UNM defeated the Adams State Grizzlies 62-50 in a Friday night exhibition at The Pit, but the Lobos shot a measly 27 percent (20-73) from the floor. They also shot 61 percent (17-28) from the free-throw line.
“I’m really concerned about our shooting, concerned about our turnovers and our free throw shooting today,” head coach Craig Neal said.
Senior guard Deshawn Delaney struggled once again. He shot 20 percent (2-10 FG) from the floor and just 17 percent (1-6 3FG) from behind the 3-point line. He has a combined five field goals on 20 attempts through two exhibition games.
Sophomore guard Cullen Neal had a hard time dealing with the high pressure of the Grizzlies early in the game, and he had four turnovers going into halftime. He finished the game with a team-high seven turnovers.
“We got exactly what I wanted to get: a highly competitive game,” Craig Neal said. “I knew they would get after our guys, and I saw our guys didn’t handle adversity very well.”
Craig Neal said playing against a scrappy team like Adams State could be the reason for the 18 turnovers.
“I just think that any time you play teams like that that have four or five smaller guards that really, really get after you, they’re hard to play against,” he said.
Freshman forward Joe Furstinger saw early minutes and produced for the Lobos. He finished with four points and six rebounds, five of which were offensive.
“He’s getting better,” Craig Neal said. “He does everything we ask him to do and he’s farther along that I thought as a freshman.”
Freshman guard Sam Logwood scored his first points in a Lobo uniform as he went 2-4 from the free-throw line and finished with two points.
Redshirt sophomore guard Devon Williams scored a team-high 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for his first double-double of the exhibition season. Senior guard Hugh Greenwood pitched in with 12 points of his own and 11 rebounds.
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“We didn’t run a lot of things; we didn’t prepare for them,” he said. “We just tried to go out and be as basic as we can because we got our season starting next Friday.”
Williams electrified the crowd with 5:05 left in the first half when he blocked what appeared to be a sure layup for the Grizzlies then ran the floor and finished off an and-one layup that gave the Lobos their first lead of the game.
“We were struggling and I felt we needed that jump in order to get going and get rolling,” Williams said. “It was a good spark for the team.”
The Grizzlies had just one field goal to end the first half, where the Lobos went on a 14-3 run to end the half.
The Lobos will begin regular-season play on Friday night at The Pit when they host Idaho State.
Kyle Tomasi is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @KyTo22.
