LAS VEGAS, Nev.— The opponent has been determined and the postseason officially begins on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. MT against five-seed Boise State.
Boise State defeated San José State 68-51 in the first round to set up the 4/5 matchup, with BSU entering the game 24-8 on the season and UNM 22-9 on the season. Both teams finished 14-6 in conference.
SERIES HISTORY
UNM opens up the MW Championship with Boise State in the 4/5 matchup. The last time the two teams met in the conference tournament was in 2017 when UNM was a No. 5-seed, with BSU winning 64-62. UNM is 1-2 in the conference tournament against the Broncos, winning 51-50 in 2012 and losing in 2015 by the score of 66-60.
CONFERENCE HISTORY
The Lobos enter the conference tournament as the No. 4-seed, the sixth time being the four seed in the Mountain West with the last time in 2023. UNM is 7-4 as the four seed in the MW.
HOT SHOOTING
The Lobos closed the regular season with their strongest shooting performance of the season, shooting 60.7% and outscoring Fresno State in three of the quarters in the 86-64 win.
Not only was it a season high for shooting percentage, the last time a Lobo team had shot 60% or better was Nov. 9, 2001. UNM shot over 70% in two quarters and over 57% in three of the four quarters, doing most of their damage in the paint with 46 of the 86 points in the paint.
FAST START
UNM is outscoring opponents 495-394 (+101) in the first quarter, 545-475 (+70) in the second quarter and 1040-869 (+171) in the first 20 minutes.
Further, UNM held Wyoming (5), Boise State (4), San José State (4), Nevada (9), UNLV (9), Utah State (7) and Air Force (8) to single digits in the first quarter and held San José State (8), Colorado State (2) and Wyoming (8) to single digits in the second quarter.
OWN THE BOARDS
The Lobos lead the MW in offensive rebounds per game (13.4), rebounding margin (+5.8) and rebounding offense (39.6) and is second in rebounding defense (33.8) UNM is 49th in the NCAA in rebound margin as well as 66th in rebounds per game, 87th in offensive rebounds per game and 92nd in defensive rebounds per game (26.5).
UNM has outrebounded its opponent in 21 games and is 20-1 when doing so (San Diego State was lone loss when outrebounding opponent).
In conference games, UNM leads in rebounding defense (32.7) and rebounding margin (+5.5).
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 Jessie Joaquim at 203, followed by Emma Najjuma at 193.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Boise State is averaging 70.1 points per game on the season, led by four players in double figures. Tatum Thompson is averaging a team-best 14.3, Natalie Pasco at 12.8 ppg, Dani Bayes at 12.3 ppg and Libby Hutton at 10.3 ppg. As a team, the Broncos are shooting 42.5% and 38.1% from three-point range, led by 77 from Pasco.
The Broncos lead the MW in assists per game in conference games with 15.8 per game, led by Mya Hansen’s 3.9 per game.
Thompson, Bayes, Pasco and Hansen have started all 20 conference games and 32 games with Hutton starting 19 conference games and 31 games overall.