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UNM WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

New-look Lobos face demanding early schedule

Eagan's rebuilt roster increasing practice time as it preps for challenging nonconference slate

UNM coach Amy Eagan, back center, and her staff are drilling the Lobos to become a cohesive unit with the start of the season quickly approaching.
Published

Signs of the approaching season have started to appear for the new-look New Mexico women's basketball team.

New player posters with bright cherry trim adorn the rafters at the Davalos Basketball Center, where new coach Amy Eagan and her staff are working to shape their overhauled roster into a cohesive unit.

Meanwhile, a sense of urgency is starting to build.

The Lobos' first regular-season game — Nov. 2 versus Seattle — is less than two months away and the team's practice schedule has bumped up from eight hours per week to 14.

Eagan's team is far from a finished product. No starters or player rotations have been determined and Eagan and associate head coach Jordan Mellott continue to emphasize the basics of their Princeton-based offense and an aggressive man-to-man defense.

Progress has been steady but the learning curve is steep.

Eagan knows UNM will face some of its stiffest competition early in the season. In fact, the Lobos' pre-Mountain West schedule could be considerably tougher than the one it faces in the revamped MWC this season.

The 11 teams on New Mexico's nonconference schedule had a combined 194-161 record last season, and even that winning percentage is skewed significantly by two teams that struggled in 2025-26: Seattle (5-25) and New Mexico State (9-21). The Lobos' remaining nonconference foes went 180-115, a .610 winning clip.

UNM's non-Mountain West slate includes road trips to Fresno State (15-18) and BYU (26-12), along with home games against Colorado (22-12), Eastern Kentucky (25-9), Loyola Marymount (21-10), Arizona (12-18), UC Irvine (26-7) and Portland (20-15).

"Yeah, it's tough," Eagan said. "And the thing is, we're going to be basically a brand-new team for some of those early games. But the goal is to challenge yourself and keep building for conference play. We'll definitely be challenged."

The Mountain West has yet to release its women's basketball schedule, but it will be comprised of 18 games — home and away contests against each of the league's other nine teams.

On paper at least, the league does not appear as strong as it was prior to realignment. Only UNM and UNLV posted winning records last season among the seven returning programs. The other five returnees (Air Force, Grand Canyon, Nevada, San Jose State and Wyoming) went a combined 55-107 — although GCU elevated its play in conference and Air Force made a stunning run to the Mountain West tournament final.

Three of the five programs that departed for the rebuilt Pac-12 (San Diego State, Colorado State and Boise State) finished among the MW's top five last season, while Fresno State was seventh and Utah State tied for last place.

Still, Mountain West women's basketball could receive a boost from its three newcomers. Hawaii (22-11) and UC Davis (23-11) were top contenders in the Big West last season. UTEP finished 13-17 in its final season in Conference USA.

UNM's Brynn Eshoo is one of the basketball team's selections for Big Dawg of the Week.

TOP DAWGS

In the interest of rewarding practice performance, Eagan and her staff have installed something of an Employee of the Week program for players. More fittingly, this one's called Top Dawg of the Week.

During every practice, Eagan's staff tracks and awards points for intangibles, team-first play and energy. Points are totaled at the end of each week.

"It's meant to track things that are not necessarily on the stat sheet," Eagan said. "You get points for taking a charge, diving for loose balls, making the extra pass for an assist. We also give daily points to the player who brings energy, talks the most, things like that."

Weekly winners are announced on Mondays and the winning player's mug shot is posted in the Davalos Center.

UNM's first three "Big Dawgs" since fall practice started have been freshman guard Maya Thompson, sophomore point guard Keiara Curtis and junior forward Brynn Eshoo.