In a mere two days, the UNM men's basketball team morphed from an offensive juggernaut to an anemic, overmatched team that couldn't score.
The Lobos were blown out by the University of Utah 81-51 Monday night, a loss that came on the heels of an uplifting 73-58 win over Brigham Young University Saturday afternoon.
"We didn't do what we came into the game to do and they made us pay," point guard Senque Carey said after the demoralizing loss to Utah. "They came in with all their points of their game polished, while ours was rusty. For some reason, we didn't meet their intensity. Like I said, they came out and made us pay."
While the Utes' offense put up impressive numbers, UNM's inability to buy a basket pointed to serious problems handling zone defenses. The same problem crept up during the Lobos' narrow 50-47 win over the Air Force Academy a week ago, when the Lobos were virtually shut down by tight perimeter defense that cut off passing lanes. The Utes and Falcons also shut down UNM's penetration and transition game, which accounts for more than one-third of the Lobos' offense.
Following their win over BYU, both UNM head coach Fran Fraschilla and his players said it was refreshing to face a team that played traditional man-to-man defense, which worked to the Lobos' backcourt advantage.
UNM's prospects against the Utes looked promising early in the game when the Lobos jumped out to a 12-4 lead, but then failed to score for the next four minutes, allowing Utah back in the game. The four-minute lull proved to be one of three offensive droughts that sent UNM into the locker room down 41-29.
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The deficit, coupled with a pathetic second half when it looked as though the Lobos could not hit the broad side of a barn, yielded the Utah drubbing.
The Utes frustrated the Lobos by rotating taller guards on the perimeter, double-teaming whichever player had the ball and focusing on cutting off both inside passing lanes and penetration.
The Lobos shot 48 percent from the field in the first half, but posted a mere 27.3 percent in the second half, finishing at 38.3 percent.
As bad as the field goal shooting was, it paled in comparison to the Lobos' 3-point shooting. UNM started the game at 22 percent, hitting two-of-nine in the first half. It followed that by hitting one-of-10 for 10 percent in the second half to finish at 15.8 percent. At one point during the second half, the crowd booed reserve center Cody Payne when he faked a 3-point shot and cheered when he passed it up.
"Not to take anything away from Utah, but after we were down, some of our players tried to make things happen too fast," Carey said.
To make matters worse, the Lobos continued an erratic free-throw shooting trend, connecting on three-of-six in the first half for 50 percent and nine-of-19 in the second for 47.4 percent.
"That's the game - some games you hit your shots and some games you don't," guard Ruben Douglas said. "Free throws, they're free, but they didn't go in for us tonight."
While Douglas scored 21 points, his effort barely made a dent and Carey's quiet 11 weren't enough to overcome long stretches without picking up any points.
Fraschilla's heavy rotation of guards, which saw former starting point guard Marlon Parmer on the bench for the opening tip and pulling Douglas after he went on a brief run during both games, worked well against BYU but didn't help when it failed to produce a desperately needed spark against Utah.
Following the win over the Cougars, Fraschilla that the win was important and something he expected from the team despite the controversy surrounding the Lobos during the past week. The questions centered on Parmer's suspension, whether center Moustapha Diagne's foot injury would prevent him from playing basketball again and Fraschilla's cryptic reference to Sept. 11 terrorist attacks while complaining to a referee during the team's win over the Air Force.
"You know, this team has handled adversity pretty well, I was hoping we'd handle success a little better than we did," Fraschilla said after the 30-point loss.
Now both players and coach say they must regroup and turn back to the offense that have given them a 12-5 overall record and 2-1 start in Mountain West Conference play.
"It's just one of those nights when you get your rear kicked and have to move on," Fraschilla said. "They got us good, and we just have to put it behind us and move on."
