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New Mexico Basketball: 2019-20 keys to beat San Jose State in MWC Tournament

By John Vaccaro

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 26: Zane Martin #0 of the New Mexico Lobos rebounds the ball during the second half of their game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Barclays Center on November 26, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 26: Zane Martin #0 of the New Mexico Lobos rebounds the ball during the second half of their game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Barclays Center on November 26, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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New Mexico Basketball
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO – FEBRUARY 29: JaQuan Lyle #5 (R) talks to Zane Martin #0 of the New Mexico Lobos  (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images) /

We all know that this New Mexico basketball season has once again heaped disappointment on the fans, but that doesn’t matter anymore.

For the next four days, all that matters is whether or not New Mexico Basketball can win four consecutive games to steal the Mountain West’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Success in the Mountain West tournament certainly wouldn’t be anything new for UNM. They are the last school to win consecutive tournaments, winning three in a row from 2012-2014.

Since then, the program has taken a turn in the wrong direction, but that history is something this squad can draw on to right their ship. Their win over 2 seed Utah State (who they’ll play again in Round 2 with a win on Wednesday) should give them some momentum heading into this tournament. Their Mountain West tournament journey begins with a team that had an even worse February than theirs.

There was never a time where San Jose State’s season was going particularly well, but it has become outright horrendous over the last month. They’ve lost their last nine games with five of those losses coming by more than 15 points. That skid saw them come dangerously close to dropping into the bottom seed in the conference, but even though they avoided that, they still got stuck in 10th. They split their season series with the Lobos but were absolutely embarrassed the last time these two teams played. A win here would give the program something positive to look at from the end of their season, but it would be really hard to see their season going any further than that.

This game is the 2nd scheduled matchup in the first round of the Mountain West tournament and will take place at the Thomas and Mack Center. It doesn’t have the kind of NCAA bubble implications that many fans look for this time of year, but it should still be an entertaining matchup between two teams still searching for some meaning from their seasons.