After a pair of wins last week — by 20 points over San Jose State and an overtime thriller over Boise State — the Lobos (18-2, 5-2 Mountain West) checked in at No. 25 in Monday’s new Associated Press Top 25 poll.
The Lobos are in Reno, Nevada, where they play the Nevada Wolf Pack (15-5, 5-2), and former Lobos head coach Steve Alford, on Monday night at 7 p.m. MST (6 p.m. local in Reno). The game can be seen on CBS Sports Network.
UNM appeared on 45 of a possible 62 voter ballots with 156 total points (Duke had 102 points and was the first team outside the rankings). The Lobos had a high vote of 17. They were ranked for two weeks earlier this season, peaking at No. 21 on Jan. 2 before their only two losses of the season knocked them out.
Two other Mountain West teams — San Diego State and Boise State — were in the “others receiving votes” section of the poll. The Aztecs have 57 points and are three spots from being ranked and the Broncos have 2 points, 15 spots out of being ranked.
The Mountain West Conference, meanwhile, announced Monday morning that Jamal Mashburn, Jr., is the league’s Player of the Week after averaging 22.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in his team’s two wins last week, shooting 50% from 3-point range (5-10) and 90.9% (10-11) at the free throw line.
Congrats to the #MWMBB Players of the Week 🏀
🐺 @UNMLoboMBB
⚡️ @AF_MBB#AtThePEAK | #GoLobos | #FlyFightWin pic.twitter.com/k3PTSgRtdf— Mountain West (@MountainWest) January 23, 2023
He has scored 20 points or more in four consecutive games and in six of the last seven for the Lobos.
His weekly honor is the third for UNM with teammates Jaelen House and Morris Udeze each winning the award earlier in the season.
The last time UNM had three players win the league’s player of the week award in the same season was in 2012-13 when Tony Snell, Alex Kirk and Kendall Williams did so in the final year Alford coached the program.
