ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – UNM women’s basketball will host Grand Canyon in a first-round WNIT game at The Pit Wednesday. The Lobos are coming off of a Mountain West Tournament semifinals loss to Colorado State while GCU suffered their last defeat in the championship game of the WAC Tournament.
GCU will go into the game with a 22-9 record and lead the nation in steals with 399 through 31 games. The Lobos are 24-9 and 15-1 at home this season. The game has a 7 pm start time Wednesday.
In other sports news, NMSU head men’s basketball coach Chris Jans has heard his name mentioned as a candidate for the vacancy at Kansas State. Jans is in his fifth season at New Mexico State.
“Haven’t spent much time thinking about that,” said Jans. “I can’t control what other people write or say or tweet. I guess my reaction is that I would rather be a coach being talked about that way than the other way. You know, there’s always speculation on guys not being retained.”
Jans spent a lot of time before coming to NMSU as a coach in the state of Kansas. For now, Jans remains committed to the Aggies, who happen to be a 12 seed facing 5-UConn in the NCAA Tournament first round Thursday.
Lobo football wrapped up play on the field last Saturday. The Lobos will now have more time to work in the weight room. Lobos head coach Danny Gonzales wants his players to get bigger and stronger. He also wants his team to buy into being a tough guy.
“There were times last year during the season when something bad happened, we gave in,” said Gonzales. “Most people aren’t normally tough. You have to train yourself, convince yourself. If they don’t, we’ll be a lot better as a football team. I mean, that’s what we’ve done for 20 years and that’s why it’s been successful.” The Lobos will open the regular season in the fall in a home game against Maine Sep. 3.
Miami Dolphins cornerback and former Lobo D’Angelo Ross has trusted the process on his NFL journey. Ross went to the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2019. He had to have a lot of patience before finally getting on the field.
“An article came out saying, from the time I signed with New England until the time I got out on the field, it was 963 days,” said Ross. “I just ask people, think about waiting for two years and seven months for something. Like, I give myself a pat on the back for, like, going through and sticking with the process.”
Lobos outfielder Lenny Junior Ashby is the Mountain West Player of the week. Ashby batted .444 for the week with 8 hits, including 3 home runs and a double.
