Emptying the Notebook: Lobos sure know how to finish games, but starting them is another matter

Here are some extra notes, quotes, stats, videos, trends and other odds & ends that I emptied out of the old notebook after Wednesday's 71-67 Lobos win over Wyoming in the Pit.

For starters, Lobos need to start better...

They say they don't overlook anyone.

Their coach says there is no trend to the bad starts against bad teams for the Lobos.

But it's hard to just ignore the fact that now at least five times this season against teams they were heavily favored against and who currently holding losing records, the Lobos appeared to sleep walk through the opening minutes of the game, not hitting shots and digging themselves holes that certainly seem to be indicative of some sort of trend, even if they did come back and win.

Wednesday, the Lobos got a go-ahead 3-pointer from freshman Jovan Milicevic with 30.1 seconds left to beat Wyoming 71-67, but not before falling behind by as many as 13 points in the first half (and 10 at halftime) after opening the game shooting 3-of-15 from the floor (20.0%), 3-of-8 (37.5%) at the free throw line and turning it over six times in the first six minutes to a Wyoming team that is now 11-14 (4-10 in Mountain West play).

Yes, the Lobos win was a nail-biter few expected and it had a just survive and advance feel to it.

This game was four days after the Lobos missed their first 10 shots and fell behind 8-2 in the opening 5 minutes at Air Force, a team that is now a dismal 3-22 (0-14 MW).

And five weeks ago at Wyoming, it was a 1-16 shooting start and a 14-point halftime deficit the Lobos had to make up for in a win at Laramie.

So, as I did earlier in the week, I asked UNM coach Richard Pitino on Wednesday night if there was any way the Lobos could try to replicate whatever it is that's behind their late-game focus and execution and come with it at the start of games.

"I don't think it's that big of a trend," Pitino said Wednesday night. "I think first half, they (Wyoming) do it to you. They lull you to sleep a little bit."

It's true Wyoming (and San Jose State, for that matter) have ways of muddying up whatever it is your like to do as a team, and both have been very close to winning several games they ultimately lost and maybe fit the profile of being teams better than their records would suggest.

Whatever the case, the Lobos just weren't that good early on.

“You could feel the pressure, right? ‘Oh God, let’s not lose a Quad 4 (game) whatever it was,” Pitino continued. “It’s that time of year. You better learn how to deal with it. It’s great to be playing meaningful games, whether it’s winning the league, whether it’s seedings for the conference tournament, NCAA Tournament, it’s great. It’s a privilege. But, yeah, I think we were a little stressed in the first half.”

There were a couple cases of bad, or slow, starts against losing-record teams back in the first five weeks of the season, too.

The big worry for Lobo fans is, as has been the case so many times in the past, the longer the Lobos wait to "turn it on" or the longer they play with their food and don't put away teams they're supposed to put away early, the better chance there is that the underdogs start hitting crazy shots and find themselves in the game late with a chance at pulling off the upset.

Wednesday, Wyoming was still leading late in the game and feeling pretty confident down the stretch.

The Pokes even led with less than 90 seconds to go in the game. That's fire a good team like UNM doesn't want to be playing with.

The juxtaposition of just how good the Lobos have played against top teams — UNM never trailed vs. UCLA, is 5-0 vs. every other Mountain West team with a winning league record (Utah State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Boise State) and led by 19 or more points in each of those league games — and how they've performed in games vs. bad teams with losing records makes it hard for the mind to just brush it all off and not think there could be a trend here.

The final results certainly mask the sometimes modestly "rough" starts, but they have been there, and most often against teams they were heavily favored to beat heading into the game.

Nov. 21 vs. Grambling (8-16)

• Location: the Pit

• Pre-game point spread: Lobos favored by 23 points

• Note: The visiting Tigers led by as many as six in the opening minutes (8-2) and the Lobos had eight turnovers in the first 8 minutes

• Shooting: UNM opened the game hitting 3-of-9 shots (33.3%)

• Result: UNM 80, Grambling 58

Dec. 4 vs. San Jose State (12-14, 5-9 MW)

• Location: the Pit

• Pre-game point spread: Lobos favored by 18.5 points

• Note: The Spartans took a 15-2 lead 5:01 into the game

• Shooting: UNM opened the game 1-of-11 (9.1%)

• Result: UNM 83, San Jose State 77

Jan. 7 at Wyoming (11-14, 4-10 MW)

• Location: Arena Auditorium (Laramie)

• Pre-game point spread: Lobos favored by 7 points

• Note: Wyoming led by 16-4 at the 9:47 mark of the first half and held a 14-point halftime lead

• Shooting: UNM opened the game shooting 1-of-16 (6.3%)

• Result: UNM 61, Wyoming 53

Saturday at Air Force (0-14, 3-22)

• Location: Clune Arena (U.S. Air Force Academy)

• Pre-game point spread: Lobos favored by 15.5 points

• Note: Air Force took an 8-2 lead at the 15:23 mark of the first half

• Shooting: UNM opened the game shooting 0-of-10 (0.0%)

• Result: UNM 88, Air Force 53

Wednesday vs. Wyoming (11-14, 4-10 MW)

• Location: the Pit

• Pre-game point spread: Lobos favored by 16.5 points

• Note: Wyoming led 9-2 and 16-7 early, by as many as 13 late in the first half and had a 10-point halftime lead.

• Shooting: UNM opened the game shooting 3-of-15 (20.0%)

• Result: UNM 71, Wyoming 67

On the other hand...

To Pitino's point, it isn't as though the Lobos haven't had some pretty good starts this season, too. Even a couple that fit the mold of the bad-record team the Lobos might look past.

In UNM's two bad (statistically speaking) losses — a Quad 4 loss to NMSU on Dec. 7 in the Pit and a Quad 3 loss on the road to San Jose State on Jan. 14 — the Lobos came out hot in those games.

• vs. NMSU, the Lobos led by as many as 14 points in the first half and opened the game shooting 11-of-16 (68.8%)

• at San Jose State, the Lobos led by as many as 13 points in the first half and opened the game shooting 7-of-11 (63.6%)

So, clearly it's not an all-the-time, but I'm still going to call it a trend — one the Lobos have largely been able to get away with so far, but not one that they should be OK with continuing.

The gamer...

Here is the gamer I filed late Wednesday from the Pit...

• UNM rallies in second half to slip by Wyoming in dramatic fashion

Closing time...

Bad starts and great finishes are both things the Lobos have been having with regularity as of late.

Now, I didn't ask Pitino if he thinks these good end of game stats that keep happening are "trends" or not, but I'm guessing the general consensus is that when the stats are good, it's OK to call it a trend.

I pointed out the bad ones up above, so lets update some of the recent good trends late in games here.

UNM's 2nd half scoring last four games:

• 42-28 vs. Wyoming (Wednesday)

• 54-29 at Air Force (Saturday)

• 52-34 vs. Colorado State (Feb. 5)

• 52-27 at Utah State (Feb. 1)

UNM's average 2nd half score last four games: 50-29.5 (+20.5)

UNM's average 2nd half score this season: 44.08-36.92 (+7.16)

OK, that's nice.

But let's get to the real good stuff.

The "4th quarter" is when the Lobos have been doing their most impressive work lately. No, college basketball doesn't have a 4th quarter (as I always say, it should), but in the game's final 10 minutes of regulation (10:00-0:00 on the clock in second half), the Lobos have been insanely good in the past four games, and were again on Wednesday night vs. Wyoming.

UNM's "4th Quarter" scoring:

10:00 mark to final buzzer.

• UNM 20, Wyoming 13

• UNM 27, Air Force 14

• UNM 30, Colorado State 12

• UNM 26, Utah State 10

TOTAL: 103-49

So, in the equivalent of one game (40 minutes), the Lobos have outscored their past four opponents 103-49 in closing time — the "4th quarter" of the game.

I'm no math doctor, but that seems pretty good.

Shaq at the FT line, Curry at the 3-point line...

It was a bit of a coming out party in the Pit Wednesday night for Lobos freshman forward Jovan Milicevic, the 6-foot-10 Toronto-Serbian stretch-4 forward who has become a vital piece of the bench puzzle for UNM.

After a statline of 10 points that came off a perfect 3-of-3 on 3-pointers and 1-of-5 at the free throw line, Richard Pitino had a message for his young star after the game.

"He (Pitino) was saying that after the game — we were up in the locker room — he's like, 'Jovan was Shaq at the free throw line, but Curry from the 3,'" Milicevic said with a chuckle after it was pointed out that his great shooting game from deep wasn't replicated at the free throw line.

Milicevic, who hit all three of his 3-pointers in the second half on Wednesday, is now in the conversation as UNM's best shooter. Obviously fellow reserve Braden Appelhans hasn't been getting consistent minutes of late and starting stretch-4 Mustapha Amzil is hobbled by a nagging foot injury, dropping his production.

But Milicevic, despite being eighth in total minutes and averaging under 10 minutes per game entering Wednesday, is now 20-of-38 from beyond the ark with a team-best 52.6% clip from deep.

Milicevic said after the game that a 3-pointer at the top of the key off a behind the back bounce pass from Dent that put UNM up 59-58 with 4:58 remaining had really given him confidence to knock down any shot that came his way late.

Of the go-ahead 3-pointer with 30.1 seconds remaining in the game, Milicevic said he told Donovan Dent multiple times coming out of a timeout in the final minute just to get him the ball because he was going to make it.

And he delivered.

Lobos continue elite free throw defense...

The months and months of practice and work on their free throw defense is really paying off the Lobos.

Wednesday, Wyoming shot just 4-of-14 (28.6%) from the free throw line, surely because of all that great Lobos free throw defense. It helped UNM climb into the No. 1 spot nationally, out of 364 Division I teams, in free throw defense.

The Division I national average for team free throw shooting is 71.9%. Teams playing the Lobos are hitting just 64.4% of their free throws, the lowest percentage in the country for one team's opponent FT%.

NOTE: Sarcasm is always at its best when you have to explain it, so let me go ahead and explain it since when I've written about "free throw defense" in the past there have been several people email or reply on social media with some variation of "you can't play defense on a free throw." I know. I get it.

OK, so there is no free throw defense, and before any of you get your minds wandering too far, there's no statistical evidence that teams hit more or less FTs in the Pit or against the Lobos over time. Some seasons, teams have looked like they've never miss vs. the Lobos, others they can't hit any (this season) and most seasons its somewhere in between.

In the Mountain West era (26 seasons), UNM has had a Top 25 free throw defense twice (this season and that unforgettable FT defense team of Fran Fraschilla's in 2001 that ranked 23rd). It's also had a 300-or-worse free throw defense five times, including all the way back to last year when teams shot 74.0% from the FT line against UNM, giving the Lobos the 307th-ranked FT defense.

Pitino hasn't actually changed anything about his approach to other teams shooting free throws that can account for going from 307 last season to No. 1 this season.

Nevertheless, Wednesday was a pretty darn noteworthy performance at the charity stripe by Wyoming, and it is the second time this season a league opponent has put up a top 5 (or is it bottom 5?) performance at the FT line against the Lobos.

Worst FT% by a Lobo opponent in Mountain West game:

1. 0.0% (0-3) — by SDSU in the Pit (Feb. 22, 2014)

2. 22.2% (2-9) — by TCU at TCU (Jan. 30, 2010)

3. 28.6% (4-14) — by Wyoming in the Pit (Wednesday)

4. 42.9% (3-7) — by Wyoming in the Pit (March 2, 2013)

t5. 43.5% (10-23) — by Utah State in Logan (Feb. 1)

t5. 43.5% (10-23) — by UNLV in Las Vegas (Jan. 22, 2019)

Getting his money's worth...

Richard Pitino earned himself a nice first half technical foul on Wednesday, one Lobo fans seemed more than happy with him getting because his frustration mirrored theirs.

Said Pitino of the technical: "I deserved it. I deserved it. I wasn't happy with — I thought he was grabbing his hand, Obi (Agbim, Wyoming's star guard) was and it was one of those kind of rare (times) where I slapped (the scorer's table) and he turned. So I earned it. I don't get a lot of them so, but I got my money's worth there."

Steve Kirkland Stat of the Game!

UNM hoops sports information director Steve Kirkland has delivered a 2-fer for this ETN.

• FIRST: UNM beat Wyoming Wednesday when trailing by 10 at halftime. The Lobos also beat Wyoming on Jan. 7 in Laramie when trailing by 14 at halftime.

This is the first time UNM has swept a team in the regular season when trailing by double digits of both games.

• SECOND: UNM led Wednesday's game for only 1 minute, 7 seconds. That is the shortest amount of time the Lobos have led in a Mountain West win since the "time with lead" stat started becoming a regular feature of postgame stat sheets in the 2019-20 season.

Also, combined with the 4:42 UNM led win in its win Jan. 7 at Laramie, the Lobos led Wyoming for just 5:49 of the 80:00 the two teams played against each other this season, and still managed a season sweep.

Donnie does it...

In what almost seemed like a bad game for Lobo point guard Donovan Dent early on, the junior point guard showed why he's the frontrunner for Mountain West Player of the Year, ending up with another ridiculously good, and very full, statline:

Dent vs. Wyoming on Wednesday:

• Points: 20

• Assists: 7

• Rebounds: 6

• Fouls drawn: 10

• Steals: 3

• Blocks: 1

I stumbled into finding a pretty cool stat for a point guard earlier this week that I'll update here after Dent posted another game with at least one block and one steal.

Most games with 1 steal and 1 block:

(Mountain West players)

15 — Donovan Dent, UNM

14 — Nelly Junior Joseph, UNM

13 — Elijah Price, Fresno State

10 — Alex Crawford, Fresno State

9 — Miles Byrd, San Diego State

Here is another list worth updating for Dent after his 20-point game...

UNM's all-time scoring list:

24. 1,239 — Cameron Bairstow, 2011-14 (134 games)

25. 1,200 — Mark Walters, 2003-06 (116 games)

26. 1,175 — Donovan Dent, 2023 - current (94 games)

27. 1,169 — Roman Martinez, 2007-19 (133 games)

28. 1,168 — Charlie Thomas, 1988-89 (69 games)

Bear down in the Pit?

It was Teddy bear toss time in the Pit on Wednesday at halftime.

They're going streaking!

The Lobos are on a seven-game winning streak. It's their second seven game winning streak of the season, and currently tied for the 8th longest active win streak in college basketball:

1. 12 wins — Akron (MAC)

2. 11 wins — Drake (MVC)

t3. 10 wins — George Mason (A10)

t3. 10 wins — Towson (CAA)

t5. 8 wins — Yale (Ivy)

t5. 8 wins — UNC Wilmington (CAA)

t5. 8 wins — Jacksonville State (CUSA)

t8. 7 wins — New Mexico

t8. 7 wins — Alabama (SEC)

t8. 7 wins — Memphis (AAC)

t8. 7 wins — Campbell (CAA)

On that list, only Alabama (vs. Auburn) and Campbell (at Northeastern) are projected to lose their next game, per KenPom.com.

Seven and Seven...

Seven & seven. It's not just a good drink.

The Lobos have had two win streaks of seven games this season:

• 7 wins — Dec. 14-Jan. 11

• 7 wins — Jan. 17-Feb. 12

In UNM Lobos history, there have been dozens and dozens of win streaks of six games in a row. Once the streak hits seven, the feat becomes a little more exclusive.

And not yet having completed his fourth season, Richard Pitino's Lobo teams having already had their fourth seven-game win streak, he has the highest rate of them occurring and the fourth most overall.

Win streaks of 7 or more games, UNM coaches:

8 — Steve Alford (6 seasons)

5 — Dave Bliss (11 seasons)

5 — Bob King (10 seasons)

*4 — Richard Pitino (in 4th season)

3 — Gary Colson (8 seasons)

3 — Norm Ellenberger (7 seasons)

2 — Paul Weir (4 seasons)

2 — Fraschilla (3 seasons)

1 — Ritchie McKay (5 seasons)

0 — Craig Neal 0 (4 seasons)

0 — Charlie Harrison (1 season)

* = active streak

• Prior to Bob King's arrival at UNM, thee were 12 head coaches between 1899 and 1963 who had a combined seven 7-game win streaks.

Tru does it again...

There's nobody better at turning defense into offense than Tru Washington, who led the charge on UNM scoring 17 points off 18 Wyoming turnovers with another couple of pick-6's — a steal and breakaway fast break bucket.

Washington on Wednesday had 15 points and three steals. His 15 points means that he has scored double figures 14 times this season and the Lobos are now 14-0 in those games.

Extended runs...

The Lobos' extended runs tracker gets another notation after Wednesday, though in full disclosure, it wasn't quite like the others. Wednesday, the Lobos had a 15-2 run that qualifies, but this one was over the end of the first half and start of the second whereas all the others have been long runs in the same half.

Lobos' dominant extended runs in MW play:

• 15-2 run at the end of the first half and start of the second that turned a 37-24 Wyoming lead into a 39-39 tie with 17:44 left in the game (and after UNM opened the second half on a 10-0 run).

• 20-3 run in the second half after Air Force pulled within 36-31. In 5 minutes, 20 seconds, it went from 36-31 to 56-34.

• 38-15 run to close out Wednesday's game in the Pit after Colorado State took a 50-49 lead with 12:51 remaining in the game.

• 43-15 run to close out Saturday's game in Logan, Utah, after Utah State took a 48-39 lead with 15:24 left. UNM gave the Aggies their worst home loss (19 points) since November 1996.

• 25-4 run to start their Jan. 20 game vs. Fresno State, which ended up being a 28-point victory.

• 23-2 run to close out the first half vs. Boise State on Jan. 17, taking a 48-21 lead into halftime.

• 17-1 run to start 2nd half at Wyoming on Jan. 7 after trailing 32-18 at halftime.

• 21-0 run in the first half at Colorado State on Dec. 28, turning a 16-16 tie game into a 37-16 Lobos lead in just under seven minutes.

• 22-8 run to close out their Dec. 4 win over San Jose State after the Spartans went up 69-61 with 8:47 left in the game.

The "Kill shot" runs that don't include the other team scoring at all also get an update here.

Most 10-0 (or better) runs in MW play:

14 — New Mexico

8 — Nevada, San Diego State

6 — Boise State, San Jose State, Utah State

4 — Fresno State, Wyoming

3 — Colorado State

2 — Air Force, UNLV

Nelly's streak ends, but...

Nelly Junior Joseph, the two-time reigning Mountain West Player of the Week and holder of a five-game double-double streak entering Wednesday's game, got into foul trouble for the first time in awhile and was really limited much of Wednesday's game.

And yet, he still ended up with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots including one that Mike Sandoval captured perfectly in the final minute of the game that one could argue was the game-sealing play.

Like Dent's Mountain West-best 14 games with at least one steal and one block that I listed above, Junior Joseph is the Mountain West leader with total number of games with multiple blocks and multiple steals.

Most games with multiple steals and multiple blocks:

(Mountain West players)

• 7 — Nelly Junior Joseph, UNM

• 6 — Elijah Price, Fresno State

• 5 — Miles Byrd, San Diego State

Sweeps season...

The Lobos are up to three season sweeps of Mountain West foes this season.

• Colorado State

• Fresno State

• Wyoming

With the Mountain West's 20-game conference schedule, UNM will have 10 two-game regular season series with league opponents. Here's a look at those series results so far

UNM vs. MW teams this season:

• 1-0 — Air Force (Game 2: March 1 in the Pit)

• 1-0 — Boise State (Game 2: Feb. 19 in Boise)

• 2-0 — Colorado State

• 2-0 — Fresno State

• 1-0 — Nevada (Game 2: March 4 in Reno)

• 1-0 — San Diego State (Game 2: Feb. 25 in San Diego)

• 1-1 — San Jose State

• 1-0 — UNLV (Game 2: March 7 in the Pit)

• 1-0 — Utah State (next: Sunday in the Pit)

• 2-0 — Wyoming

Attendance...

The announced attendance for Wednesday night's game in the Pit between Wyoming and New Mexico: 11,852

Plus/minus...

Here are the plus/minus numbers for Wednesday's game with minutes in parenthesis:

NEW MEXICO

+12 Nelly Junior Joseph (29:54)

+11 Donovan Dent (38:22)

+11 Tru Washington (30:23)

+9 C.J. Noland (30:26)

+6 Jovan Milicevic (23:28)

0 Braden Appelhans (3:02)

-5 Kayde Dotson (4:32)

-5 Mustapha Amzil (17:10)

-7 Atiki Ally Atiki (5:24)

-12 Filip Borovicanin (17:19)

WYOMING

+5 Dontaie Allen (30:04)

+2 Touko Tainamo (1:07)

+2 Cole Henry (22:53)

+1 Abou Magassa (14:35)

-3 Obi Agbim (27:58)

-4 A.J. Wills (29:27)

-7 Jordan Nebitt (33:04)

-8 Oleg Kojenets (16:00)

-8 Matija Belic (24:52)

Line 'em up...

The UNM Lobos played 10 players and used 18 unique lineup combinations. The Wyoming Cowboys played nine players and used 19 unique lineup combinations.

Here's a look at some of the Lobos lineup combinations, starting with the starters.

STARTING LINEUP and WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, Filip Borovicanin, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -7 (2-9)

• TIME ON COURT: 3:25

• NOTE: Look, Mustapha Amzil is hurting. It's pretty apparent. And Filip Borovicanin didn't play big minutes, either. So two Lobo starters each playing just 17 minutes apiece led to the starting five actually on seeing 3 minutes, 25 seconds of court time together, what to my recollection might be the shortest stint for the starting five all season. In that brief 3:25 on the floor together, the starting five scored a mere 0.333 points per possession and committed four of the team's 13 turnvoers in the game.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, C.J. Noland, Jovan Milicevic, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +12 (26-14)

• TIME ON COURT: 11:54

• NOTE: If the starters were bad on Wednesday, albeit with some understandable challenges in the case of Amzil's foot injury, the Lobos' closers were tremendous. This group got a lot of court time together down the stretch in clutch time, and I'm guessing it could be a lineup we see more of in the next month, especially as Amzil's injury lingers.

VIDEO: Postgame with Pitino and Milicevic...

Here's the postgame presser with Richard Pitino and freshman Jovan Milicevic after Wednesday's game...

VIDEO: Pregame from the Pit...

Here's a quick pregame preview webcast I did on Wednesday night, including such hot takes that pleased so many of you readers/viewers as my saying I don't think Verne Harris is a bad referee.

Meanwhile, in Lubbock...

Remember our old friend J.T. Toppin, the former UNM Lobo? Well, the sophomore forward on Wednesday, in a double overtime win over Arizona State, had the game of his young college career with 41 points on 17-22 shooting (1-1 from 3-point range and 6-11 from the FT line), to go along with 15 rebounds, two blocks and three steals.

Around the Mountain...

Wednesday was the last of the midweek games and Game 75 of 110 in the Mountain West's regular season. Here are the midewwk results and this weekend's schedule around the Mountain (West):

MONDAY

• Nevada 95, Fresno State 69

TUESDAY

• UNLV 77, Air Force 52

• Utah State 93, Colorado State 85

• San Diego State 69, San Jose State 66

WEDNESDAY

• New Mexico 71, Wyoming 67

FRIDAY

• Nevada at San Jose State, 7 p.m. PST/8 p.m. MST (FS1)

SATURDAY

• Wyoming at Colorado State, 2 p.m. MST (TheMW)

• UNLV at Fresno State, 4 p.m. PST/5 p.m. MST (TheMW)

• Boise State at San Diego State, 7 p.m. PST/8 p.m. MST (CBS Sports Network)

SUNDAY

• Utah State at New Mexico, 2 p.m. MST (CBS Sports Network)

Mountain West standings...

Through Wednesday night:

13-1 New Mexico

12-2 Utah State

9-4 San Diego State

9-4 Colorado State

9-4 Boise State

7-7 UNLV

6-7 Nevada

5-9 San Jose State

4-10 Wyoming

1-13 Fresno State

0-14 Air Force

Mountain West road/home standings...

Teams get +1 for a road win and a -1 for a home loss.

+6 New Mexico

+5 Utah State

+3 San Diego State

+3 Colorado State

+2 Boise State

0 UNLV

-1 Nevada

-2 San Jose State

-3 Wyoming

-6 Fresno State

-7 Air Force

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted late Wednesday night: New Mexico 71, Wyoming 67

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 71, Wyoming 67

Grammer's Guesses...

Oh no! For what I think is the first time in 10 years of doing this, I forgot to post the Grammer's Guesses on social media before the game. Luckily I did announce my pick on radio before the game when I was on with KFBC Sports Zone in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Wednesday afternoon.

So, there is proof, as much as I wish there wasn't.

I picked the UNM Lobos (-15.5) to win by at least 16 points. Naturally, I was wrong, and I've dropped now to 35-40 on the season.

My daughter's coin flip picks, of course, picked Wyoming +15.5 so she won and is now 41-34 on the season.

Up next...

For New Mexico: The Lobos host Utah State on Sunday in the Pit at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

For Wyoming: The Cowboys play part two of the Border War on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Fort Collins against Colorado State.

Lobo schedule/results...