The Lobos finished 2016 with a bang and are looking to start the new year the same way.
The UNM men’s basketball team is heading to "the Golden State" to face the San Diego State Aztecs (5-7, 0-1 MW), a team that has had a hot hand in a four-game winning streak.
New Mexico (8-5, 1-0 MW) has several ups and downs so far during the 2016-17. It managed to stay undefeated at home with a 7-0 record, but have picked up some painful losses on the road including a 77-46 one to the Arizona Wildcats.
The team moved on from the loss quickly and went on to win its Mountain West Conference opener last Wednesday, taking down the Fresno State Bulldogs 78-73.
UNM head coach Craig Neal said he was pleased with the effort he saw from his team that night.
“It’s always good to get through with
Elijah Brown led the Lobos with 19 points, followed by Tim Williams with 18.
New Mexico’s strength was on the free throw line, where the team shot 87.9 percent and Brown had a perfect 14-of-14. Overall, the Lobos are making 75.9 percent of their free throws.
Neal said he wants to keep seeing more of that as the season progresses, saying free throws are the only shots that are not guarded and present easy opportunities for his team to get ahead.
As of today, the Lobos average 46.7 percent on the field and make 29.5 percent of their three-point shots.
San Diego State’s offense does better with three-pointers, successfully making 33.9 percent of them.
They fall behind the Lobos on other statistics, making 42.2 percent of their field goals, and 72.2 percent of their free throws.
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Williams is the Lobos’ lead scorer at the moment averaging 18.1 points per game. As for the Aztecs, it is Lauri Markkanen who leads with 15.9.
But when it comes to defense, the Aztecs are doing much better than the Lobos.
UNM is allowing 72.4 points per game, while San Diego State allows opponents 11.5 less. They are also averaging more blocks, 4.7, while the Lobos stand at 2.8.
Although his team still needs to see some improvements, Neal said he believes the Lobos have the ability to improve their road record now that conference play has begun.
“I think these guys have matured a little bit. I think they went through a tough out-of-conference slate. Their coach might have overscheduled it,” he said. “I thought I had to challenge them and I did. But I think they’ve grown…They just have to stay together and if they play with that effort and that energy, we’ll be able to win some road games.”
After the Fresno State win, Williams shared similar thoughts and said his team needs to keep going with that momentum.
“I think we played with much energy, and you can see the passion that we were playing with, we had a lot of urgency on defense. Of
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.
