After back-to-back losses at WisePies Arena, the UNM men’s basketball team is heading to Fort Collins to take on Colorado State on Saturday.
Perhaps the road trip will provide the Lobos and a chance to clear the minds of how they folded in the second half of games and focus on another tough opponent.
“Colorado State is playing very well,” Lobo head coach Craig Neal said. “We are going to be ready to play motion offense. Our guys are going to have to play at a high level; I think they are ready for that.”
Colorado State (11-6, 3-1 MW) has won more consistently this season than New Mexico (9-8, 2-3 MW), and are trending in the opposite direction with two-straight victories on the road.
Saturday will be the 120th time the two programs face each other. New Mexico has a 74-45 edge in the series, but in Ram territory, the Lobos are just 23-32.
When the two teams met last year, New Mexico fell 86-69 on Feb 23.
New Mexico is on a three-game losing streak overall and will try to use Saturday’s game as a way to bounce back from a pair of losses in which it held a second-half lead.
First, the Lobos took a painful loss to Nevada on Jan. 7. New Mexico was up 25 points with 11 minutes remaining. But the Wolf Pack came roaring back to push the game to overtime, eventually winning 105-104.
Three days later, the Lobos had another second-half slip-up and fell to the UNLV Rebels 71-66.
“We have to continue to work on three things,” Neal said. “ We can’t give up so many points off of turnovers. We can’t offensive rebound and let them score, which hurts us. And then transition points.”
Although the Lobos will be hungry for a win, CSU will be almost desperate due to some circumstances that will trim its roster.
After Jan. 17, the Rams’ 15-man roster will be cut by more than half. Five players are transfers and ineligible to play this season, but the team has had to deal with that since the outset.
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But, to make matters worse, Kimani Jackson, Devocio Butler and Che Bob failed to meet a 1.9 grade-point average, the minimum required by the NCAA, in the fall semester.
The academic woes will lead to the Rams being down to only seven players when the spring semester begins.
For the Lobos to be successful, it will need to box out and protect the glass. One of the Ram’s strengths is offensive rebounds as senior Emmanuel Omogbo leads the conference with an average of 10.6 per game.
The CSU defense stands in third place in the Mountain West, allowing opponents an average of 67.1 points per game.
“They’re tough defensively,” Neal said. “They don’t get out and pressure like they’ve done in the past with Larry (Eustachy)’s teams.”
New Mexico’s defense has not been as productive, sitting in 10th out of 11 teams, allowing opponents an average of 74 points per game.
Redshirt senior Gian Clavell leads CSU averaging 16.5 points per game. He is followed by Omogbo with 12.8 and Prentiss Nixon with 12. 5.
For the Lobos, Tim Williams and Elijah Brown are carrying their team, with 18.5 and 17.1 points per game, respectively.
The team is still looking for a third consistent scorer, but nobody has stepped up to fill that role. Dane Kuiper looked promising during the UNLV game, as he posted a career-high 17 points to lead the team in scoring, making three of New Mexico’s four 3-pointers that night.
“I think we are just ready to play again,” Neal said. “I think it’s caught up with some. I think it affects them. Their confidence is a little shaken. So hopefully we’ll gain that back.”
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.
