Divide and conquer.
The UNM men's basketball team conquered Mountain West Conference-kingpin BYU 81-62 on Saturday, and on Wednesday, the Lobos will look to divide the 12-4 Aztecs from Spain - Kyle Spain (14.9 points per game), that is.
"This is our first big road trip," head coach Steve Alford said.
The Lobos will start off at San Diego State and finish their two-game road trip at TCU.
Alford said SDSU is playing with a goal.
"There's a lot more purpose to them," Alford said. "There's a little bit more urgency; possession means a little bit more on both sides of the floor. That comes with maturity."
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UNM will be looking for win No. 1,300, but the Aztecs are about as good defensively as the Cougars were offensively.
SDSU leads the MWC in all games - nonconference and conference - in scoring defense. It has yielded an average of just 57.4 points per game. Strictly in MWC games, UNM is ranked first through three games, limiting league opponents to an average of 58.3 points per contest.
In addition, SDSU has a couple of scorers in Kyle Spain and Lorenzo Wade. Wade has chipped in 10.4.
"Obviously, he's terrific," Alford said of Wade. "He gives you a
left-handed scorer that can score in a lot of ways. He gave us fits in our building last year."
Fits as in 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting.
Clearly, Wade was the difference in SDSU's 72-67 win at The Pit last year. The Lobos returned the favor in San Diego, beating the Aztecs 73-63 and snapping a five-game losing streak at Cox Arena. But that was with J.R. Giddens' 22 and Jamaal Smith's 13 points. Giddens and Smith are gone. Every starter that played in that game for the Aztecs is back.
The Aztecs are coming off an 83-79 loss at Wyoming. Meanwhile, UNM comes in amped after dethroning BYU in a game where the Lobos protected the ball.
Coming off a season-low seven turnovers against the Cougars - the Lobos have 15 in their last two games - UNM might need an alarm system to deter stealing. The Aztecs are causing almost 17 turnovers per game - 8.5 of them off steals.
"We'll see some full-court pressure. We'll see some trapping," Alford said. "They're a defense that wants deflections; they want steals; they want you to quick shoot, and then they run on you."
That might not be a problem, considering BYU came in The Pit looking more like marathon runners. The Cougars, at one point during the season, put up as many as 23 points in transition.
UNM limited BYU to eight on Saturday, and Alford said doing the same to SDSU will be pivotal.
"This is a really athletic team," he said. "They love transition."
Stringing back-to-back wins together in conference has Roman Martinez excited.
"We have a lot of confidence right now," said Martinez, who had 15 points in a break-out effort against the Cougars.
But Martinez understands that the Lobos face a trap on Wednesday - and not just the defensive scheme.
"We have to be brought back down by coach Alford," Martinez stressed. "It's important for us to be confident but understand that every team we play - it's going to be a battle, especially on the road."
Men's basketball at SDSU
San Diego
8:35 p.m.
