New Mexico (11-3) vs Nevada (8-6)
January 3, 2025 at 11:00 PM EST
The Line: Betting Odds: New Mexico -5.5 / Nevada +5.5 — Over/Under:
The Nevada Wolf Pack and the New Mexico Lobos meet Friday in college basketball action from the Pit. Here’s a Nevada vs New Mexico prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Nevada vs New Mexico pick. We will examine:
The Nevada Wolf Pack’s recent form and player performance
The New Mexico Lobos’ recent form and player performance
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Nevada Wolf Pack
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the New Mexico Lobos
Recent betting trends in games played between Nevada and New Mexico
A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Nevada vs New Mexico game
Nevada Wolf Pack Betting Preview
Nevada’s season kicked off on a nice 6-1 run. The lone loss in that time was versus Vanderbilt. Otherwise, it was victories over Sam Houston, Washington, Weber State, Santa Clara, VCU, and Oklahoma State at that time. The Wolf Pack would then go 2-4 over the next six games with wins over only South Dakota State and Texas Southern. The losses in those half-dozen outings came versus Washington State, Loyola Marymount, Colorado State, and Wyoming.
Matched up against Utah State on Tuesday, the Wolf Pack entered the break with a 33-28 edge. Nevada was outpaced 41-31 the rest of the way, however, resulting in a 69-64 loss. Topping the squad in scoring was Nick Davidson with a double-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists. Justin McBride added 11 points and four rebounds, while Xavier DuSell topped the bench scorers with his 10 points and three rebounds in the loss.
New Mexico Lobos Betting Preview
Over on the Lobos’ side, they also got off to a nice start, going 5-1 in their first six. The Lobos’ only loss in that time came versus St. John’s 85-71. The wins were against Nicholls State, UCLA, Texas A&M-CC, Grambling, and Texas Southern. A 2-2 stretch came next, as New Mexico beat USC and San Jose State in between losses to Arizona State and New Mexico State. The Lobos would recover over the next three with wins over Western New Mexico, VCU, and Colorado State for a 10-3 record through their first 13 games of the season.
In their Tuesday game versus Fresno State, the Lobos were looking good by halftime sporting a 53-36 edge. New Mexico notched another 50 points from there, cruising to the win 103-89 in the end. Leading the starters in scoring was Mustapha Amzil with 23 points and five rebounds. Donovan Dent added 18 points with five rebounds, six assists, and five steals, while CJ Noland provided 23 points and three assists off the bench. Nelly Junior Joseph doubled up on 12 points and 12 rebounds alongside four blocks as well. It was a pretty nice team effort with a handful of big performances on the stat sheet.
Why the New Mexico Lobos will win
- New Mexico has won each of its last seven games against Conference opponents.
- Nevada has lost each of its last four games against Conference opponents.
- Nevada has lost the first half in three of its last four games against Conference opponents.
Why the Nevada Wolf Pack will win
- Nevada has won each of its last five road night games against Conference opponents.
Nevada vs New Mexico Prediction
I’ll go with the Lobos here. New Mexico played pretty well against a struggling Fresno State team in their last outing, shooting a nice 58.6 percent from the field with 36 rebounds and 21 team assists. The Lobos got a little sloppy ball-control-wise on 16 turnovers for 18 Bulldogs points, though. That said, everything else looked pretty good, including 54 points in the paint.
The Lobos are scoring great so far this year. They’ve got 71 or more points in all 14 games and they’ve won four straight.
As for Nevada, they couldn’t quite handle a good Utah State squad in their last outing. The Wolf Pack allowed 52.2 percent shooting from the field and coughed up 13 turnovers for 16 Aggies points. The good news is that Nevada has allowed fewer than 70 points in three straight games. The bad news is that they’ve scored fewer than 65 themselves in each of those outings and lost all three of them. New Mexico should be fine cover-wise if they can score well here.