New Mexico vs Nevada: 2018-19 College basketball game preview, TV schedule
By Joey Loose
New Mexico and Nevada meet Saturday night in an intriguing game as the Wolf Pack look to avenge their only loss of the season; can the Lobos do the unthinkable a second time?
TV schedule: Saturday, February 9, 6:00 pm ET. CBSSN
Arena: Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada
Since Steve Alford’s departure in 2013, New Mexico (10-12) has not exactly been a hot program. This season finds them slightly under .500 and struggling in MWC play, though they do have the biggest conference win of the year. Five weeks ago, they knocked off this Nevada team by 27 points, a mind-blowing upset; but it hasn’t exactly sparked their season. They enter this game fresh off a victory over San Diego State, but this game is another animal.
The Lobos are led on offense by senior guard Anthony Mathis (15.8 ppg). Mathis can light it up from the 3 and poured in 27 points last time these two teams met. Another player to watch is sophomore forward Vance Jackson (12.8 ppg, 7.1 rpg), the team’s biggest force down low. Another major contributor is Kansas transfer and junior forward Carlton Bragg Jr. (10.8 ppg, 8.2 rpg), who’s done well in limited action this season, grabbing 12 boards in that Nevada win.
This is a very middle of the pack team, sitting at 172nd in KenPom, which ranks 7th in the MWC. The Lobos play at a fast pace, which might work against them this time versus the Wolf Pack. They are 46th in free throws, but few other things stand out about this team as a whole. This is your average mid-major team and not one that’s going to go on any kind of run in March.
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Waiting to elicit their revenge, Nevada (22-1) has beaten everyone on their schedule aside from these Lobos. They’ve won most of their MWC games with relative ease and have risen to #6 in the AP top 25. This is a talented team with a deep roster and a competent coach in Eric Musselman, who has really revitalized this program in a short time.
There are studs all over this team, with a number of talented senior forwards. Jordan Caroline (19.3 ppg, 10.0 rpg) just dropped 40 points at Colorado State. Caleb Martin (19.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg) recently dropped 30 on Boise State, while his twin brother Cody Martin (11.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 5.3 apg) has excelled as well, especially distributing the ball to the other two. There’s experience all over this roster and this is a team that is built to make a deep run in March; even deeper than last year’s Sweet Sixteen.
Despite the high ranking and their excellent record, the Wolf Pack sit at just 17th in KenPom. This is principally attributed to their weaker schedule, not to mention their previous loss to the Lobos. They are 1st in the nation on offense when it comes to turnovers and shoot the ball really well as a team. While they depend on Caroline and the Martin twins heavily, there’s a lot of skill and depth on their bench as well.
For the Lobos, they already understand what it takes to beat Nevada; they simply need to execute their game plan and play shutdown defense like they did in January. For the Wolf Pack, revenge will be on the docket. It’s unlikely they’ll shoot as badly as they did at New Mexico, and if they avoid mistakes, then this game will never be in doubt.
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Predicting New Mexico’s upset over Nevada back in January would have been an incredible thing to do, but there will be no such magic during round two. The game is being played in Reno and these Lobos haven’t shown consistency in recent weeks. Nevada will roll.