In college basketball, March brings about something that can go missing in February: hope. Teams that underperformed and teams that were overmatched earlier in the season are given one last chance to fulfill a dream and to make the NCAA Tournament. However, for 283 teams, that dream dies and each program is left trying to figure out what went wrong and where to go from there. Unfortunately, the Lobos are one of those teams. With their 64-62 loss to Nevada, their season is over and what could be a tumultuous offseason begins.
Lobo Baseball at Nevada Series Preview
The Lobos (6-5, 0-0) look to get back to their winning ways, as they start Mountain West Play tonight with a three-game series at Nevada (4-8, 0-2). After starting the year 6-1, the Lobos have lost all four games in the last week, with 3 losses to Dallas Baptist and a loss to NMSU in El Paso. It will be important for the Lobos to get good pitching, as they have given up 59 runs in the last 4 games. Carson Schneider will be given the ball in his customary Friday night role and will be counted on to get the series off right with a great start. At the same time, the Lobo offense needs to get an early lead to get the team’s confidence back. The Lobos are hitting .326 as a team with an on-base percentage of .440, so the offense hasn’t been the problem, but with the struggles the pitching staff is having right now, there has been added pressure to be even better. The Lobos pitching staff is allowing a .337 batting average against and have an earned run average of 6.80, which clearly needs to be better if the Lobos want to win the Mountain West Regular Season Title. They have the talent to do it, though, so I’m optimistic that they’ll get back on track soon.
Women’s Basketball: MWC Tourney (Semifinal Update)
The Lobos (17-13, 9-9) advanced to Wednesday’s semifinals to face the top-seeded CSU Rams (29-1, 18-0) by controlling the whole game against SJSU and winning 65-51. In the game, the Lobos were able to control the pace of the game and limit SJSU’s good looks from three. Khadijah Shumpert dominated the game, scoring 26 points (11 of 15 shooting), with 5 rebounds, a block, and 2 steals. Most importantly, Shumpert only picked up two fouls in the game, so she was able to play her normal minutes. Bryce Owens was fantastic in the point guard spot, finishing with 7 points (3 of 10 shooting), 12 rebounds, 5 assists, a steal, and only 2 turnovers. The Lobos had a very balanced scoring attack after Shumpert’s 26, with nine Lobos scoring in total leading to the 65 points.
Men’s Basketball: Mountain West Tournament Preview
It’s been a long season, but here we are: MWC Tournament week. No team has proven to be invincible in the conference this year, so this tournament feels as wide-open as it has ever been. Also, because no team seems to have a lock on an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, we have 11 teams who feel like they need to win out this week in order to make it to the Big Dance. All of that should make for a fun week.
Lobo Baseball: DBU Recap
It was a tough weekend for the Lobos (6-4), as they got swept by Dallas Baptist in a three game series at Santa Ana Star Field. Friday, the Lobos lost a close 5-2 game with a little bit of drama, when the Lobos appeared to tie the game at 3-3 when Dalton Bowers was called out at home, because the umpire said he did not touch home plate while sliding past the plate. It looked like Bowers had touched the plate and if he had scored, there is no way of knowing how the game would have played out. Saturday and Sunday’s games will be ones the Lobos will want to forget and move past. In the game Saturday, the Lobos couldn’t get the DBU hitters out, letting DBU put up video game numbers with 33 runs scored in a 33-8 game. While that was a really bad game, these type of games tend to happen in college baseball and in my opinion, Sunday’s game was the loss that hurt the most. After five innings in the game on Sunday, the Lobos had an 11-2 lead with Colton Thomson cruising, but the last four innings was all DBU, as they outscored the Lobos 10-0 to beat the Lobos 12-11.
Women’s Basketball: MWC Tournament Preview
The Lobos (16-13, 9-9) are on a two-game winning streak as they enter the Mountain West Tournament as the 5 seed. They will take on the 4th seeded SJSU Spartans (13-16, 11-7) at 3:30 MT on Tuesday in the quarterfinals. The two teams have already played twice this season (here’s the preview for the first game, and here’s the preview for the second), with the Lobos winning the game in Albuquerque by 14 and the Spartans winning the game in San José by one. Since the last meeting, SJSU is 3-2 in their last five games, while the Lobos are 4-2 in their last six games. The key to this game will be if the Lobos will be able to control the tempo, they have been able to do this in each of the first two meetings.
Men’s Basketball at Nevada Recap
In a game that turned out to have very few implications for the MWC Tournament (aside from determining who the “home” team is the when these two face each other on Thursday), but did have a lot of implications for the Lobos’ morale, UNM came out with a much-needed win. They now turn their attention to the most important week of their season, and a chance to make it to the NCAA Tournament.
Men’s Basketball at Nevada Preview
There’s no way around it: the Lobos are on a major skid right now. They’ve lost four straight, managed to go from 2nd to 5th in the conference, and have seen a bunch of fans turn on them. The last time this happened – back in December, when they went on the worst trip to Hawaii ever – the Lobos banded together to pull out a nice win at home against Nevada. Coincidently, next on the schedule: Nevada. Let’s see if history can repeat itself.
Lobo Baseball vs. Dallas Baptist Series Preview
The Lobos (6-1) are on a 5-game win streak and are now ranked 24th in one of the many college baseball polls. If the Lobos are able to sweep Dallas Baptist (5-3), I think that they will start appearing in almost every college baseball poll. These are the sort of series that the team needs to win to have a good shot of making the NCAA Tournament, whether or not they win the conference championship. The Lobos will need great fan support to make it a great home field advantage this weekend.
Lobo Baseball vs. Wichita State Series Recap
The Lobos (6-1) opened their home schedule with a dominant three-game sweep of Wichita State, winning 17-7, 8-4, and 8-6. The Lobo bats were on fire and were able to make Wichita State go to their bullpen early, with only one Wichita State starter to make it through 4 innings. One key thing for the Lobos to be a truly great team this year is for the Lobo starting pitching to continue to pitch well, because the Lobo offense will probably be one of the best in the country.