The No.18 team in the nation overpowered and the Lobo men’s basketball team on both ends of the floor Tuesday night at the McKale Center.
New Mexico (7-5) suffered a 77-46 loss to Arizona (11-2) in the team’s final non-conference game of the season, and it appears the Lobos have a lot to take care of before it hosts Fresno State in their conference opener.
In the days leading up to the game, UNM head coach Craig Neal said the Lobos needed to guard the ball well and create good scoring chances to have a chance to win.
But there wasn’t much of either going on for the Lobos Tuesday night.
In its previous game, New Mexico throttled Arkansas-Pine Bluff 83-43 by forcing 14 straight misses to start the game. The Lobos jumped out to a 16-0 lead as a result, and never looked back.
Tuesday, the Lobos found themselves on the other side of a slow start. New Mexico missed its first 11 shots, going scoreless for nearly the first six minutes of the game. Arizona built a 12-0 lead before UNM senior forward Tim Williams finally put the Lobos on the board at the 14:06 mark.
He and junior guard Elijah Brown were the only New Mexico players to score in double figures. Brown led the way with 17 points on 5-of-13 shooting, while Williams went 7-of-15 to put up 14 more. No other Lobo scored more than five points.
The Wildcats were well-balanced, seeing five players record double-digit scoring performances. Sophomore center Chance Comanche recorded 14 points, while Lauri Markkanen and Rawle Alkins each scored 13 and guards Kobi Simmons and Kadeem Allen chipped in 11.
The first half was weak on the offensive end for New Mexico, shooting an anemic 22.6 percent from the field. The team missed all six of its 3-point attempts and shot 50 percent from the free throw line, going 2-of-4.
Arizona amassed a 37-16 halftime lead, scoring efficiently in the paint and from range. The team knocked down four 3-pointers and went 5-of-8 from the charity stripe. The Wildcats actually shot a better percentage from the floor in the second half, despite a slow start.
The Lobo defense stepped up, only allowing the Wildcats four points in the first five minutes coming out of halftime. But the spark didn’t last long and the Lobos never could find their shooting touch.
New Mexico ended the game shooting a dismal 26.2 field goal percentage and missed six free throws on 16 attempts.
Arizona shot 55 percent in the second half en route to making half of its shots from the field for the game. It also went 21-of-29 from the foul line.
The Lobos will try to move on from the loss when it hosts the Fresno State Bulldogs on Dec. 29. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off at WisePies Arena, aka the Pit.
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.
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