Starters Tim Williams, Cullen Neal, Obij Aget and Elijah have established themselves through four games as regular contributors. But where does coach Craig Neal go from there?
Ahead of Wednesday night’s home game against Nicholls State, Craig Neal says he prefers not to go any deeper than eight or nine players. Some of that may depend on matchups, but he said he won’t play anybody who’s not performing.
And so far the young Lobo reserves with similar skill sets aren’t separating themselves from the pack. It's still a work-in-progress.
“I think you've got to go with your main guys, but we're at a point now where I don't think any of those guys have made a push to show me a difference in anyone better than the other, if that makes any sense,” Neal said Tuesday. “I don't think any of those guys have done that.”
In last Saturday’s eight-point loss at USC, the Lobo frontcourt of Aget and Williams accounted for 36 points while Cullen Neal and Brown added another 30 from the backcourt. Good enough for 66 of UNM’s 82 points.
Williams and Aget specifically saw a ton of playing time in Los Angeles. Aget sat for only a minute while Williams was on the bench for three. Williams may have gotten a little worn out Saturday, Craig Neal said, but Aget's conditioning allowed him to stay in with no problems.
“(Obij) usually doesn't get taken out of the game unless he makes a mental mistake, so he can play all day. He can run all day,” he said. “Tim's got to get in better game shape and I think he knows that.”
With that said, Craig Neal added, it’s also hard to take out two players as effective as Williams and Aget, both of whom recorded double-doubles. No other player on either roster pulled down more than nine boards.
Craig Neal said he should have given forward Joe Furstinger more minutes. Furstinger showed confidence and gave the Lobos (3-1) four good minutes, the coach said. Furstinger, along with freshmen center Nikola Scekic, may see more playing time against Nicholls State, which boasts two 7-footers in centers Kyle Caudill and Liam Thomas.
Another example of the Lobo bench situation is Sam Logwood, a starter, and Xavier Adams, a reserve. Craig Neal said Logwood’s been playing in spurts, but he and Adams both have comparable skill sets; both played 16 minutes at USC.
Senior guard Tim Jacobs came in for 22 minutes off the bench at USC, primarily because of his experience, Craig Neal said. Although he provided eight assists, they came late in the game from jump shots rather than 3-pointers or dunks.
“I've seen that song and dance before with those guys,” he said. “I know what those guys can do. I've been through that a year ago. I just have to get more punch offensively with guys making baskets off the bench.”
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The biggest thing UNM must work on at this point, Craig Neal said, comes on the defensive end. Though they scored 82 points in a 74-possession game, they allowed 90 to the Trojans.
Nicholls State (1-2) enter Wednesday’s contest with only an 80-58 win over the University of Mobile. The Colonels have losses to Florida State and Hawaii. They lost to the Seminoles 109-62 in the opener. Forward Ja’Dante’ Frye leads the team with 20.3 points per game for a team averaging 72 a contest.
“We've got to get tougher,” Craig Neal said. “We've got to get mentally strong in a situation where we've got to get stops. We can't give them easy shots. We were giving them some easy ones and we've got to learn how to contest a little bit better. But we just have to get better defensively.”
J.R. Oppenheim is the managing editor for the Daily Lobo. Contact him at managingeditor@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JROppenheim.
