No. 19 New Mexico goes on the road to face Wyoming on Tuesday night after the Lobos’ five-game winning streak was snapped by Boise State at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M., last Wednesday.
New Mexico (18-4, 6-3 Mountain West) struggled offensively and defensively in the 86-78 loss to Boise State.
Donovan Dent had a career-high 31 points, shooting 66.7 percent from the floor (12 of 18), but his teammates shot 31.3 percent (15 of 48).
Boise State’s Max Rice netted a career-high 35 points while making 12 of 20 shots (60 percent) from the floor after entering the game making only 34.7 percent of his shots.
“We rely a lot on forcing turnovers, blocked shots, speeding teams up,” Dent said. “Credit to them. They did a great job of just being patient, taking the time in their offense. They shot the ball almost every time under 10 seconds, so that’s credit to them. We got to guard better.”
Jaelen House (who made 2 of 15 shots from the floor) and Jamal Mashburn Jr. (6 of 15), shot a combined 8 of 30 from the floor and 3 of 15 from 3-point range.
House finished with 12 points and Mashburn 14, joining Dent as the only Lobos scoring in double figures.
“We were not able to turn them over, which has really helped us, and we didn’t get the steals that we’ve been getting,” said New Mexico coach Richard Pitino, whose team forced 11 turnovers and produced four steals.
“We didn’t hit shots at the end. They made more plays in the end than we did, so we will learn from it. We got a little break now to get ready for Wyoming.”
Wyoming (12-10, 5-4) returns home where it is 8-1 after going 1-8 in true road games following Saturday’s 62-48 loss at UNLV.
The Cowboys made 34.6 percent of their shots, a season low for them in Mountain West games.
“It is really hard to win on the road and against a talented team,” Wyoming coach Jeff Linder said. “Those guys have shown they are talented and they are playing well right now. Coming on the road we knew we had to take care of the ball and when we have open looks, we have to knock them down.”
Wyoming had 14 turnovers that led to 21 points for UNLV, which won its third straight game.
The Cowboys have lost 20 consecutive regular-season road games against UNLV dating to the 2002-03 season.
Wyoming freshman Cam Manyawu had 13 points and nine rebounds.
Brendan Wenzel, playing with three displaced ribs, added 12 points for his third straight game in double-figures.
Mason Walters had six points and a season-high 13 rebounds.
“I’m disappointed in the final score,” Linder said. “We came into the game with a lot of confidence knowing that we were playing a really talented UNLV team.”
–Field Level Media