Schedule updates keep Lobos on road

UNM to miss Boise State altogether, per changes

The UNM women’s basketball team will not sing another rendition of “Home on the Range” this season.

The Lobos will instead be performing “On the Road Again.”

The Mountain West Conference released an amended women’s schedule Saturday for the remainder of its regular season. The update includes numerous rescheduled games to account for COVIDrelated postponements and San Jose State opting out for the rest of the season.

New Mexico, which has been more impacted by coronavirus issues than any other MWC team still playing, had its remaining schedule changed dramatically. The Lobos’ final 10 regular-season games will be on the road. The adjustments include:

■ UNM’s postponed series at Utah State has been rescheduled for Feb. 28 and March 1. The Jan. 7 and 9 games were postponed after two members (non-players) of UNM’s Tier 1 travel party tested positive for COVID-19.

■ Scheduled UNM home series against Colorado State and Air Force will be played on the road. The Lobos and Rams will play back-to-back games on Feb. 12-13, while the UNM-AFA games will be Feb. 22 and 24.

■ The Lobos will not play a regularseason series against Boise State. Games scheduled in December were not played because both schools had finals. The series will not be made up.

UNM, which cannot play home games because of New Mexico’s coronavirus restrictions, “hosted” two games against

Fresno State last week at West Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas. Lobos coach Mike Bradbury opted not to play CSU or Air Force at the neutral site.

“It’s just as easy for us to travel to Colorado Springs and Fort Collins as it is to come here,” Bradbury said in a phone interview from Canyon. “There’s really no reason to have everyone traveling back out here at this point.”

The schedule changes will leave UNM and some other MWC teams playing fewer regular-season game than others. As a result, teams will be seeded for the Mountain West tournament based on winning percentage, Bradbury said.

“Some things may not be fair but this is just a weird year with COVID and we can’t do anything but embrace it,” Bradbury said. “We’ll play the games on our schedule, do the best we can and hope next year’s back to normal.”