New Mexico and UNLV entered Tuesday night’s contest at Las Vegas’s Thomas & Mack Center heading in different directions. The Lobos won three straight to open conference play while the Runnin’ Rebels released their head coach after a 3-0 Mountain West start.
Yet UNLV got the better of UNM, leading by as many as 21 points in Tuesday’s 86-victory over the Lobos. It was UNLV’s first game since the school announced the resignation of its head coach, Dave Rice.
The Runnin’ Rebels (10-7, 1-3 MW) flashed its offensive depth with five double-digit scroers and 39 points off the bench. UNM (10-7, 3-1 MW), a team that gets most its production from its starting unit, only had five points from its reserves.
In fact, two UNLV reserves reached double figures: Ike Nwamu with 15 and Ben Carter with 10. Starting guard Patrick McCaw led UNLV with 18 points, with fellow starters forward Stephen Zimmerman Jr. scoring 15 and guard Jerome Seagears getting 10.
UNLV also beat UNM at its own transition game, scoring 24 points off 14 Lobo turnovers while UNM had seven points off seven Rebel mishandles.
All Lobo starters but forward Tim Williams reached double digit scoring, with guard Elijah Brown leading the way with 24 points. He connected on 10 field goals on 20 attempts, but did have his free throw shooting streak end at 31 straight when he hit 1 of 2 in his only trip to the line. He completed a double-double with a team-high 19 rebounds
Guard Cullen Neal added 14 points, primarily from the foul line. He sank 8 of 10 from the line missed eight field goals. His only two buckets were 3-pointers. Sam Logwood, meanwhile, made 11 points while center Obij Aget added 11 points and eight rebounds.
Williams, the league’s most efficient shooter, had a rare bad night with eight points on 2 of 9 shooting before fouling out in the second half.
UNM entered halftime down only five points after UNLV squandered an 11-point lead off a 17-4 run. However, the Runnin’ Rebels responded in the latter 20 minutes by outscoring UNM by a 52-46 margin. UNLV led for 34 minutes, 53 seconds, with UNM’s only lead coming in the early moments.
Both teams finished with matching 40 percent field-goal nights, UNM making 24 of 60 and UNLV 26 of 65. The Lobos did outrebound the home team 43-39 but UNLV got the edge in second-chance points, 10-6.
The Lobos return to action this Saturday at WisePies Arena hosting Wyoming, a team that edged UNLV 59-57 last weekend.
J.R. Oppenheim is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. Contact him at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JROppenheim.
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