The sins of the past don’t need to weigh the men’s basketball team down any longer.
For the first time this season, the team has a chance to win three games in a row.
UNM takes on Idaho State tonight at The Pit and is now 4-2 coming out of the 76 Classic Tournament, which took place last weekend and in which it beat Washington State and Boston College.
Idaho State comes into the game 1-4, but head coach Steve Alford said the team is much better than its record shows.
“College basketball has so much parity in it now,” he said. “If we play well we will take care of business, if we don’t play well we are going to have a long night. They are a scary team because they have a lot of guys that can and will shoot the 3-point shot.”
Freshman guard Dominique Dunning said Idaho State can’t be overlooked because many of its games have been close this season.
“All their losses are on the road against really good teams,” he said. “We are hoping to come out and get better as a team and take the win.”
Alford has yet to set a starting five this year, having played with three different starting lineups already this season.
Sophomore guard Tony Snell and senior forward A.J. Hardeman have been the only two Lobos to start all six games this season.
Snell is the leading scorer for UNM so far this season, averaging 15.2 points per game, and has been the leading scorer in half of the games.
“Guys know that if you are not playing well, or not up to 100 percent, then you are probably going to lose those minutes,” Alford said. “That’s the versatility that we have on this team.”
Freshman guard Hugh Greenwood has started the last four games for UNM, and has yet to turn the ball over in those starts. In those games the Lobos are 3-1.
“Getting close to over 100 minutes of play without a turnover against the people we play, and all of those games being away from home, that’s pretty impressive for anybody, let alone a freshman,” Alford said.
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Alford said even though Greenwood is doing great at running the offense, no one has a guaranteed starting spot.
“You have to produce, and you have to play each and every week.”
Senior forward Drew Gordon and sophomore guard Kendall Williams have had inconsistent starts to the season, but are now second and third on the team in scoring, respectively.
Alford said with the loss of Dairese Gary to graduation, Williams and Gordon are now the main focus of the other teams’ scouting reports.
“Now you (Williams) are the focal point of the scouting report, and that’s the same with Drew,” Alford said. “Right now they are the first two that come up on the opponents’ board, so with that comes a lot of pressure.”
Men’s Basketball
vs
Idaho State
Wednesday 7pm
The Pit
