Nelly Junior Joseph gets 45th career double-double and New Mexico beats No. 22 UCLA 72-64
Donovan Dent had 17 points and eight assists, Nelly Junior Joseph added 16 points and 12 rebounds for his 45th career double-double, and New Mexico beat No. 22 UCLA 72-64 on Friday night in the Las Vegas Hoopfest.
It was New Mexico's first win against a ranked team in nonconference play since beating current UCLA coach Mick Cronin while he was at Cincinnati during the 2012-13 season.
CJ Noland added 13 points for the Lobos (2-0). Junior Joseph was one of three New Mexico players with a double-double in a season-opening victory over Nicholls on Monday.
Tyler Bilodeau, a transfer from Oregon State, had 23 points and 15 rebounds for UCLA (1-1), which opened its season with an 85-50 win over Rider on Monday.
New Mexico held the Bruins to 1-for-9 shooting from the field over the first seven minutes of the second half to help extend its 11-point halftime lead to 49-33.
New Mexico's 11th steal led to Tru Washington's fast-break dunk for a 58-43 cushion. The Lobos led by at least eight the rest of the way.
Takeaways
New Mexico stayed hot in Nevada. The game was played at Lee's Family Forum in Henderson, just minutes from where the Lobos beat San Diego State 68-61 in the championship game of the Mountain West Conference Tournament last season at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Key moment
Dent slipped on the court with 7:52 remaining on an inbounds pass with the Lobos leading 62-48. He went to the locker room and UCLA took advantage by switching to a pressure defense while New Mexico's star point guard was out. Dent returned at the 5:39 mark with a wrap on his left leg and scored on his first offensive possession to restore a double-digit lead at 68-57.
Key stat
New Mexico turned good defense into offense by scoring 21 points off 21 UCLA turnovers.
Up next
UCLA returns home to face Boston University on Monday. New Mexico hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Tuesday.
