The Lobos took a 40-point victory against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions on Saturday, but the competition will step up significantly as they face a nationally ranked opponent in Arizona.
New Mexico (7-4) will travel to Tucson, Arizona to take on the University of Arizona Wildcats, a team that is ranked No. 18 in both the AP top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll.
A release said the Lobos won the last meeting between the two schools. UNM took a 70-68, narrowly defeating then No. 2 Arizona on Dec. 21, 1999. On Tuesday evening, New Mexico will try to duplicate that result.
Head coach Craig Neal said described the upcoming match as a “tough”
“Any time you play a program like that, it’s going to be very difficult,” he said. ”But we’re just going to have to play better, play harder.”
The matchup marks the final non-conference game for the Lobos before beginning Mountain West play on Dec. 28 when they host the Fresno State Bulldogs.
The Wildcats, who currently hold a 10-2 overall record, are on a four-game winning streak. Arizona is dangerous at home, going a perfect 6-0 when playing on its home court at the McKale Center so far this season.
The Wildcats have won four straight, the latest coming on Saturday, when they took down Texas A&M (7-3) 67-63, snapping the Aggies three-game winning streak.
Dusan Ristic, a seven-foot junior center, led Arizona with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, helping the team to a 40 percent shooting performance.
UNM senior forward Tim Williams led the team with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the Lobos last game. New Mexico punished Arkansas-Pine Bluff 83-43 as it went 44.4 percent from the field.
Arizona is averaging 73.3 points per game, led by freshman forward Lauri Markkanen’s average of 16.3 points.
The Lobos play at a similar pace, scoring 77.5 points per game. Williams and junior guard Elijah Brown are the best offensive weapons for UNM, averaging 18.6 and 16 points per game, respectively.
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However, the New Mexico defense is not as strong, allowing an average of 71.9 points, compared to the 62.1 surrendered by Arizona.
Defense is something the Lobos have been trying to improve on all season. Neal may have been searching for the right recipe of players to bring the defensive intensity, as he rolled out four new starters in the Lobos’ last game.
Guard/forward Dane Kuiper was one of the new starters and had a simple answer when asked what he thought his team needed to focus on for the upcoming game.
“I say focus on stops,” he said.
Sometimes the best defense can be a good offense. The Lobos may be relying on making Arizona take the ball out of the bottom of the net, negating some of its offensive
Neal seemed to support that mentality. The head coach stressed the importance of
“I think the biggest thing going in there is going to be that you’re going to have to score the ball. If we can score the ball we’ll have a chance,” he said.
Isabel Gonzalez is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. She mainly covers men’s soccer and basketball. She can be reached at sports @dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cisabelg.
