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The talk heading into Wednesday night’s Mountain West Conference opener focused on the New Mexico men’s ability to keep pace with the high-tempo offense UNLV features and the scoring power by the conference’s top scorer.
Anthony Bennett, UNLV’s star freshman forward, had a league-high 19.9 points per game though the team’s 15-game non-conference slate. He’s expected to be a one-and-done player at the school, potentially joining the NBA next season.
At No. 24 in The Associated Press Top 25, UNLV is one spot ahead of No 25 UNM. The Runnin’ Rebels carried a 13-2 overall record into the conference season.
Not only did UNM contain Bennett, benefitting from his foul trouble, the Lobos ran up and down with UNLV from start to finish. The result: A thrilling 65-60 victory to kick off MWC play.
“Sometimes we don’t like it to be like that (close), but this season has kind of worked out like that,” junior guard Kendall Williams said after UNM improved to 14-2 overall on the season. “We have the ability to knuckle down on both ends and make big plays on both sides of the ball.”
Alex Kirk finished with his best collegiate performance to date.
The sophomore center scored a career-high 23 points, 10 more than any other player on the floor, on a 7 of 13 shooting clip. Actually, Kirk accounted for 25 points total but he accidentally tipped the ball back into UNLV’s goal in the second half trying to push a rebound to a teammate. That field goal does not count on Kirk’s stat line.
With nine rebounds, he was one shy of his fourth double-double this season.
“I went out there and played hard and my teammates gave me the ball a lot and we played hard and got out with the win,” Kirk said.
After bad first half, Williams was clutch down the stretch. Nine of his 11 points, including both 3-pointers, came in the final seven minutes. With UNM down 58-57, Williams’ second trey put UNM up for good with 2:15 remaining in the contest.
The game was close throughout with six ties, eight lead changes and neither team leading by more than seven points. It stayed tight when Bennett picked up his fourth foul less than six minutes into the second half. He did not re-enter the game until the clock his 7:39, and he wasn’t a threat offensively from that point.
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“He’s a freshman, he’s as talented as anybody we’ve played inside and out,” UNM head coach Steve Alford said. “He’s extremely skilled, so I think when you play guys like that, you’ve really got to make them guard.
“Sometimes your defensive effort has to do with what you do offensively.”
For the fourth straight game, UNM had a field-goal percentage under 40 percent. The Lobos were 22 of 57 from the field (38.6 percent) following their season-low 31.8 percent at Saint Louis on New Year’s Eve. As a result, UNM is 2-2 in its last four outings. They have not had such a shooting slump since the 1999-2000 season.
UNM also overcame its worst free-throw shooting night this season. The Lobos hit 15 of 29 from the line (51.7 percent) and missed eight of their last 14 attempts. Those attempts could have given the Lobos more breathing room in the closing moments.
However, UNM managed a 9-2 run over the final 2:26 to seal the victory.
“It’s a game we shoot 38 percent and 51 percent, and we beat a nationally ranked team. That’s who these guys are,” Alford said. “They’ve got incredible fight. I thought tonight we did a better job getting shots, but this is what we’ve done all year.”
Junior guard Tony Snell joined UNM in double-figure scoring with 13 points.
Senior forward Chad Adams pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds despite missing time on the floor with a reported hyperextended knee late in the first half. He went to the locker room after colliding with a UNLV player and going to the floor, clinching his right knee. He returned for the second half.
Despite his foul trouble, Bennett scored 12 points. He shared the UNLV scoring lead with forward Khem Birch. As a team, the Runnin’ Rebels were 24 of 60 from the field and 4 of 5 from the foul line. In fact, UNLV did not go to the free-throw line at all in the second half.
“We knew it would be a very hard-fought college basketball game and it was,” UNLV coach Dave Rice said. “It was a physical game and we didn’t do a very good job of overcoming the foul trouble that we were in.”
