Focus and defense are on New Mexico’s mind as the team ventures across the state line to take on undefeated UTEP on Wednesday night.
Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said the team will play with a big chip on its shoulder as the team heads to El Paso, Texas. The Lobos are coming off a bitter 78-69 loss in the title game of its annual Thanksgiving tournament.
“They’re good, they’re really good. They’re 5-0, they haven’t lost a game,” Sanchez said. “They’ve played a lot of games at home and they just won their tournament.”
New Mexico (4-2) has also had its fair share of home contests, only having to leave WisePies Arena once in the six contests during the early portion of the season. However, illustrated in the previous contest, the Lobos will need to make sure to have its defense grooving against a sharp shooting team.
The Miners (5-0) have three players averaging double-digits in terms of scoring, led by guard Jenzel Nash. Nash is leading the team in scoring with 16.6 points per showing. Starr Breedlove and fellow senior Cameasha Turner are averaging 12.2 points and 12.0 points per contest, respectively.
“They’re a transition team, but they have size,” Sanchez said of the miners. “They take the ball to the basket, they’re streaky shooters. So if they’re on, they are on.”
The Lobos have two players averaging in double-digits as well in Khadijah Shumpert (12.8) and Cherise Beynon (10.0). However, Sanchez said she does not count on her team to be able to outscore anybody.
One thing Sanchez counts on is defense.
UNM’s defense fell short of Sanchez’s standards, the head coach said. She has insisted several times through the course of the season that her squad must rely on the defense because she said her shooters tend to be streaky as well.
“We’re going to have times where we just don’t shoot the ball well,” Sanchez said. “We’re going to have times where things just don’t go your way on offense and we’ve got to play defense better.”
Sanchez said UNM’s offense is going to need to stay collected against UTEP defense that likes to play man-to-man and will pressure the ball. However, Sanchez said she hasn’t seen the Miners play defense deep into shot clocks, something she hopes to utilize.
New Mexico is going to need to slow the pace of the game down since UTEP is a transition team and loves to run the court. If the Lobos are able to control the tempo of the game, the squad just may walk out with its first road victory.
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“You have to be tougher on the road than you are at home,” Sanchez said. “You have to deal with adversity. Things don’t go your way on the road, they just don’t.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on twitter @Liam_CE.
