After a game against Houston Baptist, where they played well defensively but had some struggles offensively in their 65-57 win, the Lobos look to get their offense going against instate rival NMSU. After playing just NMSU once last year, the Lobos and Aggies return to playing twice against each other this season. The Aggies won the lone meeting last year in Las Cruces 70-59, in a game where Sasha Weber scored 23 points for the Aggies. It will be important for the Lobos to get their offense going in the first quarter and keep the starters out of foul trouble. If the Lobos are able to control the pace of play and control the impact of Weber, the Lobos will have a decent chance to win this game.
NMSU:
The Aggies, led by fifth year Head Coach Mark Trakh, are coming off of a 22-8 season that saw them make the NCAA Tournament and be competitive at Maryland in the first round of the Tournament. They return their star players in Sasha Weber (14.9 ppg) and Brianna Freeman (13.7 ppg, 7.9 rpm) and a few other key members off of their team last year, so this is definitely a team with experience. The Aggies won their season opening game at North Dakota State in a 79-69 contest. As an interesting side note, NMSU doesn’t have a single player on their roster from the state of New Mexico.
Lobo Rotation:
As expected, the Lobos starting lineup in the first regular season game was Whitney Johnson, Khadijah Shumpert, Cherise Beynon, Bryce Owens and Jannon Otto. Johnson played well in her first regular season game in a couple of years, scoring nine points and grabbing eight rebounds in 19 minutes of action. Freshman Jaisa Nunn had a very good first collegiate game scoring 11 points and grabbing eight rebounds in her 18 minutes of action off the bench. Kianna Keller also played well in her 22 minutes of action, scoring nine points along with 7 rebounds. It will be interesting to see what rotation Coach Sanchez will use for the post position, especially when senior Alexa Chavez will return to action in the not too distant future. I think the other four starting spots are locked up, but this is a good problem to have if you are Coach Sanchez. Depth and talent are there, so you have options to find the right combinations.
Player to Watch:
The match up that I will be watching to see how it plays out will be at the wing position with Lobo Cherise Beynon and Aggie Sasha Weber. Beynon struggled shooting the basketball against Houston Baptist, but did have five rebounds and four assist in the game. Beynon needs to have a great game against a very talented Weber and try to control the match up. Beynon is a very talented player and this could be a game where we see her take a big step into the player that she has the potential to be.
Four Quarters:
A change in Women’s college basketball this season is the way the 40 minutes are broken up. Instead of two halves, the women will be playing four ten minute quarters with one media timeout per quarter and a five-foul penalty for each quarter, much like the NBA. I like the change and if it goes well this season for the women’s game I wouldn’t mind seeing the men making the change the next time the rules committee meets. I think there are some great advantages to this way, particularly that it allows the game to flow smoother with fewer mandatory stops in the action for media timeouts. Plus, there are only six media timeouts during the course of a women’s game this year, compared to eight in the men’s game.
Prediction:
It is still very early in the season, so there are still a lot of unknowns with both teams. The Aggies are coming off a great road win to open their season, which bodes well for their season, but the Lobos had a nice win at home too. With the Lobos hitting the road for the first time this season, the Lobo freshmen need to adapt to road play quickly or this game could turn out a lot like last years Aggies win. This should be a close game with a lot of great play from both sides. I will put the odds of a Lobos win at 53% due to the talent and depth that the Lobos have. I think that the many different ways the Lobos can score on the offensive end will be too much for the Aggies. I predict a 67-63 Lobos win with Shumpert leading the way for the Lobos with a double-double.
Game Info:
Who: New Mexico 1-0 AT New Mexico State 1-0
Where: Pan American Center; Las Cruces, New Mexico
When: Tuesday November 17th 7 PM MT
Radio: 610 AM
TV: AggieVision, FS Arizona and ESPN 3