George Washington Colonials vs New Mexico Lobos Prediction, 3/22/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: George Washington Colonials vs New Mexico Lobos

Date: Sunday, March 22, 2026

Location: The Pit in Albuquerque, NM

TV: ESPN+

Odds/Point Spread: New Mexico (-7)

The New Mexico Lobos (24-10) will try to defeat the George Washington Colonials (19-15) at The Pit on Sunday in the round 2 of the NIT. New Mexico opens this game as 7-point favorites from oddsmakers. The over/under is set at 161.

The George Washington Colonials played Utah Valley and walked away with a win by a score of 79-78 in their last contest. In the matter of fouls, the Colonials ended up finishing with 19 and Utah Valley accounted for 16 fouls. They also made 8 out of their 22 tries from distance. Utah Valley ended up shooting 78.3% when shooting free throws by knocking down 18 of their 23 shots. In addition, Utah Valley grabbed 32 boards (12 offensive, 20 defensive), but finished the game with no rejections. Utah Valley dished out 22 assists and had 10 steals for this game. In the matter of defense, George Washington allowed 44.8% from the floor on 26 out of 58 shooting. They also distributed 18 dimes for this contest as well as forcing 11 turnovers and earning 8 steals. With regard to pulling down rebounds, they earned 30 with 8 of them being of the offensive sort. At the charity stripe, the Colonials converted 16 of 19 tries for a percentage of 84.2%. George Washington walked away from the contest with a 49.1% field goal percentage (26 of 53) and knocked down 11 out of their 25 3-point attempts.

Rafael Castro is someone who played a role in this matchup. He scored 22 points on 6 out of 11 shooting. He saw the court for 32 mins played and grabbed 11 rebounds. He ended up shooting 54.5% from the field but wasn't able to get an assist.

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George Washington comes into this matchup with a mark of 19-15 for the year. They turn the ball over 12.8 times per game and as a squad they are committing 18.0 personal fouls per contest. As a team, George Washington is snagging 37.6 boards per game and has accumulated 537 dimes so far this season, which is 60th in the nation in terms of passing the ball. The Colonials are hitting 35.4% on 3-pointers (340 of 960) and 72.2% from the free throw line. They average 82.0 pts per contest (52nd in the country) while connecting on 46.7% from the floor.

When they are on defense, the Colonials have forced 12.8 turnovers every game and they draw 17.1 fouls. They rank 335th in the country in allowing assists to the opposition with 526 relinquished on the year. The Colonials defensively are allowing an opponent shooting percentage of 44.4% (869 of 1,957) and they surrender 31.9 boards per contest as a team. They are relinquishing 33.3% from 3-point land while they are 180th in college hoops in PPG allowed (73.9).

The last time they took the court, the New Mexico Lobos walked away with a victory by a final of 107-83 when they played Sam Houston. The Lobos recorded 24 defensive rebounds and 12 offensive boards totaling 36 in this contest. They also coughed it up 5 times, while getting 11 steals in this contest. Sam Houston committed 16 personal fouls for the game which took the Lobos to the charity stripe for a total of 20 attempts. They were able to knock down 16 of them for a rate of 80.0%. Pertaining to shots from beyond the perimeter, New Mexico converted 13 of 34 attempts (38.2%). When the final whistle blew, the Lobos ended up shooting 39 out of 74 from the floor which had them at 52.7%. The Lobos permitted Sam Houston to convert 33 of 68 tries from the floor which left them shooting 48.5% for the matchup. They finished 31.8% from distance via 7 of 22 and walked away from this one shooting 10 out of 18 from the free throw line (55.6%). In the matter of how they rebounded, New Mexico allowed Sam Houston to snag 34 in all (11 on the offensive side).

Tomislav Buljan was important for the Lobos for the contest. He earned 22 points in his 22 mins of playing time and accounted for 6 dimes for the matchup. He made 8 out of 11 in the matchup for a field goal percentage of 72.7%, and had 10 rebounds.

New Mexico has a record of 24-10 so far this year. As an offense, the Lobos are connecting on 46.2% from the field, which is ranked 113th in the nation. New Mexico has earned 2,765 pts for the year (81.3 per game) and they snag 36.6 rebounds per game. They are assisting teammates 15.1 times per game (105th in Division 1) and they turn the ball over 10.6 times per game. The Lobos commit 17.6 personal fouls per game and they hit 72.9% from the charity stripe.

The New Mexico defense allows 30.0% on shots from 3-point land (277 of 923) and their opposition makes 72.8% of their shots from the free throw line. They have allowed 13.3 assists and 34.2 rebounds per contest, which ranks them 173rd and 168th in college hoops. The Lobos defensively are ranked 105th in the nation in points per game surrendered with 71.2. They have forced 13.6 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 42.2% from the field (69th in college).

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take New Mexico (-7)

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