Lobo Pack Basketball: New Mexico State Preview

What:

What:

New Mexico Lobos vs. New Mexico State Aggies

When:

Tuesday, November 30th, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time

Where:

Pan-Am Center in Las Cruces, NM

Coverage:

The game will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required). On the radio waves it will be carried on the UNM Sports Radio Network. Flagship station is 770 AM/96.3 FM in Albuquerque.

Series:

This is the 141st time these two will have met on the court. UNM holds the series advatage with a record of 76-64.

The last time these two played on the hardwood was in December of 2019 and the Lobos won 69-62.

Breakdown:

The New Mexico Lobos will look to end a two-game losing streak when they pay a visit to their in-state rivals the New Mexico State Aggies on Tuesday night.

This is the first time in nearly two years that the two rivals will have played one another. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both did not schedule one another last season.

The Lobos come into the game with a 4-3 record, after losing both of their contests in the Las Vegas Invitational last week, losing to UAB to start, 86-73, and then dropping 73-58 to Towson on Friday night.

The Aggies come into the game with a record of 5-1, having defeated New Mexico Highlands last game out, by a final of 94-67.

The lone Aggies loss on the season was to Utah State back on November 19th.

What to expect from New Mexico State:

Expect the Aggies to attack the low post of UNM with Johnny McCants and Donnie Tillman.

McCants averages nine points per game, but has averaged 14 points in the last two contests.

Tillman averages 10.3 points per game, and went for 23 points on November 21st against Indiana State.

The inside game is where the Lobos have struggled, so expect a lot of looks from the inside for NMSU.

The Lobos will also need to be wary of guards Teddy Allen and Jabari Rice as well.

Allen averages 16.3 points per game and has scored in double figures in every contest this season. While Rice averages 12.2 points per game and has gone into double figures in scoring every game except for one.

That backcourt duo and the front court could spell trouble for UNM.

What to expect from the Lobos:

The Lobos need to play a clean game and get some rebounds in this one in order to be in it.

In both games in Vegas last week, the Lobos were easily outrebounded.

Against UAB, the Lobos were outrebounded 40-22 and against Towson, they got outrebounded 42-26.

In order to challenge NMSU, the Lobos will need to shrink the gap in rebounds.

Turnovers might be an issue for UNM as well.

New Mexico did turn the ball over a modest 10 times against Towson, but most of those were early turnovers that led to a large deficit early for UNM.

The 20 turnovers against UAB sank UNM in that contest.

Both categories need to be on the low side in order for the Lobos to have a shot.

Final Thoughts and Prediction:

New Mexico is walking into a predicament tonight. The Aggies are well experienced while this is just the eighth game together for most of the Lobos players. That spells a little bit of doom on the part of UNM.

There will need to be more than just Jamal Mashburn Jr. to show up big in the points column tonight.

This will be a major test for Mashburn and for Jaelen House, who struggled in Vegas last week, to see if they can match the intensity brought by the Aggies duo of Allen and Rice.

Right now, I feel that NMSU is going to be too much for New Mexico. I got Aggies-79 Lobos-71.