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Could there be a return to two New Mexico-New Mexico State men's basketball games per season?
That's what NMSU acting AD Amber Burdge says she wants soon.
In an extended interview with the Las Cruces Sun-News, Burdge discussed her communications with UNM athletic director Fernando Lovo. One thing she noted as a positive from her contact with Lovo was the potential for two men's basketball games between the Aggies and Lobos in a home-and-home format, meaning one in Albuquerque and another in Las Cruces.
MORE AGGIES SPORTS: New Mexico State to begin a nationwide search for new AD 'in the coming days'
The home-and-home arrangement was a steady one until very recently, when both UNM and NMSU agreed to play each other only once per season in May 2024. Multiple reasons contributed to the switch, including a lack of schedule flexibility for the Lobos, as they can now only schedule 12 non-conference games with the Mountain West Conference having moved from an 18-game to a 20-game conference schedule starting last season.
The change to a one-game model did not impact each school's women's basketball teams, who played twice in a home-and-home format last season with NMSU winning both.
The arrangement was made by former UNM and NMSU athletic directors Eddie Nuñez and Mario Moccia and UNM and NMSU coaches Richard Pitino and Jason Hooten. But with both schools having new ADs at the helm, as Lovo replaced Nuñez last December after Nuñez took Houston's AD role four months prior and Burdge replaced Moccia on an acting basis after Moccia was fired in January, interest in a return to the home-and-home format has gained traction.
"That's what our fans deserve, right?" Burdge told the Sun-News. "They're an in-state rival. If we can have them at our place every year, that's what our fans deserve. We need to do that, so if there's anything that we can do to make sure that happens, I think that both us and UNM have interest in a home-and-home."
Burdge says that during a meeting with Lovo this year, one topic of discussion was a return to two men's basketball games between the two schools each season. She says she gained confidence after the meeting that the interest was mutual for a two-game model to come back.
"Walking away from that initial meeting, I do think that we both walked away with a positive feeling that there is a strong potential that it can happen," Burdge said.
A return to a two-game model also interests Lovo, but only when conference schedules for the new MWC become more certain. The conference will become a 10-team league on July 1, 2026, with the departures of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State to the Pac-12 and the additions of Grand Canyon, UC Davis, UTEP and Hawai'i, the latter being a current football-only member joining fully.
"We're open to discussing it once the scheduling parameters of the new Mountain West become clearer," Lovo said in a statement provided by a UNM athletics spokesman.
MORE AGGIES SPORTS: Inside the overhaul of New Mexico State's football facilities
The new one-game model was a two-year arrangement that would be revisited after the upcoming 2025-26 season, with the matchup taking place at the school not hosting the UNM-NMSU football game. The Aggies defeated the Lobos 89-83 in overtime last season in Albuquerque, and they'll play in Las Cruces on Nov. 15, 2025.
Returning to a two-game model would have to be done in collaboration with Pitino and Hooten, who each take charge of creating non-conference schedules for their respective programs. Hooten told the Sun-News that while Burdge has notified him of the two-game model potentially returning, "nothing has been set in stone" yet.
Fan sentiment was a reason the two-game model lasted for as long as it did, and it's that fan support that has led Burdge to support its return. It would also help NMSU's finances if there were a guaranteed home game against the Lobos each season.
"I think from a ticket sales perspective, it would be nice to know that we have UNM at home everyyear," Burdge said.
The two-game model went largely uninterrupted since the Rio Grande Rivalry began in men's basketball in 1894 before the current arrangement, with exceptions coming in the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022-23 season when both games were canceled after former Aggies player Mike Peake shot and killed a UNM student in self-defense. It was an unusual setup for non-conference rivals, with the only other twice-a-year out-of-conference rivalry in Division I featuring Nashville foes Lipscomb (of the Atlantic Sun Conference) and Belmont (of the Missouri Valley Conference).
The Lobos have a 125-104 advantage over the Aggies in men's basketball, with the series split at 5-5 in the last 10 contests.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Mutual interest exists for return of 2-game UNM-NMSU basketball model
Continue reading...
That's what NMSU acting AD Amber Burdge says she wants soon.
In an extended interview with the Las Cruces Sun-News, Burdge discussed her communications with UNM athletic director Fernando Lovo. One thing she noted as a positive from her contact with Lovo was the potential for two men's basketball games between the Aggies and Lobos in a home-and-home format, meaning one in Albuquerque and another in Las Cruces.
MORE AGGIES SPORTS: New Mexico State to begin a nationwide search for new AD 'in the coming days'
The home-and-home arrangement was a steady one until very recently, when both UNM and NMSU agreed to play each other only once per season in May 2024. Multiple reasons contributed to the switch, including a lack of schedule flexibility for the Lobos, as they can now only schedule 12 non-conference games with the Mountain West Conference having moved from an 18-game to a 20-game conference schedule starting last season.
The change to a one-game model did not impact each school's women's basketball teams, who played twice in a home-and-home format last season with NMSU winning both.
The arrangement was made by former UNM and NMSU athletic directors Eddie Nuñez and Mario Moccia and UNM and NMSU coaches Richard Pitino and Jason Hooten. But with both schools having new ADs at the helm, as Lovo replaced Nuñez last December after Nuñez took Houston's AD role four months prior and Burdge replaced Moccia on an acting basis after Moccia was fired in January, interest in a return to the home-and-home format has gained traction.
"That's what our fans deserve, right?" Burdge told the Sun-News. "They're an in-state rival. If we can have them at our place every year, that's what our fans deserve. We need to do that, so if there's anything that we can do to make sure that happens, I think that both us and UNM have interest in a home-and-home."
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Burdge says that during a meeting with Lovo this year, one topic of discussion was a return to two men's basketball games between the two schools each season. She says she gained confidence after the meeting that the interest was mutual for a two-game model to come back.
"Walking away from that initial meeting, I do think that we both walked away with a positive feeling that there is a strong potential that it can happen," Burdge said.
A return to a two-game model also interests Lovo, but only when conference schedules for the new MWC become more certain. The conference will become a 10-team league on July 1, 2026, with the departures of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State to the Pac-12 and the additions of Grand Canyon, UC Davis, UTEP and Hawai'i, the latter being a current football-only member joining fully.
"We're open to discussing it once the scheduling parameters of the new Mountain West become clearer," Lovo said in a statement provided by a UNM athletics spokesman.
MORE AGGIES SPORTS: Inside the overhaul of New Mexico State's football facilities
The new one-game model was a two-year arrangement that would be revisited after the upcoming 2025-26 season, with the matchup taking place at the school not hosting the UNM-NMSU football game. The Aggies defeated the Lobos 89-83 in overtime last season in Albuquerque, and they'll play in Las Cruces on Nov. 15, 2025.
Returning to a two-game model would have to be done in collaboration with Pitino and Hooten, who each take charge of creating non-conference schedules for their respective programs. Hooten told the Sun-News that while Burdge has notified him of the two-game model potentially returning, "nothing has been set in stone" yet.
Fan sentiment was a reason the two-game model lasted for as long as it did, and it's that fan support that has led Burdge to support its return. It would also help NMSU's finances if there were a guaranteed home game against the Lobos each season.
"I think from a ticket sales perspective, it would be nice to know that we have UNM at home everyyear," Burdge said.
The two-game model went largely uninterrupted since the Rio Grande Rivalry began in men's basketball in 1894 before the current arrangement, with exceptions coming in the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022-23 season when both games were canceled after former Aggies player Mike Peake shot and killed a UNM student in self-defense. It was an unusual setup for non-conference rivals, with the only other twice-a-year out-of-conference rivalry in Division I featuring Nashville foes Lipscomb (of the Atlantic Sun Conference) and Belmont (of the Missouri Valley Conference).
The Lobos have a 125-104 advantage over the Aggies in men's basketball, with the series split at 5-5 in the last 10 contests.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Mutual interest exists for return of 2-game UNM-NMSU basketball model
Continue reading...
