production at 365 points (18.3 avg.), followed closely by the second quarter (364 points), with the first quarter the largest margin of +65.
UNM has outscored its opponent in the first quarter 12 times (NAU, UNO, UTM, CSU, UA, UH, BSU, UW, SJSU, NEV, SDSU, AFA), the second quarter in nine games this season, the third quarter 12 times (UNO, NAU, NMSU, UTM, UA, UH, UNLV, SJSU, NEV, SDSU, GCU, AFA) and the fourth quarter 12 times (NAU, AT, UTM, UC, Chicago St., UH, BSU, UNLV, UW, SJSU, Colorado St., AFA).
The Lobos have also held their opponent below 10 points in a quarter in 10 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, four in the first quarter at San José State and eight in the second quarter at San José State, two in the second quarter at Colorado State and nine in the first quarter against Nevada). 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 10-2 when leading after the first quarter, 13-1 when leading at the half and 11-1 when leading after the third quarter.
OWN THE BOARDS
The Lobos lead the MW in offensive rebounds per game (13.6), rebounding margin (+4.9) and rebounding offense (40.1). UNM is 74th in the NCAA in rebound margin, 64th in rebounds per game, 95th in defensive rebounds per game (26.5) and tied for 80th in offensive rebounds per game.
UNM has outrebounded its opponent in 12 games and is 11-1 when doing so (San Diego State was lone loss when outrebounding opponent).
As a team, UNM had a season-high 58 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 117 rebounds, with Jessie Joaquim closely behind at 113.
WHAT A STEAL
The Lobos are averaging a conference-best 10.8 steals per game behind 11 games with double-digit steals: 19 against Chicago State and Air Force, 18 against New Orleans, 16 against North Carolina A&T, 14 against Northern Arizona, San José State and Grand Canyon, 12 against Houston and Boise State, 11 against Wyoming and 10 against New Mexico State.
As a team, UNM is 46th in the NCAA in steals per game and leads the MW in steals per game. In conference games, UNM is averaging 10.3 steals per game with 93 steals, leading the MW.
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.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
UNLV enters the game with a two-game win streak and 9-1 in the MW with its lone loss to San Diego State in overtime.
The Lady Rebels have four players averaging double figures, led by Meadow Roland (13.5), followed by Jasmyn Lott (12.8 ppg), Shelbee Brown (11.0 ppg) and Aaliyah Alexander (10.6 ppg). Roland and Brown are the top two rebounders in the MW with Brown leading at 9.7 and Roland at 9.0, with Roland also leading the conference in blocks per game at 1.6 and Brown second in steals per game at 2.3.
As a team, UNLV is averaging 68.7 points per game and allowing 61.6 points per game, fourth in the conference in scoring offense and sixth in scoring defense. The Lady Rebels are second in field goal percentage defense at 38.3% as well as in rebounding offense (39.8) and rebounding margin (+4.2), but lead in defensive rebounds per game (28.2).
Against MW opponents, UNLV is averaging 73.4 points per game (second in the conference) and allowing 58.8 points per game (also second in the conference). In addition, the Lady Rebels are second in field goal percentage (47.0%) but leads in field goal percentage defense (36.7%), as well as are second in three-point field goal percentage (39.0%) and leads in three-point field goal percentage defense (25.9%). On the boards, UNLV leads in rebounding offense (39.2) and is second in rebounding margin (+5.7) and defensive rebounds per game (28.7), led by Brown (10.6 rpg) and Roland (8.6 rpg).
Four Lady Rebels have started all 10 conference games (Brown, Lott, Alexander and Destiny Leo) with Roland starting nine, and four Lady Rebels are averaging double figures in Brown (15.1 ppg), Roland (13.9 ppg), Lott (11.5 ppg) and Alexander (10.4 ppg).