Injuries have plagued the Lobos in the month of January, and it had an impact on the team’s first game of February, losing to UNLV by nine points at home.
It was the Lobos’ first game since losing sophomore Jaisa Nunn after she suffered a torn ACL against Northern New Mexico on Sunday. And the squad had already lost Emily Lines earlier in the season.
On Saturday, New Mexico (12-10, 7-4 MW) will travel to California to play the San Jose State Spartans in the first and only regular season conference meeting, though they could face each other again in the Mountain West tournament in March.
The Lobos are coming off a heartbreaking 61-52 loss at home to UNLV at The Pit, trailing by 16 at the half. They crept back into the game to pull within one point, but never fully recovered from the slow start.
Despite the UNLV loss, the Lobos still have a 3-1 record over their last four games, unlike its opponent on Saturday, San Jose State (7-14, 4-5 MW), which has gone 1-3 in its last four games.
San Jose State’s most recent game was also against UNLV. The Spartans pushed past the Rebels in convincing fashion last Saturday, beating them in Las Vegas, Nevada 76-65.
Although the Lobos will be without one of its best scorers in Nunn, they do still have three other players that have been consistent scoring threats.
Junior guard Cherise Beynon – who recorded her ninth 20-plus point game against UNLV on Wednesday – leads the Lobos scoring 15.9 points per game. Beynon is followed by senior center Richelle van der Keijl (13.2) and redshirt junior guard Alex Lapeyrolerie (10.8).
San Jose State has several players that can put up points in bunches. The Spartans are led by senior Dezz Ramos, who is averaging an impressive 22 points per game – which leads the Mountain West.
The Spartans also
UNM head coach Mike Bradbury said Ramos poses a serious threat and the Lobos will have to contain her, as she can hurt teams from anywhere on the court.
“Well, we’re going to have to stay disciplined I think,” Bradbury said. “She’s really talented and she’s going to make some of those, but, you know, we just got to try and make it as hard as we can.”
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One area the Lobos do have the advantage, though, is in the rebounding category. Van der Keijl who averages 9.5 rebounds per game leads the team, followed by Beynon (7.2) and senior forward Kianna Keller (6.5).
As a team, the Lobos are averaging 46.4 rebounds per game, while San Jose State has secured 37.1 per contest.
Bradbury said he expected the pace of play will be a lot different than when his team played UNLV.
“It’s personnel driven… and it is team driven,” Bradbury said. “UNLV plays extremely slow and San Jose [State] plays the exact opposite. I mean they’re going to shoot it as fast as possible. So because of
Tip-off for the game is at 3 p.m. and will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network.
Matthew Narvaiz is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers women’s basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz
