The Lobos (1-0) got their season off to a good start with a dominating win against Fairleigh Dickinson, winning 83-56. It was a good matchup for the Lobos to shake off some of the rust and start to understand Coach Bradbury’s style of play without having to think about it too much. In that matchup against Fairleigh Dickinson, the Lobos could use their size to their advantage and received great games from Rachelle van der Keijl, Kianna Keller, and Jaisa Nunn, with each player collecting 9 rebounds and combining for 33 points. The Lobos will need to keep getting great games from their front court and use their great size as an advantage. Things will get tougher for the Lobos when they face NMSU (1-0) on Tuesday night, as NMSU is coming off a great season in which they went 24-5, including a sweep of the Lobos.

Things to Watch:

• Cherise Beynon had an interesting opener for the Lobos, ending the game with a double-double without a point. The Lobos will need her to get her shot going, because she will need to be the go-to scorer as the season goes along.
• Laneah Bryan didn’t play in the opener due to injury. Since she is the lone true point guard on the roster, the Lobos relied on Beynon (10 assists, 7 turnovers) and Mykiel Burleson (6 assists, 1 turnover) handling the ball and controlling the pace of the game. The two did well in the first game, even though Beynon had a few too many turnovers. I will be keeping an eye on the rotation when Bryan is back healthy.
• In the first game of the season, Coach Bradbury had an 8-player rotation, with every one of these players playing between 21-28 minutes. I wonder if this is a tread that will continue, or if we will see a bigger difference in minutes between starters and bench players.
• Alex Lapeyrolerie (6-8) and Emily Lines (3-4) both shot the ball extremely well in the first game. If both can shoot at a high clip this season, I expect their roles to expand in this system.

Stat Comparison:

	Lobos	Aggies
Points Per Game	61.3	68.6
Points Allowed Per Game	57.6	59.8
Rebounds Per Game/Margin	39.2, +3.3	37.8, -.4
Assists Per Game	13.5	13.0
Turnovers Per Game	14.6	15.0
Steals Per Game	8.8	9.9
Blocks Per Game	2.9	4.2
Field Goal %	37.7%	41.0%
3 Point%	27.7%	32.4%
Free Throw %	.651%	67.7%

These stats are from last season, so the Lobo stats don’t really tell the story of this year’s team. In the first game of their seasons, the Lobos beat Fairleigh Dickinson 83-56 and the Aggies beat SJSU 66-55. We will have a better read on this matchup when they meet in Las Cruses after each team has played a few more games.

New Mexico State:

Coming off a very good season in which they went 24-5, the Aggies are looking to build on their success this season. They did lose their best player off last year’s team in Sasha Weber, but they do return a lot of talent for this year’s team.

• Moriah Mack is the leading returning scorer, averaging 11.7 points last year while also averaging 5.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
• Brianna Freeman led the Aggies in rebounding last year, with 5.7 rebounds per game, while also averaging 9.7 points.
• Brooke Salas is a very talented sophomore who averaged 9.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game as a freshman.
• Tamera William averaged 7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

Players of the Game:

(For each game, we pick out who we think were the top three Lobos, awarding 3 points to the top performer, 2 to the second, and 1 to the third. We keep track of the points all season and will use them to determine our player of the year)

1. Alex Lapeyrolerie (3 points on the season): Lapeyrolerie gave life to the team when the offense was struggling early in the game. She made the biggest impact early in the game and finished with 21 points (7-9 FG, 6-8 3P) and 2 rebounds.
2. Rachelle van der Keijl (2 points on the season): van der Keijl was great in her first official game as a Lobo, finishing with 20 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks.
3. Mykiel Burleson (1 point on the season): Had a great debut, spending time at both guard positions and finishing the game with 14 points and 6 assists.

Game Prediction:

There isn’t a whole lot to go on for this matchup, with the changes particularly on the Lobos’ side. On top of that, rivalry games can always end up being a toss-up. I give the Lobos a 47% chance of winning this game. I will go with the home team and take the Lobos in a close game, with the Lobos winning 71-68.

Game Info:

Who: New Mexico Lobos (1-0) vs. New Mexico State Aggies (1-0)

When: Tuesday November 15, 7 PM MT

Where: WisePies Arena AKA The PIT, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Steam: LoboTV