When UNLV came into The Pit on Feb. 2, Amy Beggin went off for a career-high 26 points, and the UNM women's basketball team cruised to a 96-64 win.
But when the Lobos travel to UNLV on Tuesday, coach Don Flanagan said he will be more concerned with how his sophomore point guard handles the ball than how many points she puts up.
"We don't need her to have her best game," he said. "We need to have her distributing the ball and getting it to the right players and breaking their press. I expect them to press us probably most of the game."
The Rebels are one of the most aggressive teams in the Mountain West Conference when it comes to pressuring the ball handler.
Beggin has played nearly every minute of every game this season, in part because Flanagan said he doesn't trust other players as much as her to bring the ball up the court.
Beggin said she knows the fierce kind of defense UNLV will play against the Lobos.
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"They're going to come out aggressive and try to trap us," she said. "We're going to have to take care of the ball and hopefully get some easy layups."
UNM heads into Tuesday's game with a 15-12 overall record and 7-7 in conference, tied for fourth with BYU in the MWC.
UNLV is 8-18 overall and 4-9 in conference play.
The Rebels' Sequoia Holmes is once again having an outstanding season, scoring 18.6 points per game while averaging 7.3 rebounds per contest. Shamela Hampton is adding 11.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
In the previous meeting, Holmes scored 18 points and grabbed five boards while Dominique Harris scored 24 points.
Flanagan said UNM will have to play disciplined defense in addition to dealing with the Rebels' press.
"We have to withstand their early aggressiveness, because they're going to be aggressive," he said. "They have the ability to score, and the two wings are very prolific scorers. We emphasize Sequoia. The most important thing is, don't give them second shots."
After taking on UNLV, the Lobos will host Colorado State on Saturday in their regular-season finale. The Mountain West Conference Tournament begins March 11.
With just two games remaining, there isn't a lot of maneuvering room in the conference standing for the Lobos.
So, the focus on these last two games is to head into the conference tournament playing well, Beggin said.
"We're just trying to build a little momentum going into the conference tournament and hopefully build a lot of confidence going in there playing our best basketball of the year," she said.
Women's basketball at UNLV
Tuesday, 9 p.m.
Las Vegas
