This is how to break out of a slump.
Soft-spoken starting guard Troy DeVries was electric from the outside against SDSU, hitting four 3-pointers and nailing each of his four free throws for 16 points in the game. It was a terrific performance from a key Lobo contributor who hadn't been playing his best lately.
The road trip that preceded Saturday's win over SDSU wasn't a good one for the Lobos. The team didn't play well in losses at Air Force, BYU and Utah and DeVries endured his worst stretch of games since joining the Lobos.
He went scoreless for the first and only time this season against Air Force on Feb. 14.
Though he had 16 against BYU the next time out, most of those points came after the 88-71 blowout had been decided.
Against Utah he lost his starting spot and came off the bench to score five points on 2 of 6 shooting.
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"I kept my faith the whole time," DeVries said of the rough stretch. "I knew our team was going to come out of it. I knew I was going to come out of it. I didn't doubt."
Head coach Ritchie McKay said DeVries' scoring wasn't the reason he was taken out of the starting lineup. It was, rather, for his defense.
Starting against SDSU on Saturday, he showed improvement in that area as well.
"He was a lot better defensively," McKay said. "Troy and I have a good relationship. He knows my expectation level of him. It's a high expectation level, and that's why I did what I did."
On offense, DeVries showed why he's one of the Mountain West Conference's best shooters. He hit a baseline three early to help get the offense going, added another at the top of the key just a few minutes later and nailed a third three falling backward just after the 10-minute mark in the first half.
For the game, he didn't attempt a single field goal that was inside the three-point line. DeVries said long shots are his specialty.
"That's definitely one of my biggest strengths," he said. "Coach wants me to shoot the ball from the outside."
DeVries was also quick to note that's not all he shoots, though.
"But if that's what the defense gives me, then that's what I'm going to do," he said.
DeVries is the 11th most accurate 3-point shooter in the country at 44.7 percent (46-103). He's hit 2.65 threes a game since he began playing this season. Over the past four games before Saturday night's win, his scoring average dropped from 12 to 6.5 points a game, and he hit just eight of 25 3-point attempts.
If the game against SDSU is any indication, the sweet touch is back and those last few games were an aberration, not a trend.
