Saying Tuesday’s game between New Mexico and San Diego State was a defensive affair would be an understatement. Suffocating defense by the Aztecs downed a streaking Lobo team in the third game of conference play, 56-42.
UNM (10-5, 2-1 Mountain West) dropped its first conference game of the season to SDSU 56-42. The Lobos couldn’t find an answer to a smothering Aztecs defense.
“I don’t know if it was the environment. I don’t know if they were nervous,” head coach Craig Neal said. ”We have guys who haven’t been in the fire at this level and that’s part of it. This isn’t an easy place to play.”
After shooting 22.2 percent (6-27) in the first half, the Lobos only trailed 22-18. The second half was the same story for the Lobos but different for the Aztecs as they got on a role offensively.
The Lobos finished the game shooting a season low 29.8 percent on 14-47 shooting. They continued to struggle from 3-point range as they only connected on four of 14 attempts.
One bright spot that the Lobos can take away from Tuesday’s loss is their free throw shooting. They entered the game connecting on only 65 percent of their free throw shots. Tuesday night the Lobos made 10 shots on only 12 attempts (83.3 percent). This was their second highest shooting percentage of the season from the charity stripe.
Scoring droughts were the Achilles’ heel in Tuesday’s loss to the Aztecs. Droughts of 4:33 and 5:36 in the first half hurt the young and inexperienced Lobo squad.
The Lobos did not notch their first basket until the 15:27 mark in the first half when freshman Sam Logwood knocked down a deep 3-pointer. This was a trend throughout the game for the Lobos.
The Aztecs (12-4, 2-1 Mountain West) were led by their junior forward Winston Shepard as he exploded for 16 points in the second half after just four points in the first half, all of which came off of free-throws. He also finished with nine rebounds.
Junior forward Angelo Chol was the only other Aztec to gather double-digits in the scoring column as he chipped in 10 points of his own to go along with two rebounds.
The Aztecs did not display terrific shooting throughout the contest, however, they did come up with plays when they needed to whether it be stops on the defensive end or small runs on offense.
This wasn’t the first time the Lobos have struggled offensively in San Diego. The last time the Lobos were held to under 50 points was against the Aztecs last season when they scored 48 in a loss at Viejas Arena.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Sophomore center Obij Aget led all Lobo scorers with seven points and four rebounds. Senior Hugh Greenwood, junior J.J. N’Ganga and freshman Sam Logwood were the second leading scorers, each had five points of their own.
“They cut the head off our snake. They took Greenwood out of the game,” Neal said. “ They just overplay you. They get on top of you.”
Kyle Tomasi is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @KyTo22.
