A lot has changed since the Lobos (15-13, 7-9) played the Nevada Wolf Pack (5-23, 4-13) back on December 30, which was the conference season opener for both teams. The Lobos won the first meeting 51-47 in a game where the Lobos struggled offensively, and were without the services of Jaisa Nunn (full game) and Alexa Chavez (first half injury). The Lobos need to continue the good offensive play that they showed in their last game, which helped them get a win at SDSU. If the Lobos are able to score at a good clip during this game and the MW Tournament next week, they could surprise a lot of teams.
What seed will the Lobos be?
The Lobos are locked into a 5-7 seed, if the Lobos win and either or both UNLV and USU lose the Lobos would be the 5 seed and would face either BSU or SJSU in the first round. The only way the Lobos won’t get the 5 or 6 seeds is if UNLV and USU both win and the Lobos lose. The 6 seed will play AFA in the opening round, and the 7 seed will face Nevada.
Thank You Seniors:
This class of Seniors is a very special one to the Coach Sanchez era. Khadijah Shumpert and Bryce Owens came to New Mexico when the Lobos were hit really hard by a whole draft class leaving the program after the season right before Coach Sanchez got the job. There were opportunities to play early and make an impact to help rebuild the Lobos, and they were able to take advantage of those opportunities. Both players started early in the careers and are starters this season as well. The third senior, Alexa Chavez from Sante Fe, came to the Lobo Program as a walk-on, and worked her way into becoming a scholarship player and a key starter on the team last year. This season, she has been slowed down by injury, but the contributions from her during the four years have been great. Thank you seniors for everything you gave the Lobos during your time here!
SDSU Wolf Pack:
The Wolf Pack are led by eighth year head coach Jane Albright, who is in her 32nd year of being a college head coach. The Wolf Pack are coming off a rough year, in which they finished 9-21 overall and 5-13 in Conference play. The Wolf Pack have had another rough season having won only 4 conference games and only 5 wins total against Division 1 teams. As we saw in the first meeting, the Lobos can’t take this game for granted, just show up, and expect to win this game. I don’t feel like that should be an issue, as the Lobo seniors will likely make sure that they don’t lose in their last home game. The Lobos should win this game, and should win by more than they did in the first game.
The Wolf Pack do have a good player in senior forward Nyasha Lesure, who is averaging 12.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1 steal, and just under one block a game. However, Junior College All-American transfer guard Stephanie Schmid hasn’t had the impact that the Wolf Pack had hoped for. While Schmid is averaging 11.4 points per game, she is shooting only 30.6% from the floor, and 27.4% from three. Schmid at least shot well from the foul line shooting 82.4%. It is important for the Lobos to make sure she doesn’t get out of her shooting slump.
Team Stat Comparison:
- Points Per Game: Lobos 61.4; Wolf Pack 57.7
- Points Allowed Per Game: Lobos 58.2; Wolf Pack 68
- Field Goal Percentage: Lobos 37.1%; Wolf Pack 37.1%
- Three Point Percentage: Lobos 28.1%; Wolf Pack 26.1%
- Free Throw Percentage: Lobos 64.3%; Wolf Pack 67.6%
- Defensive Field Goal Percentage: Lobos 37.1%; Wolf Pack 42%
- Defensive Three Point Percentage: Lobos 31.2%; Wolf Pack 30.1%
- Rebounds Per Game: Lobos 39.7; Wolf Pack 37.2
- Assists Per Game: Lobos 13.3; Wolf Pack 10.2
- Turnovers Per Game: Lobos 15; Wolf Pack 18
- Turnovers Forced Per Game: Lobos 17.8; Wolf Pack 14.5
Note: Lobo stats do not include the SDSU game Tuesday.
Picks:
I went 5-0 on my picks Tuesday to improve to 68-21. Here are my picks for Friday’s games:
UNM vs. Nevada
UNLV vs. SDSU
BSU vs. SJSU
FSU vs. USU
CSU vs. AFA
The winner of the BSU vs. SJSU game will decide the 3 and 4 seed for the MW Tournament.
Conference Standings
- CSU 17-0
- FSU 14-3
- BSU 11-6
- SJSU 11-6
- UNM 8-9
- UNLV 8-9
- USU 8-9
- SDSU 6-11
- WYO 6-12
- Nevada 4-13
- AFA 1-16
Prediction:
Lobos should not have problems with the Wolf Pack on Senior Night. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lobos are both celebrating the seinors and a 20-point win. I put the Lobos odds of winning this game at 93%, with the final score being 65-51.
Game Info:
Who: New Mexico (15-13, 8-9) vs. Nevada (5-23, 4-13)
Where: WisePies Arena AKA The PIT, Albuquerque, New Mexico
When: Friday March 4th, 7:00 PM MT
Radio: 610 AM
Stream: Campus Insiders