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New Mexico State Continues to Haunt Weir, New Mexico Falls 100-65
Lobos fall to Aggies by the one of the largest margins in the history of the Rio Grande Rivalry
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The Lobos have lost five straight to the Aggies
New Mexico State (7-1) continues the recent trend of success over their biggest rival, handing New Mexico (4-2) their second loss of the season by a margin of 100-65.
The Aggies were led by JoJo Zamora (27 points, 3 assists) and Ivan Aurrecoechea who recorded his first double-double of the season (23 points, 11 rebounds). The Lobos were led by Drue Drinnon (13 points) and Vance Jackson (11 points, 6 rebounds).
For the second game in a row, New Mexico started by allowing their opponent to score the first 11 points.
In their win against Bradley, the Lobos wouldn’t score for some time, but eventually won the game comfortably. But the story line would be much different in the second match-up with New Mexico State.
After closing the gap to 8 points with 12:21 to go in the first half, the Lobos were quickly stifled by the Aggies, finishing the first half with only 22 points to New Mexico State’s 50 points. The lead eventually ballooned to a 41 differential.
Once again, small, quick guard play harmed the Lobos, and when the pressure intensified, the Aggies handled it well, passing the ball with ease to the open man for open three-point shots, layups, dunks and alley-oops.
But it wasn’t just the guards. In a game that started with an altercation, only one side continued fighting after the tip-off. While the Aggies showed plenty of fight, the Lobos were beat in virtually every statistical category.
New Mexico shot just 30.0% from the floor, 55.6% from the free throw line and, perhaps most importantly, was out-rebounded 52-31. They were also outdone in sharing the ball. While the Aggies tallied 21 assists on 35 made baskets, the Lobos assisted only 7 times in the game.
“I’m speechless on a lot of levels. . . to get just kind of beat as thoroughly as we did in all the different ways that we did – I didn’t see it coming. As far as the people in and around our community and our program – incredibly embarrassed, humiliated, feel awful and that’s something that we have to live with. . . now we have a game in three days and we have to move forward and go from there,” said New Mexico coach Paul Weir after the game.
Up next:
New Mexico will try to redouble efforts on Dec. 7 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California as they take on the Saint Mary’s Gaels in the 2018 Basketball Hall of Fame Classic.
New Mexico State will play No. 2 Kansas on Dec. 8 in the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
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