The New Mexico men avoided their third straight loss Saturday night with a 75-68 win over Marquette at the MGM Grand Showcase in Las Vegas, Nev. The Lobos lost their previous two games against Kansas and New Mexico State. Lobo Freshman guard Cullen Neal scored a game-high 24 points, mostly coming from the 3-point line. He hit six of his eight attempts from the arc.
The legacy established by the 2013 New Mexico men’s soccer team extends beyond its NCAA tournament semifinal run, head coach Jeremy Fishbein said. It spans the past three seasons. UNM joined Maryland and Connecticut as the only three teams to reach the NCAA tournament’s third round consecutively over the last three seasons. This year’s trip to the Final Four became the culmination in that string of success, Fishbein said.
New Mexico is banged up right now. Junior point guard Hugh Greenwood missed Tuesday night’s Rio Grande Rivalry rematch after enduring a wrist injury in the earlier meeting with New Mexico State. Sophomore guard Cleveland “Pancake” Thomas started against NMSU with a broken nose, though he needed to wear a protective facemask. The loss of Greenwood contributed to UNM’s 67-61 loss to its in-state rival, head coach Craig Neal said, though he wasn’t exactly sure how much it played a factor.
Despite 24 points apiece from Kendall Williams and Cameron Bairstow, the New Mexico men’s basketball team suffered its second loss of the season with Saturday’s 80-63 setback to No. 13 Kansas in Kansas City.
The run is over. The New Mexico men’s soccer team ended their College Cup trip Friday in Philadelphia with a 2-0 loss to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish moved on to Sunday’s NCAA national championship game to play either Virginia or Maryland, who play in Friday’s other semifinal game.
If defense wins championships, as the old adage goes, then the other three teams in the NCAA College Cup better watch out. New Mexico hasn’t given up a goal this tournament. The defense came through yet again for head coach Jeremy Fishbein’s squad, which secured a spot among the four remaining teams in college soccer with Saturday night’s 1-0 victory over Washington in the Elite Eight. “I couldn’t be prouder of our team,” Fishbein said.
On Saturday, New Mexico head football coach Bob Davie announced that defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach Jeff Mills will not be returning to the team next season. Davie confirmed online reports that Mills had indeed been let go.
Almost immediately following posting a double-double against Cincinnati on Saturday, Cameron Bairstow went into the weight room at the Rudy Davalos Basketball Center to lift weights. He still had enough energy to lift weights even after playing a game-high 37 minutes in the Lobos’ 63-54 victory, where he registered 24 points and 13 rebounds against the Bearcats.
Kasey Carrier didn’t plan to end his career this way. Against Colorado State on Nov. 16, New Mexico’s senior running back received a concussion in the first half that would end his season. According to mayoclinic.com, a concussion is “a traumatic brain injury that alters the way your brain operates.”
The New Mexico women’s basketball team continued its domination of in-state rival New Mexico State with a 65-55 victory on Saturday at The Pit. UNM (4-4) has won 34 of the last 35 battles between the two rival schools, including 12 straight overall.
Earlier today, New Mexico head football coach Bob Davie announced that defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach Jeff Mills will not return to the team next season. Mills was fired after only two years as defensive coordinator.
Guard Kendall Williams (24 points) and forward Cameron Bairstow (20) combined to score more than half of New Mexico’s points in a 79-70 victory over in-state rival New Mexico State at the Pan American Center on Wednesday.
The New Mexico men’s soccer team makes one of its smoother road trips of the season this weekend, head coach Jeremy Fishbein said, when the Lobos play at Washington in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals Saturday.
New Mexico redshirt junior center Alex Kirk said that while playing for the Americans at the World University Games in Russia, he spent time in the cafeteria with New Mexico State guard Daniel Mullings, who played for the Canadian team.
It’s not completely foreign territory, but the New Mexico men’s soccer team entered rarefied air on Sunday night. With their 2-0 victory over Penn State at the UNM Soccer Complex, the No. 7 seed Lobos reached the Elite Eight for the second time in school history.
Kendall Williams: A game-high 28 points in New Mexico’s 73-66 win over San Diego. Alex Kirk: 21 points; Cameron Bairstow: 16 points. The rest of the Lobo roster: eight points. Three players accounted for the vast majority of UNM’s scoring output as the Lobos won their fifth game of the season Saturday afternoon at The Pit.
After struggling to sink shots in its first-round loss in the Thanksgiving Tournament, New Mexico rebounded to take third place with a 73-55 victory over Southeastern Missouri on Saturday at The Pit.
Maturity takes time. Two years ago, the New Mexico football team fell at Boise State 45-0 without much of a fight. On Saturday, UNM lost once again to the Broncos in Boise, Idaho, but the game was much more competitive. The Lobos lost their regular season finale 45-17 at Bronco Stadium.
The identity of New Mexico’s defense has yet to be determined. But head coach Bob Davie has an idea for UNM’s defense could be in the future.
It’s been 25 years since the New Mexico volleyball team has had success like this. Thanks to UNM’s 14th sweep of the season over San Jose State on Wednesday, UNM improved to 24-7, which is the most wins the Lobos have had since 1988. The Lobos also secured second place in the Mountain West Conference with a 14-6 conference record.
Solutions by The State News
