Lobo Basketball Game 1 Preview: UNM Hits the Road, Opens Season Against Cal State Northridge

BY AUSTIN DENTON

The Lobos open up their season against Cal State Northridge on Tuesday. Design by Author

The return of the New Mexico Lobos basketball team is finally here.

Tuesday night, the Lobos will take the court and begin their 2018-19 campaign when they face the Cal State Northridge Matadors on the road. Here’s a preview of the upcoming game and what to expect from both the Lobos and the Matadors on Tuesday.

New Mexico Lobos vs. Cal State Northridge Matadors: Tuesday, November 6th, 8:00 pm MST, CSUN Sports Network (Online Streaming Service), Local Radio: 610 AM/95.9 FM The Sports Animal

Outlook on New Mexico:

Head Coach: Paul Weir (Second season, 19-15 with the Lobos)

Key Players: Anthony Mathis (12.7 points, 47% 3-point shooting percentage last season)/Dane Kuiper (6.4 points, 3.2 rebounds last season)/Makuach Maluach (9.6 points, 60% 2-point percentage last season)

Injury Report: JaQuan Lyle (ankle) is out for the season after injuring his ankle during a practice in the preseason/Dane Kuiper (shoulder) is expected to play in this game/Drue Drinnon (ankle) suffered that injury in their closed scrimmage with Northern Arizona, and will likely be out for the next two weeks, according to Brandon Ortega of KOB.

What to Expect:

The Lobos, led by second-year head coach Paul Weir, are ready for the upcoming challenges that they will be facing this season, and Cal State Northridge begins their first set of challenges in the non-conference portion of their schedule. The Lobos are a team that slowly built upon themselves as the offseason went on, and pose just two seniors on the team with Dane Kuiper and Anthony Mathis.

The rest of this team are either pure freshman recruits or transfers that came from all across the country. One of the most prominent transfers that will be making his debut for New Mexico on Tuesday will be Vance Jackson, who sat out last year after transferring from UConn. While at UConn, the redshirt sophomore averaged 8.1 points and 3.8 rebounds, but with an expanded role as a part of this Lobos squad, those numbers are sure to go up.

With Ohio State transfer JaQuan Lyle out for the season due to an ankle injury, that means that Zane Martin, the junior transfer from Towson, will take over his role. Last season with Towson, Martin averaged 19.8 points and 3.5 rebounds, which made him highly recruited when he announced he was transferring.

New Mexico is still waiting to hear from the NCAA on the waiver request for redshirt junior, Carlton Bragg, the transfer from Arizona State who did not end up playing for the Sun Devils this past season. In his time with the Kansas Jayhawks, Bragg saw action in 69 total games throughout his freshman and sophomore year, averaging 4.5 points per game.

Vladimir Pinchuk, the junior from Schwelm, Germany, will be the big man in the post for the Lobos. He’ll be joined alongside Corey Manigault, the 6’9″ junior community college transfer who averaged 6.1 points per game with Indian Hills CC.

After their closed scrimmage with Northern Arizona, Weir was opportunistic about the Lobos offense but wants the team to polish up their defense. “I want to make sure defensively, we’re where we need to be,” Weir said about the scrimmage and preparation for the upcoming game.

Outlook on Cal State Northridge:

Head Coach: Mark Gottfried (First season)

Key Players: Lamine Diane (Has averaged 26.5 points in CSUN’s two exhibition games)/Terrell Gomez (11.7 points, Big West Freshman of the Year last season)/Elijah Harkless (Has averaged 5.5 points in CSUN’s two exhibition games)

Injury Report: No injuries currently reported for the Matadors

What to Expect:

This CSUN team may be young and inexperienced, but don’t let that fool you, as the Matadors have young talent that will compete with the Lobos come Tuesday night.

CSUN has played two exhibition games so far this season, defeating Antelope Valley and Cal State LA in both exhibitions. In those games, Lamine Diane shined the most, averaging 26.5 points in those two exhibition games. The 6’7″ freshman from Henderson, Nevada’s Findlay Prep High School, has shined so far and will get the start for the Matadors heading into this game.

Terrell Gomez and Elijah Harkless are the other two key players to watch out for CSUN, the two made impacts on the program last season and so far, this season for the Matadors. Last season, Gomez was named the Big West Conference Freshman of the Year, averaging 11.7 points per game, while Harkless is a true freshman out of Etiwanda, California.

Cameron Gottfried also joins the Matadors as a graduate transfer from NC State and also looks to make a tremendous impact to CSUN. Michael Ou, the true freshman center out of Menaul School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, also will take the post duties for CSUN.

This game should prove to be a good, competitive one to kick off the season for New Mexico basketball. This season should also be an exciting one for the Lobos as well.