New Mexico’s MBB 2021-22 Schedule

The 2021-22 New Mexico Lobos basketball schedule is almost ready for release. This past week, the Mountain West Conference released the conference schedules for all 11 schools. Combine that with a report that UNM has just one more non-conference date to fill in its 13-game non-conference schedule, and the entirety of this season’s schedule should be out soon.

The Outlook

The Lobos will play 31 regular season games in Richard Pitino’s first year as head coach. Of the 13 non-conference games that the Lobos have on the slate, 12 of them have been filled. New Mexico will play a home and home with New Mexico State this season. UNM will also pay a visit to Boulder to take on Colorado, who is paying the Lobos $80,000 for the visit. New Mexico will also take on SMU in The Pit.

Conference Slate

New Mexico will open up their 18-game MWC play on December 28^th when Colorado State pays a visit to The Pit. The Lobos will then pay former head coach Steve Alford a visit on New Year’s Day when they play Nevada in Reno, however that will be the only time UNM and Nevada square off all season.

Some key home games that Lobo fans will of course be looking forward to will be January 15^th when San Diego State comes to town; Boise State comes to Albuquerque on February 8^th, and Senior Night will be March 5^th when the Lobos take on UNLV.

Schedule Right Now

The Lobos and New Mexico State still need to agree on the dates of their two contests, and as mentioned before, the Lobos still need to fill one more non-conference game, and that one is a road contest.

Nov 10^th……Florida Atlantic

Nov 13^th……@ Colorado

Nov 15^th……Grambling

Nov 22^nd……Western New Mexico

Nov 25^th-26^th….Las Vegas Classic (Teams taking part are UNM, Towson, Alabama-Birmingham and San Francisco)

Dec 9^th……Denver

Dec 12^th……UTEP

Dec 19^th……SMU

Dec 21^st……Norfolk State

TBD……New Mexico State

TBD……@ New Mexico State

TBD……@ TBD

Dec 28^th……Colorado State

Jan 1^st……@ Nevada

Jan 8^th……Utah State

Jan 11^th……@ UNLV

Jan 15^th……San Diego State

Jan 18^th……@ Colorado State

Jan 22^nd……@ Wyoming

Jan 25^th……Fresno State

Jan 29^th……San Jose State

Feb 1^st……@ San Diego State

Feb 5^th……@ Air Force

Feb 8^th……Boise State

Feb 15^th……Wyoming

Feb 19^th……@ San Jose State

Feb 22^nd……@ Utah State

Feb 26^th……Air Force

Mar 1^st……@ Fresno State

Mar 5^th……UNLV

Thoughts

Yes, Lobo fans will look at the home slate in the non-conference schedule and once again be disappointed with no big names outside of the regional rivals in UTEP and NMSU. However, this is a good slate of teams to get the newer Lobos accustomed to Pitino’s style of coaching without getting ran out of the building.

I like the mix of teams that are regional outside of the UTEP and NMSU games. The Colorado game is a money game, one the Lobos will no doubt be huge underdogs in. The game with Denver is good to see and could turn into a regional rivalry. SMU will be a really good test for UNM as well.

Overall, this schedule may not have any standout names that casual basketball fans will clamor to see, but it is a solid schedule for Richard Pitino’s opening campaign and a nice welcome back to The Pit for this season.