UC-Riverside was finished almost before the game began.
The game was close — for all of five minutes. After that, the UNM men’s basketball team ran and shot all over UC-Riverside.
In the end it was a slanted 67-51 victory for the Lobos in their opening regular-season game at The Pit.
The Lobos went on a 3-point tirade early in the first half, hitting 5-of-7 from behind the arc to open up the game. The Lobos took a 25-12 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, and the Highlanders never recovered.
“I think we are a pretty good 3-point shooting team,” said head coach Steve Alford. “We have a lot of guys who can shoot the 3. You will see us shoot 3s. How many? I don’t know. I think that is going to vary game to game. As long as they are good, I don’t have much issue with it.”
When the Lobos’ 3-point Gatling gun jammed up, they took action to the paint. The Lobos outscored the Highlanders 30-16 under the basket.
The Highlanders matched up evenly with the Lobos’ big men, with both teams’ tallest men at 6 feet 9 inches. But Lobo forward A.J. Hardeman said he will be ready down the road when the opposition in the paint grows larger.
“Right now I feel like I still have a little work to do,” Hardeman said. “But in practice I am not really
posting up, I am just turning and facing because of the quickness that I have. And it is hard to defend off the dribble. I believe I will be ready.”
It was a fast-paced first half anyway.
The Highlanders refused to commit a foul, and the Lobos only handed out four of their own in the first 20 minutes. Both teams were left running the floor for the majority of the half.
The Lobos took a 15-point advantage on fast break points in the first half. They ended with a 21-0 advantage in the area.
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With the number of guards that the Lobos play with, Alford said that any defensive rebound is a fast break opportunity.
“I think our transition game is ahead of things,” Alford said. “We did a good job of that in our exhibition game so that doesn’t surprise me. And we got so many guards on the floor. Darington (Hobson), when he gets a rebound, there is no outlet, he just goes. Dairese (Gary) is a good rebounder. He just goes.”
The Lobos finished off the first half shooting 51.5 percent from field goal range, and 46.2 percent from behind the arc.
And with the Highlanders shooting 32 percent from the field and giving up six turnovers in the first half, the Lobos took a 39-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.
In a fashion that could mirror the Lobo season, forward Roman Martinez started up the second half with — what else? — a clean 3-pointer.
After that, the game plateaued. The Lobos’ 17-point lead going into halftime didn’t increase to more than 23 and didn’t fall to less than 15.
The Lobos held on to a cushy advantage throughout, but Alford said the team needs to learn how to manage the lead a little better.
“We are a young team,” Alford said. “One of the things we need to learn how to do is play with the lead and do the things that got us the lead. All and all we have to get better, but all in all I was pretty pleased tonight.”
The Lobos had three players in double-digit scoring. Hardeman had 14 points, six assists and seven rebounds. Hobson scored 14, and Martinez scored 15, including three treys.
*Men’s basketball at New Mexico State
Las Cruces
Tuesday, 7 p.m.
*
