Two words for the UNM men’s basketball team: Roll tide.
The fourth-seeded Lobos will face top-seeded Alabama at its home tonight in the second round of the National Invitational Tournament. Similar to the Lobos, the Crimson Tide has been tough at home: They went 17-0 in Coleman Coliseum this season.
Head coach Steve Alford said that the Tide poses a lot of problems for his young team.
“They’ve protected their home court,” he said. “You got a Monday night game on ESPN, so the crowd is even much better and bigger in their “First round game. They pressure, and they score out of their defense.”
UNM defeated “fifth-seeded UTEP 69-57 in the opening round of the NIT on Tuesday, to put itself in position to tussle with the Tide.
Alabama was one of the last four teams snubbed out of an NCAA tournament bid and instead got a one seed in the NIT. Alabama disposed of eighth seeded Coastal Carolina 68-44 in its “first-round game Tuesday.
Once again, the Lobos will be without senior point guard Dairese Gary. Gary tore his ACL in the second half of the Lobos’ Mountain West Conference semi“nals against BYU.
Already without their lone senior, the Lobos have another leader clashing with the injury bug.
Phillip McDonald, the junior shooting guard, has had an up-and-down season and had a bum elbow throughout. The injury forced him out of UNM’s “First three regular-season games, and he tweaked the elbow again.
Injury or not, McDonald said that he will be good to go against the Crimson Tide.
“I’ve been dealing with it during the season since the “rst time I hurt it,” he said. “I kind of irritated it again. But especially with Dairese out — he was our penetrator and drive and kicker — now
I’ve got to be that guy.”
The team is playing with three juniors (Drew Gordon, A.J. Hardeman
and McDonald), and the Lobos have played well with multiple sophomores and freshmen on the floor.
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Kendall Williams, the MWC Freshman
of the Year, will be forced into a
bigger role tonight. He said he is no longer
an inexperienced player.
“I can’t (be a freshman) at this point, and I don’t feel like one,” Williams said. “I have a lot of games under my belt now, and thanks to Dairese Gary and the coaches, I’ve gotten some experience.
The paper may still say freshman, but I think I’m ready to get that sophomore tag.”
Against the Miners, Williams scored 18 points. He is 12 points away from becoming the sixth freshman in MWC history to score 400 points.
“It’s going to be fun,” Williams said. “They had a great year, obviously being the No. 1 seed in the NIT and they just missed the NCAA.”
