Ad
Simple approach: Lobo women shoot for key win at Fresno State
Published
Modified
Coming off a rough night in Wyoming, the UNM women’s basketball team is trying to keep things simple Saturday in Fresno, California.
The Lobos (16-13, 9-7 Mountain West) visit Fresno State (17-12, 8-8) in a key matchup for conference tournament seedings. UNM can secure a top-five seed and first-round bye with a win, but the Bulldogs move into the driver’s seat if they complete a season sweep of the Lobos.
UNM coach Mike Bradbury knows all this, but he was not of a mind to talk about it Friday.
“No we haven’t talked about any of that,” he said. “I’m not thinking about seeds or tiebreakers and I don’t want to. All I’m thinking about is playing a good basketball game. That’s the one thing we can control for sure and that needs to be our only focus.”
Bradbury offered a short summation after watching video of Wednesday’s 59-40 loss at Wyoming. UNM scored just one point during a 12-minute stretch of the second half that broke the game open.
“Our offense was atrocious,” he said. “We had no pace in our half-court offense. Everything was a step slow and just ineffective.”
The Lobos traveled directly to Fresno on Thursday morning and had shaken off their Laramie hangover by Friday, Bradbury said. They’ll need a considerably better effort if they are to take down a Fresno State team that pulled off a 77-64 win Jan. 25 in the Pit.
Much like the Lobos, the Bulldogs have been hot and cold for much of the season — even during the course of a single game. FSU scored 27 fourth-quarter points in its win over UNM but has been held under 60 points seven times in conference play. The low point was a 65-36 loss at Air Force.
Lack of firepower is not an issue for the Bulldogs, who feature one of the league’s best players in forward Mia Jacobs. Fresno State’s three starting guards, Kylee Fox, Mariah Elohim and Saga Ukkonen, can also fill it up, especially from beyond the 3-point line.
While Bradbury wants to see the Lobos’ pace of play pick up on the offensive end, he does not want to see the Bulldogs getting quick open looks at the basket.
Ad
“We’ve got to guard them in transition, especially at the 3-point line,” he said. “We’ve also got to do a better job rebounding than we did against them the first time (a 38-30 FSU advantage). We’ll do the best we can to slow down Jacobs, but keeping them out of transition is the biggest key for us.”
Fresno State cannot clinch a No. 5 tournament seed with a win on Saturday. The Bulldogs visit San Diego State on Tuesday, while UNM hosts Air Force for its regular-season finale. Even with a win Saturday, FSU would need either a win over SDSU or a UNM loss Tuesday to secure fifth place.
ODD NUMBERS: Strangely enough, UNM and Fresno State have nearly identical 3-point numbers in MWC play. Both teams have made 121 3’s, with the Bulldogs shooting 33.5% to the Lobos’ 33.0%.
Free throw numbers are another matter, however. Fresno State leads the Mountain West with a 79.6% success rate in conference play. UNM is last in the league at 69.5%
DOWN TO THE WIRE: The Lobos’ individual scoring lead for the season remains up for grabs with two games remaining. Senior Viané Cumber edged in front of sophomore Destinee Hooks on Wednesday and has 459 points scored this season. Hooks had 458.
Cumber also is on the brink of breaking LaTascya Duff’s program record for career 3-pointers. Duff hit 239 3’s from 2020-23. Cumber has 238 in her four-year tenure — 223 of them coming in the last three years.
