ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico Lobos hit the hardwood Thursday to prepare for a first-round matchup against Marquette in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Head coach Richard Pitino expects a tough battle Friday night at the Rocket Arena in Cleveland.

“They play on the perimeter a lot offensively. So you may think that they’re not as physical as they are, but they are. It’ll be one of the most physical teams we’ve played all year,” Pitino said.

The players say they’ve learned a lot from last year’s March Madness loss to Clemson.

“We’re not here just to be here. We know we’re a good team. Last year, we were more excited just to be here and we got blown out in the first round. So that’s not what we want this year, for sure,” said Donovan Dent, who led the Lobos this season with an average of 20.6 points per game.

“What we want to learn from last year was, the physicality of the game. We just got to be ready for that,” said Nelly Junior Joseph, second to Dent in scoring with an average of 14 points per game.

University of New Mexico is one of just 14 schools in the tournament that doesn’t belong to a Power 4 Conference. The Lobos want to prove UNM and other Mountain West schools are on the same level with all of the big names in college basketball.

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