Despite a difficult start to the 2014 campaign, New Mexico’s confidence has not faltered. UNM shot well against UTEP’s zone defense in a 72-57 victory on Sunday afternoon at Wise Pies Arena.
Defense has been a key part of New Mexico’s success early this season and Saturday’s game against the University of Louisiana-Monroe was no different. The Lobos (6-3) defeated the Warhawks (4-4) by a score of 54-46 at WisePies Arena aka The Pit. This was the Lobos third straight game of holding an opponent to under 50 points.
Though the team that played Saturday’s game may not have featured championship-caliber defense, they still won an important game for the New Mexico men’s basketball team. The Lobos defeated Valparaiso 63-46 in Valparaiso, Indiana, behind a stingy defense from the opening tip. This was the first true road win of the season for UNM. UNM (5-3) held Valparaiso to a mere 30.2 percent from the floor (16 of 53) and 13.6 percent from 3-point range (3 of 22). This was the lowest field goal percentage allowed by the Lobos so far this season and the lowest by the Crusaders since Jan. 22, 2000.
An inability to take care of the ball plagued the New Mexico women against New Mexico State in Sunday’s 70-59 loss. Despite out-rebounding the Aggies 41-25, New Mexico (1-7) dropped the Rio Grande Rivalry game in the only meeting between the two teams this season. UNM came into Sunday’s matchup averaging 21 turnovers per game, which is a major problem for a team that doesn’t force that many. UNM turned the ball over 23 times in Las Cruces compared to the Aggies’ 14.
New Mexico sophomore linebacker Dakota Cox and redshirt senior offensive lineman LaMar Bratton earned first team All-Mountain West honors, the conference announced Tuesday. Senior safety David Guthrie, redshirt junior running back Jhurell Pressley and senior offensive lineman Jamal Price were also listed as MW honorable mentions. Cox missed the final three games of the season after tearing his ACL in a loss to Boise State on Nov. 8. He still led the country and the Mountain West in tackles per game, with an average of 12.89.
New Mexico fans saw a young team mature right before their eyes on Wednesday night. UNM (4-3) defeated the NMSU Aggies 62-47 in the Lobos’ first game at the newly named WisePies arena, filled with 15,335 cheering Lobo (and a handful of Aggie) fans. Junior College transfer and junior walk-on Tim Jacobs played his best game of his young Lobo career. He notched nine points on 4-7 shooting and had four assists. He made multiple plays down the stretch that don’t show up in the stat sheet, as well.
After a quick break from top-tiered opponents, New Mexico will jump right back into the fire tonight against No. 4 Texas. Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said she is getting her team ready for conference play by scheduling one of the toughest schedules in the nation. The Longhorns will be the fourth nationally ranked team New Mexico (1-5) has faced in the opening seven games of the season.
Adversity has badgered a young New Mexico team early this season, something that head coach Craig Neal predicted before the team’s first exhibition game. Now the Lobos will host in-state rival New Mexico State University on Wednesday night in the newly renamed WisePies Arena aka The Pit.
Third downs have been problematic for New Mexico's defense all season long, and it almost cost the team its first home win on Saturday. Wyoming (4-8, 2-6 MW) converted on 12 of 23 third downs, playing right into UNM's defensive tendencies. UNM opponents have converted on 51 percent of third-down plays a stat head coach Bob Davie said will be a point of focus next year. New Mexico (4-8, 2-6 MW) has converted on just under 37 percent of its conversions all season, and didn't have a single conversion against Wyoming.
Sloppy defense and mental errors plagued New Mexico in Saturday's 70-62 loss against UC Riverside. Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said finishing runner-up in the Lobos' annual Thanksgiving Tournament was disappointing because her team didn't show up to play like it had against tougher opponents. "We need to find people who are going to step up on the defensive end," Sanchez said. "That's what lost the game for us."
The new-look New Mexico men's basketball team had a hard time finding its rhythm in Sunday's game against the USC Trojans. UNM played nine men, five of whom are new to the program this year. The Lobos lost 66-54 in front of a season-high 14,404 fans. "That was a tough one; that was probably the worst one since I've been here in eight years," said second-year head coach Craig Neal."But give (USC) credit, they made plays and we didn't make plays. We did everything that we thought we could do."
As it had all season long, New Mexico's defense looked like it was about to break at the wrong time. After UNM failed to convert on fourth-and-2 at Wyoming's 29-yard line, the 
Cowboys had just 59 seconds and 64 yards to steal victory away from the Lobos, who were up 36-30. On the third play of the drive third-and-10, no less quarterback Colby Kirkegaard hit receiver Tanner Gentry down the right sideline for a gain of 44 yards, setting up first-and-goal at UNM's 5-yard line. A false-start penalty followed by two incompletions and a six-yard pass put the Cowboys in a fourth-and-goal situation.
After a tough go in Puerto Rico, the New Mexico men’s basketball team is hoping to fix many of the problems that have been troubling them when it returns to The Pit to face USC.
There is a new leader at the peak of the Mountain West record books. In a three-set sweep over Air Force by the scores of 25-20, 25-16, 25-18, Chantale Riddle collected 22 kills ending her UNM career with 1,623 total kills beating out previous record holder Kim Turner who had 1,619.
Record-wise, the difference between three and four wins for a football team is minimal at best. But for New Mexico, a win Saturday against Wyoming will be the step in the right direction for a program that has been at or near the bottom of college football for the past several years. That fact isn’t lost on any of the players or head coach Bob Davie heading into Saturday’s regular season finale at University Stadium.
New Mexico will take a break from playing ranked opponents in search of its first win of the 2014 campaign. After three consecutive games against top-25 teams, the Lobos (0-4) will face off against Boston University (2-2) on Friday night at 7 p.m. to open its annual Thanksgiving Tournament. Stephen F. Austin and UC Riverside will also make the trip to Albuquerque to compete in the tournament.
The stage was set for New Mexico to upset the No. 5 Stanford. The Lobos were down 66-65 as guard Antiesha Brown stepped to the line with two free throw attempts and only 20 seconds left in the contest. Brown sent both off of the iron and UNM lost 70-65 to Stanford on Monday night at The Pit.
For the first time this season New Mexico was outclassed from start to finish. After being competitive in almost every game this season, No. 22 Colorado State dismantled UNM 58-22 in Fort Collins, Colorado, on Saturday. Rams running back Dee Hart ran for a career-high 230 rushing yards and scored six touchdowns (five rushing, one receiving). It’s the second straight year that a Colorado State tailback scored six touchdowns against UNM. Former CSU halfback Kapri Bibbs did it last year.
Volleyball The New Mexico volleyball team lost in five sets at Fresno State on Friday night. The set scores were 18-25, 26-24, 25-22, 22-25 and 14-16. UNM blew a 3-1 set advantage over Fresno State. In the fifth set, Fresno State earned the victory with back-to-back kills.
The New Mexico women’s cross country team earned third place at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Saturday, recording the program’s highest finish ever. Redshirt freshman Alice Wright finished 20th with a time of 20 minutes, 29.1 seconds, and senior Charlotte Arter placed 22nd, clocking in at 20:29.9. Both runners earned All-American honors. Arter became the second back-to-back All-American since Carole Roybal from 1984-86.
Solutions by The State News
