by David J. Chavez
Daily Lobo
Another team from the Big 12 fell victim to the UNM men's basketball team.
The Lobos beat Kansas State 78-54 at The Pit on Tuesday to earn a perfect record of 4-0.
Head coach Ritchie McKay said UNM played well in all aspects of the game.
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"We had a motive to make sure that we kept improving during the week off, and that was manifested on the floor tonight," he said. "We had a great team effort, and our bench came up and played solid."
The Lobos got off to a good start, jumping out to a 9-3 lead with 17:34 in the first half. However, a five minute UNM scoring drought allowed the Wildcats to take a 13-9 lead.
UNM then took the game over by shutting down KSU's offense. The Lobos went on a 17-1 run to push the score to 26-14 at the 6:35 mark. At halftime, UNM led 41-29.
The duo of J.R. Giddens and Aaron Johnson had double-doubles in the win. Giddens put down 21 points and snatched a career-high 12 rebounds, while Johnson muscled 10 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.
Giddens said he endured some pain to get his career high in rebounds.
"Those guys are monsters," he said. "I think the first two or three minutes I caught two or three elbows - one to the neck and one to the eye. I'm trying to stay cute for the ladies, so I was like, 'What's going on?'"
In the second half, the Lobos showed their offensive firepower with a slew of 3-pointers that prevented the Wildcats from getting back in
the game.
UNM raced to a 22-point lead on a 3-pointer from Chad Toppert at the 11:52 mark. The Lobos led by as many as 26 in the final minute of
the game.
Toppert and Darren Prentice hit a trio of 3-pointers in a span of two and a half minutes in the second half.
Toppert was wide open from behind the arc all night and connected on a 3 from the baseline. Prentice then stepped back and knocked a 3-pointer down.
Toppert came back and hit another 3 to bring the Lobos lead to 57-35 midway through the second half.
Johnson said that despite the Lobos' strong play, the team still has a lot to prove.
"It's not a statement," he said. "We haven't beat any ranked teams, and we're not ranked. So, I don't think it's a statement until we're ranked or we beat a team that's ranked. We'll just take it one game at a time, and we're not going to get big-headed."
Kansas State switched to a zone defense in the second half, a trademark of the team's headcoach Bob Huggins. The Wildcats applied pressure and forced several UNM turnovers, but the Lobos countered with hot outside shooting.
The Lobos shot 48.1 percent from the field and forced KSU to shoot 28.6 for the game.
Giddens said the Lobos' rugged play shined through.
"That was a physical game," he said. "Those guys were pushing and shoving - it was rough. If we were a soft team, I don't think we would have won tonight. It shows the toughness of our team."
