The goal for the UNM women's basketball team on defense is not only to contain a team, but to shut down the offense completely. That mentality has the Lobos playing possibly their best defense ever.
The team's goal, or synergy as the team likes to call it, has the Lobos playing defense that is helping catapult UNM to the top of the Mountain West Conference standings and possibly an NCAA Tournament berth.
"We have a synergy where we have to keep teams under a certain number of points, and I think we all visualize that and try to keep teams below that and hope that we score more than them," freshman guard Stephanie Shaw said.
That approach has given the players the intensity to play defense and opposing teams fits.
"We have a good team concept and we are doing a good job of preparing them for the team that is coming," head coach Don Flanagan said. "They know what is coming and we have gotten our philosophy down."
The detail to the defensive side of the ball has the Lobos shutting teams down and, sometimes, embarrassing them in the process.
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UNM is first in the conference in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense, allowing 56.2 points and 35.3 percent shooting. The Lobos are also ranked in the top-15 in the nation in both defensive categories.
"I think their defense is as I good as I have ever seen it," Wyoming coach Cindy Fisher said.
Fisher, in her fourth year, had a front row seat to see how good the UNM defense is as she watched her team get pounded 56-41 by a sea of swarming Lobo red.
For the second straight game, UNM held its opponent to their lowest point total and lowest field goal percentage of the season. The Lobos bogged down the Cowgirls offense, harassing them into 21.5 percent shooting and 18 first-half points.
Wyoming only made 14 field goals, seven in each half. It also began each half making two of its first 14 attempts for 14 percent.
Fisher said the Lobos post players are so athletic that it causes problems for teams to score inside.
"I think (Flanagan) has a good philosophy," Fisher said. "They move well, they are athletic. They really don't have a lot of weaknesses that you can attack. They just play good team defense."
She is not the only coach left flabbergasted after a stifling defensive effort.
UNM also shut down 18th-ranked Colorado State University to season lows in points and field goal percentage in the 56-50 victory Thursday.
"We definitely have stepped it up," junior forward Chelsea Grear said. "Each game is a challenge for us to go out there and put defensive stops on each team that we play. The defense has stepped up tremendously the past couple of games we have had that were sloppy. There is a lot more discipline on the defensive end."
Assistant coach Ed Wyant said the coaches preach playing defense as the key to earning more playing time.
"We just play good defense," he said. "If you don't play good defense you can't get in the game. If you screw up defensively, chances are you're going to be on the bench. It is something we take great pride in and we always have."
Flanagan said that his team's goal every game is to keep the opponent to under 60 points. He added that if that happens, the Lobos should win the game.
The number 60 has been magical for the Lobos during the past few years. In UNM's 194 games under Flanagan, UNM has held opponents to 60 points or less on 107 occasions or 55 percent of the time. The Lobos are 98-17 in those games, which is 85 percent of the time.
Although that is an impressive number, UNM has been even more dominating on the defensive end this year. In 22 games this season, UNM has held 12 of its opponents under 60 points and is 12-0 in those games.
"This year it's team chemistry," Grear said. "Everyone on the team has so much heart and determination to succeed in this conference and we just want to go out and do our best and that is what we are bringing out to every game."
Shaw said the other aspect that has improved the team's defense is the added depth, with several freshman earning significant minutes.
"I think that is a plus," she said. "When you can go six, seven, eight, even nine deep that is a plus for you because playing 40 minutes a game you are going to get tired and if you have fresh legs in there you are going to do better."
Last season, the Lobos held opponents to 62.4 points a game in reaching the WNIT championship game. Flanagan compares this team defensively to the 1997-98 version, which he says was his best defensive team at UNM. That team gave up an average of 56.6 points a game and held 10 opponents under 60 points.
Ironically, that was the last time the Lobos made it to the NCAA Tournament.
He said this season's team might be better because it has more depth.
"I think this team wants to win so they ar0e going to do whatever it takes to win," he said. "If they go down and don't do very well on an offensive possession, they come back ready to stop. And they are pretty good at it."
