New Mexico
3 thoughts: New Mexico 62, SDSU 48 … elevation, offense, and a rough day in San Diego
Three thoughts on San Diego State’s 62-48 loss at New Mexico on Saturday:
1. Effort or elevation?
One of the advantages of chartering home immediately after a midday game, as the Aztecs did Saturday, is you arrive early enough to go straight to the film room at the JAM Center and re-watch key parts of what transpired with the coaches’ input.
The Aztecs typically do that the following day before practice. This way, they can address the team’s worst performance of the season and then flush it so Sunday and Monday practices can be devoted fully to preparing for Tuesday night’s home game against 4-1 Colorado State.
“I’ve got a coaching staff that won’t let this linger, that won’t overreact to it,” said coach Brian Dutcher, whose teams are 34-4 in their last 38 games following a loss. “Yeah, we want to play better, the kids want to play better, I want to coach better. It didn’t happen. We will put it in the rearview mirror without completely disregarding it. We’ll learn from our mistakes, but we won’t sit here and obsess about it to the point where it will cost us an opportunity at home against Colorado State.”
The tricky part, though, is sifting through the carnage and determining how much is attributable to effort and how much to elevation. The Pit sits at 5,108 feet. And, for most of the young roster, this was their first trip into high altitude.
“When you try to sprint back, you’ve got a piano on your back,” SDSU’s Jared Coleman-Jones said. “Pushing through that is hard. It’s an adjustment.”
So do you beat up your players in film, or give them a pass?
“Maybe we were a step slow; it’s always hard to tell,” Dutcher said. “It’s such a fine line at altitude. Usually, most people think they’re holding their knees, they can’t catch their breath. It’s, you’re a half-step slow to a play because you’re a little winded and you can’t get to the spot you’re supposed to get to.
“There were times where, if we can’t run down a long rebound or we can’t get a loose ball, is that because we’re a step slow or we’re not tough-minded enough? You never know. You can’t confuse a lack of toughness and effort with elevation. You walk that line at elevation.”
How do you know which it is?
“You just do your best guesswork,” Dutcher said.
They’ll get more data points, for better or worse. The Aztecs have five more games in the mountains this season: at Air Force (7,981 feet), at Nevada (4,573), at Colorado State (5,025), at Utah State (4,770), at Wyoming (7,220).
Record over the past two seasons above 4,500 feet: 1-6.
Below 4,500 feet: 35-9.
2. Woes, with an O
Dutcher regularly talks about leaning on the defense on days when shots aren’t falling, and they weren’t Saturday morning at The Pit.
The defense was still good, really good. New Mexico shot 35.8% overall and 6 of 28 behind the arc (21.4%) with .92 points per possession — all ranking as their second-worst figures of the season. The Lobos’ 62 points were their season low and 23 under their per-game average.
But some days, even SDSU’s defense can’t save itself from its offense, and this was one of them.
How bad was it?
The .71 points per possession is by far their worst of the season (the previous low was .94) and the worst in 108 games — and the third-worst total in the past eight seasons.
Another way to look at it: Over the last two seasons, the worst points per possession figure they’ve been able to overcome in a victory was .95.
The elevation and The Pit was certainly part of it, but the offense hasn’t been trending well. While the defense has climbed to No. 5 in the Kenpom metric’s defensive efficiency, the offense has gone in the opposite direction and now ranks 122nd nationally. In conference games, the Aztecs are ninth in the 11-team Mountain West and dead last in effective field-goal percentage (which accounts for baskets behind the arc being worth more than inside it).
The worrying part: Only one team to receive an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament last year had an offensive efficiency ranking outside the top 75 (SDSU was 62nd). That was 10 seed Virginia at No. 200, and the Cavaliers lost 67-42.
3. A rough day
Saturday was not one of San Diego college basketball’s finer moments.
SDSU: The Aztecs scored 20 points in the first half, trailed by 20 and got pummeled in The Pit in front of a CBS national telecast with Bill Raftery. The lopsided loss cost the Aztecs five spots in Kenpom (from 31 to 36) and 10 in the NET (to 41). It also dropped them into a tie for fifth place in the Mountain West at 3-2, 2½ games behind co-leaders New Mexico and Utah State at 6-0.
UCSD: The Tritons appeared on linear TV (ESPNU) for the first time in program history, had students lined up across campus all day, led UC Irvine by six midway through the second half in the Big West showdown for first place and … shot 6 of 36 on 3s, got leading scorer Tyler McGhie only three shots, scored a season-low 52 points, lost by eight and had their 12-game win streak snapped.
USD: The Toreros scored the most points of the city’s three Division I programs with 56 … and lost by 47 at St. Mary’s after surrendering, gulp, 10 3-pointers and 62 points in the second half alone. The Toreros fell to 4-14 overall and 1-10 in their last 11 games.
The glass is half-full version, at least for SDSU and UCSD:
Less than three decades ago, the Aztecs were playing home games in Peterson Gym and had one of the worst programs in Division I. Now they regularly play across the street in front of sellouts at 12,414-seat Viejas Arena and went to the 2023 national championship game. For the last two years, big-boy Fox (two) and CBS (four) have televised six regular-season Mountain West games; SDSU has been selected for all six.
Five years ago, UCSD was in Division II playing in front of a few hundred family and friends at LionTree Arena. Saturday night, they had their second sellout (the other was last season against SDSU) and first game on an ESPN linear network (as opposed to their usual spot streaming on ESPN+).
“Our job as members of the basketball program is to continue to build great teams and play great basketball, and these types of environments are the result of that,” UCSD coach Eric Olen said. “If we put a good product on the floor, people will want to see that. … Disappointing night for us in terms of results and how that we maybe we played, but it is a glimpse of what’s possible and I’m excited that people got to see that.”
Originally Published:
CHIMAYO, N.M. (KRQE) – A suspect is dead following a shooting involving the Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office in Chimayo on Highway 76. Deputies are said to be okay. New Mexico State Police is investigating the shooting.
KRQE News 13 will provide updates as they become available.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — A leader in the New Mexico Republican Party was arrested Wednesday, accused of a deadly hit-and-run in Las Cruces.
Former Treasurer of the Republican Party in New Mexico, Kimberly Ann Skaggs, 54, was arrested Wednesday and charged with leaving the scene and tampering with evidence, jail records show.
Police documents show the charges stem from a deadly hit-and-run crash that happened Monday afternoon, which killed 40-year-old bicyclist, Andrew Brown.
Investigators believed Skaggs was involved after an investigation revealed that Skaggs allegedly was driving fast in the area, fled the scene after the crash and then tried to hide the vehicle from authorities.
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The investigation
According to police documents, a witness at the scene of the crash– 850 N. Fairacres Rd.– described seeing a dark blonde-haired woman flee in a black Cadillac Escalade SUV.
Afterwards, investigators said they saw on Flock cameras– A.I. powered license plate readers– a black Cadillac Escalade traveling near the site of the crash minutes before the incident.
READ MORE: Dona Ana County expands Flock license plate cameras as officials cite crime-solving gains
The license plates showed that the vehicle belonged to Skaggs and that, in September 2025, the Las Cruces Police Department had given her a citation for “racing on streets-exhibition driving.”
Investigators stated that a business on Picacho Ave. captured what they alleged was the same black Cadillac Escalade driving fast.
Then, the documents described how investigators tracked down the Escalade using OnStar’s live GPS tracking, discovering the SUV was at a property on the 5000 block of Northwind Road, which investigators said the Dona Ana County Assessors Office confirmed is a property owned by Skaggs.
On Tuesday, at around 6:41 p.m.– over 24 hours after the deadly hit-and-run– investigators executed a search warrant on the property and described finding the black Cadillac Escalade behind a home, under a red metal carport.
Investigators noted damage on the SUV consistent with the crash, highlighting that there was blood splatter near one of the front tires, markings on the front bumper consistent with hitting a bicycle and parts missing, which investigators said were the same parts found at the scene.
Dona Ana County jail records show Skaggs was booked on Wednesday afternoon and remains jailed without a bond.
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About Skaggs
On the official website of the Republican Party of New Mexico, Skaggs was listed as the treasurer before she was removed.
KFOX14/CBS4 has reached out to the Republican Party to learn more and are waiting for a comment regarding the arrest.
Also, according to election statistics, Skaggs ran for State Representative in District 36 in 2022 and 2024, losing both times to Democrat Nathan P. Small.
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SANTA FE, N.M. – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked Attorney General Raúl Torrez to investigate whether any Drug Enforcement Administration agents broke state law when pills reached New Mexico streets.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham said, “make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities.”
The governor also shared a timeline from 2022 to 2025 that she said shows when she asked federal officials for help with New Mexico’s fentanyl crisis and violent crime.
Lujan Grisham said the first request came on June 21, 2022, when she wrote to then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray and asked for 50 additional federal agents.
She said she wrote to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland on Sept. 15, 2022, asking for more agents, resources and support for New Mexico law enforcement.
Lujan Grisham said she wrote Garland a second time on Aug. 8, 2023, with the same request.
What came next?
About a month later, Lujan Grisham said she sent Garland a third letter and said New Mexico needed more federal law enforcement to curb violent crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
She said her most recent request came on Sept. 4, 2025, when she wrote to former Attorney General Pam Bondi and again asked for additional agents and resources.
The governor’s statement says those requests span several years as she pressed the federal government for more help in New Mexico.
Full statement from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:
“I am appalled by reporting this week by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal that revealed federal authorities made a deliberate decision to let hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills flood into New Mexico communities, despite knowing that fentanyl is so lethal the White House has designated it a weapon of mass destruction.
Let me say that again: the Drug Enforcement Administration watched as 74,000 fentanyl pills were delivered to a mobile home park in Albuquerque, and they did nothing. And that’s just one transaction. Shockingly, the federal government stood by while monitoring shipments, tallying exact pill counts, and watching as these deadly drugs hit the streets.
There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were. Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway. The result: hundreds of New Mexican parents burying their kids. Hundreds of New Mexican kids growing up without stable parents. All while the federal government stood by.
If the justification for letting these pills flood our communities was that it would somehow make New Mexico safer down the road through bigger eventual busts, the results say otherwise. New Mexico now leads the nation in the increase in overdose deaths for the second straight year, despite deaths dropping nationwide.
Today, I wrote to Attorney General Raúl Torrez and asked him to investigate whether any federal agents broke state law when they allowed lethal drugs to remain on our streets, and to prosecute anyone responsible — regardless of whether they are a federal agent or not.
I have spent years working across two administrations — writing letters, traveling to Washington, meeting directly with President Joe Biden and his cabinet, pushing for accountability, asking for more federal agents to be deployed to New Mexico to help fight this crisis.
- On June 21, 2022, I wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray, imploring the FBI to assign no less than 50 additional agents to New Mexico to stem escalating drug trafficking and violent crime.
- On September 15, 2022, I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the Department of Justice provide additional federal agents, resources and support to New Mexico law enforcement. We asked the department to match the level of investigative, analytical, and technical resources the FBI had deployed in its Buffalo, NY surge.
- On August 8, 2023, I wrote again to Attorney General Garland, renewing my request that the DOJ expeditiously assign more federal agents to New Mexico.
- On September 7, 2023, I wrote to Attorney General Garland for a third time, reiterating my request once more federal law enforcement support to curb violent crime, drug and human trafficking.
- On September 4, 2025, I wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, once again requesting additional agents and resources.
I have declared the surge of drugs like fentanyl to be a public health emergency. I have deployed the National Guard to both Albuquerque and Española. While my administration was doing everything we could to stem the tide of fentanyl coming into our state, the federal government deliberately allowed it to flood in.
New Mexican lives are not the federal government’s cost of doing business.
I plan to hold the federal government accountable for this disaster and will explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs.”
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