The men’s basketball team goes in blind for the first regular season game.
Head coach Steve Alford said it will be a strange game because the University of New Orleans has yet to play this year, and therefore no scouting report exists on the team as of yet.
“You don’t know them as well as you are going to know teams you will be playing two weeks from now,” he said. “We have to go into this game being who we are and do what we do.”
Senior forward Drew Gordon said because the Lobos are unfamiliar with their upcoming opponent, they will have to adjust to how the Privateers play during the game.
“I think it brings out the natural basketball,” he said. “You can’t scout them and learn their tendencies before they actually play. I think it’s going to be interesting to see how we adapt to not having the team really well-scouted beforehand.”
UNM is ranked just outside of the top 25 in the preseason polls and they beat Davenport 92-54 and Western New Mexico 99-68 in its two preseason games.
The Lobos play seven games in November, and after playing New Orleans, the Lobos face New Mexico State and Arizona State in quick succession. Then they travel to Anaheim for the 76 Classic tournament where they will face some of the top teams in the country.
Alford said they need to use these early games to make sure the team starts improving as much as it can.
“We just got to make sure with the opponents we are playing. We have to make sure we are getting better each week,” he said.
Alford said the team has really made significant improvements in the defensive part of its game since practice started last month.
“I like our team, and I like how we have developed in the last two weeks especially at the defensive end,” he said. “We have made a lot of strides in the last 14 days defensively and if we can keep that up we’re potent enough offensively that a lot of good things will happen this season.”
Alford said the Lobos for the first time this season have been at nearly full health. Senior guard Phillip McDonald comes back from an injury that saw him miss three weeks of the season. Gordon sat out practice on Wednesday because of a sore knee but is expected to start.
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McDonald said he is pleased that his injury did not cause him to miss the first game of the season.
“It’s been three weeks I have been out and I am finally getting back on the court and getting shots up,” he said. “I am just excited to get the season started and I am pretty happy I get to get out there.”
Sophomore guard Tony Snell has been the surprise package of the preseason this year. After averaging just 4.4 points a game last year he averaged 18 points a game in their two preseason games.
Gordon said that last year Snell was nervous coming in as a freshmen, but Gordon is not surprised with how well he has done so far this season.
“Tony is one of the best players we have in my opinion,” he said. “I think it was a shock to him last year playing but now he has his rhythm and he is shooting well and his confidence is high. I think he is going to be trouble for a lot of teams.”
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Men’s Basketball vs. New Orleans
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7 p.m.
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