Lobo Pack Basketball: Grambling State Preview

What:

New Mexico Lobos vs. Grambling State Tigers

When:

Monday November 15^th, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time

Where:

University Arena, The Pit, in Albuquerque, NM

Coverage:

The game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network and on the airwaves the Lobo Sports Radio Network will carry the game.

Series:

This is the third contest between the two. The Lobos have won both of the previous two matchups with Grambling State. The last meeting came back in 2008 and the Lobos won 96-50.

Breakdown:

The New Mexico Lobos will look to get back into the win column when they play host to the Grambling State Tigers on Monday night in The Pit.

The Lobos are 1-1 on the season after losing to the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday by a final of 87-76.

Grambling State is 0-2 on the season. Last game out was last Friday, as the Tigers lost to Texas Tech, 88-62.

What the Lobos will look to do:

The Lobos will once again be looking to bring some up-tempo play into this one, just as they have done for the first two contests. It seemed to work well against Florida Atlantic, not so much against Colorado. However, do not think that the Lobos will abandon that style of play just yet.

One big portion of scoring was missing on Saturday for UNM and that was Jay Allen-Tovar. After collecting 18 points in the season opener, Allen-Tovar only scored three points in the loss to Colorado. The Lobos will definitely be looking to get Allen-Tovar involved in the game a lot more in this one.

The Lobos will, of course, run their offense through their two guards: Jamal Mashburn Jr. and Jaelen House. Both combined for 42 of the 76 points against Colorado and should have an easier go round against Grambling State.

What the Tigers will look to do:

Grambling State might be 0-2 on the season, but they are a gritty bunch who will look to make things difficult on the fast-paced Lobos.

Last game out, guard Danya Kingsby scored 22 points, he was the only Tigers player in double figures. However, in the opening contest of the season, against Grand Canyon, Kingsby was 1-for-13 from the field and scored just four points.

The number of shots in the first contest and the number of points scored in the second game, show that the Lobos will need to key in on Kingsby in this one.

Another player to keep an eye on in a Tigers uniform is forward Malik Lamin. Lamin has scored eight points in each of the first two games this season, while grabbing six rebounds against Grand Canyon and four against Texas Tech.

With the Lobos struggling inside, Lamin will be a force down low for Grambling State.

Prediction:

On paper the Lobos shouldn’t have too much of a hard time with Grambling State. However, as we all know, games aren’t played on paper.

The Tiger should be able to keep in pretty close until around halftime, thanks in part to the play of Kingsby. However, just like with Florida Atlantic, the elevation and Lobos up-tempo of play will no doubt takes its toll and allow the Lobos to pull away. I got Lobos-97 Tigers-70.