Women: UNLV at New Mexico
Thursday, 7 p.m., the Pit. Radio: 610 AM/95.9 FM, themw.com (streaming)
What you need to know about New Mexico: The Lobos’ three-game winning streak will be put to the test against Mountain West-leading UNLV, a team that shut them down in Las Vegas on Jan. 14. UNM’s starters got clobbered (outscored 65-25) by their UNLV counterparts in that meeting and will have to play dramatically better for the Lobos to stay with the Rebels. The same is true in the rebounding department, where UNLV posted a 40-25 advantage in round one. UNM has been much improved on the boards in four games since, outrebounding its combined foes 147-137. Cumber has played well during the Lobos’ winning streak, averaging 12.7 points and 4.3 rebounds. She started the past two games after Reus (ankle) sat out against Colorado State. Reus came off the bench against Utah State. Bradbury was non-committal about which will start Thursday. Johnson (illness) did not travel to Utah State and missed two practices this week. She is questionable against her former team.
What you need to know about UNLV: The Lady Rebels have effectively run away from the Mountain West pack, building a three-game lead (plus tiebreakers) over their closest pursuers with eight games remaining. Consistency has been a major part of UNLV’s success as it leads the conference in overall scoring (76.8 points per game), and in league play ranks first in field goal percentage (46.6%) and third in 3-point percentage (36.1%). The Rebels typically are content to simply outscore opponents, but they can also win low-scoring, defensive games when necessary. They lead the MWC in rebounding margin (+7.6). Young and Booker are the catalysts for UNLV, ranking second and fifth, respectively, in MWC scoring (Young also leads in rebounding). Young has scored in double figures in every conference game and Booker has in all but one. Other players can come up big at times, like Durazo-Frescas, who had a season-best 20 points in UNLV’s 79-63 win over New Mexico on Jan. 14.