Lobos' Abdurraqib is ready to take down the Wildcats

Laila Abdurraqib was grounded for much of the summer. She’s been learning on the fly ever since.

Abdurraqib, a 5-foot-6 freshman guard for the UNM women’s basketball team, is playing extended and sometimes key minutes in her first season of college competition. She hit a tying 3-pointer with 2:58 left in the Lobos’ most recent game against Cincinnati and trails only Nayli Padilla for the team lead in made 3’s.

Padilla has knocked down 22 3-pointers, while Abdurraqib and Destinee Hooks have 15 apiece.

Perhaps more significant, Abdurraqib ranks fifth on the team in minutes played (161) and has settled into coach Mike Bradbury’s regular rotation. Not bad for a freshman who spent most of her first summer in Albuquerque watching practice from the sidelines and nursing a gimpy knee.

“She’s come a long way in a short time,” Bradbury said. “So far, so good.”

Abdurraqib (pronounced ab-DUR-a-keeb) figures to be among the first players off the bench Sunday when the 6-3 Lobos visit 6-1 Arizona for a 2 p.m. tip. Asked how she feels about her sizeable role, Abdurraqib couldn’t help but smile.

“Blessed obviously,” she said. “I missed a lot of time in the summer because of my knee and it’s taken me a long time to get adjusted to what we do here. Fortunately, the coaching staff and my teammates have been patient and are making it a lot easier for me. I’m really enjoying playing here. It’s fun.”

An Indianapolis native, Abdurraqib has quickly won over fans and teammates with her positive, confident demeanor. She’s held her own at point guard with 14 assists compared to 11 turnovers and provides an effective weapon from the 3-point arc, where she’s 15 for 39 (38.5%) this season.

“Laila’s smart. She can run the team and she can obviously shoot the ball,” Bradbury said. “She played at a high level before she came here, so she’s not intimidated. She just needs to keep working, getting more familiar with our system and learning from her mistakes.”

Abdurraqib says she’s generally happy with her play thus far — but far from satisfied. She spends extra time watching video with Bradbury each week to break down those mistakes.

“I always want to strive for greatness,” she said. “So when I’m not great, I want to work that much harder.”

What aspect of Abdurraqib’s game needs the most work?

“Defense,” she responded. “We’re taught to force people to the middle and not give up baseline. My worst thing is giving up baseline. That’s what I’ve been focused on, just working on my footwork and trying to get better.”

Having an ability to break down video and analyzing gameplans may pay off for Abdurraqib even after her playing days. She hopes to go into sports journalism and has no trouble seeing herself succeeding in that arena.

“I really want to get in the media side of things and get on TV,” she said. “I feel like I’ve got the personality to do that. I really want to write as well, though, so some kind of mixture of the two.”

For the moment, however, Abdurraqib is focused on facing Arizona. She has a friend and former high school opponent on the Wildcats roster in junior Tanyuel Welch and is looking forward to Sunday’s matchup.

“They’re fast,” Abdurraqib said of the Wildcats. “They push the tempo a lot and we do too, so I feel like this should be a good game for us, lots of transition.”

Abdurraqib believes UNM has made progress through its first nine games, but with just two more games — both against Big 12 foes — left before conference play tips off, she knows crunch time is fast approaching.

“Honestly, I think we just need to find ourselves,” she said. “Playing these Big 12 teams and going into conference is a different level of basketball. With conference teams, (Bradbury) has been studying them for as long as he’s been here, so we’ll have a strong idea of what we need to do. But with Arizona and Houston, I think we just need to come together. We need to be at our best.”

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