The UNM men’s basketball team will host the San Diego State Aztecs on Saturday night to close out the regular season.
There will likely be some added pressure to the game with conference tournament seeded still at stake on “senior night,” and head coach Craig Neal said he is not taking it lightly.
“It’s senior night, which is always difficult emotionally,” he said. “Then if you win, you are in the fifth (spot), so you play on Thursday. There’s a lot on the line and I think our guys understand that. We’ll prepare accordingly.”
The Mountain West Tournament starts next week, and Saturday’s match will determine the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds, an important difference because only the top five teams get a pass straight through to the Thursday quarterfinals.
The Lobos currently hold a 16-13 overall record and stand at 9-8 in the conference, while the Aztecs have the edge with a 17-12 record, the teams have the same conference record.
San Diego State is coming off a 51-38 win over Air Force in a game filled with defense. The Aztecs scored less than their average of 66.9 points per game, but also kept the Falcons well below the 63 points it has allowed to opponents in conference play.
Junior guard Trey Kell leads the offense with an average of 13.2 points per game for the Aztecs.
New Mexico has not been playing particularly well, entering Saturday on a three-game losing streak, the latest loss an 82-71 loss at Wyoming.
During that game, the team saw redshirt sophomore Connor MacDougall step up in the offense, leading the team with 17 points in just 15 minutes of playing time. '
At the beginning of the season, Neal said the focus was on improving his team’s defense. The defense saw some improvement, but as the season went on the team suffered multiple injuries and the offense began to become sporadic.
Things became more difficult when one of the team’s two consistent scorers had to sit out at the end of January.
Senior forward Tim Williams was having a productive season, averaging 17.9 points per game in his 20 appearances. However, he had to sit out for a month due to a stress reaction on his left foot.
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Williams finally returned to practice on Tuesday. Neal said he was clear to play, but that he is still not sure how much time he’ll actually be on the floor.
“I don’t know what to expect because he’s missed a month. That would be tough on anybody,” the head coach said.
New Mexico has relied on junior guard Elijah Brown, who leads the team with an average of 18.5 points per game this season, and a 20.2 average in conference games.
When the Lobos faced the Aztecs earlier this season, the duo of Brown and Williams scored a total of 34 points, accounting for half the team’s offense in the 68-62 victory.
New Mexico has won 27 out of 38 games against San Diego State at WisePies Arena, but Neal said the Lobos' ability to score will be put to the test when they face the Aztecs this time around.
“Tough opponent,” he said. “Really can guard, we’ve had trouble scoring against them in the past. So we are going to have to try to score the ball, and having Tim back helps with that. I think it gives our guys some confidence”
The game is scheduled for an 8 p.m. start time and will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network as well as 770 KKOB.
Isabel Gonzalez is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. She mainly covers men’s soccer and basketball. She can be reached at sports
@dailylobo.com or on Twitter
@cisabelg.
