by Riley Bauling
Daily Lobo
Freshman Daniel Faris couldn't have picked a better time to chip in the first points of his Lobo career.
Or play tough defense against two seven-footers.
Or toss an elbow or two to show he wasn't backing down.
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The 6-foot-9-inch Faris, the tallest person on the Lobos other than 6-9 David Chiotti, was called on to try to shut down Colorado State's sophomore twin towers Stuart Creason and Jason Smith in UNM's 83-75 win against the Rams on Saturday night.
Right from the start, Faris let Creason know that, freshman or not, he'll battle just the same. As Creason backed Faris down with an elbow to the freshman's face, Faris countered with a jab to Creason's lower back. Creason sent an elbow to Faris' midsection before the two locked arms in the post and Creason was called for the offensive foul.
"If someone is going to throw an elbow at me, then I'm not going to back down," Faris said about the tussle with Creason. "Definitely not - you got to fight with them."
McKay was giddy about Faris' ability to stand up to pressure when the Rams brought it on him.
"For a freshman to be able to go through a battle like that and not take a back step was important to his game and our success," McKay said.
Faris was one of three big men for the Lobos, with Chiotti and Joel Box being the other two, entrusted with the difficult task of stopping Smith and his understudy Creason.
While UNM might have lost the battle - Smith dropped 28 points on the Lobos - it still managed to win the war, thanks in large part to Faris' six points as well as 6-foot-8-inch Box's eight points to go along with Chiotti's 17.
UNM head coach Ritchie McKay wasn't as pleased with Faris' offensive showing as he was with his effort on the defensive side of the ball.
"He's only a freshman," McKay said. "To play that well defensively in a Mountain West game as a freshman - your second one - great things are on the horizon for him."
Box carried his fair share of the load as well against the Redwoods on the Rams, scoring his eight points in only nine minutes including two threes. He also chipped in with two rebounds, a block and a steal.
With Faris coming into his own and the return of Box after he quit for three games citing a lack of playing time, UNM finally had big men to back up Chiotti in the post. And on the defensive side of the ball, it showed, Chiotti said.
"When you're undersized as a team, playing against two seven-footers, I thought we did a tremendous job (defensively)," he said.
But it was Faris' ability to come in and shoulder some of the weight from the Rams' 14 feet of post that had Chiotti espousing praise for his young protÇgÇ.
"He's tough and not afraid to step out there and put his face in front of some elbows and get dirty," he said. "He kind of does a little of our dirty work, and gives us some toughness inside, and helps us bang against seven-footers when we have to play against them."
