A familiar Lobo comes to the rescue
Craig Neal, it appears, has found that elusive third doublefigure scorer on his University of New Mexico men’s basketball roster. His name is Elijah Brown. But seriously ... The New Mexico Lobos are 1-0 in Mountain West Conference play this morning after a ragged but rewarding 78-73 victory over Fresno State at the Pit. Disaster avoided. Or disaster delayed? Wednesday provided no definitive answer.
The Lobos (8-5 overall) were coming off a 77-46 throttling at the hands of Arizona in Tucson that must have had many Lobo fans pining for those bone-chilling, late-night games across the street at University Stadium.
The Lobos on Wednesday certainly did not allay concerns that this team might pull the same kind of conference el foldo that last season’s did.
But, with Brown, a returning first-team all-conference guard, coming off the bench for the third consecutive game, UNM put down multiple Fresno State rallies to put the league opener safely into the win column.
“I thought it was a really good indication of the fight we have as a group,” Neal said afterward. “... Our guys stayed the course, did what we asked them to do.”
Neal said Brown would return to the starting lineup Sunday on the road against San Diego State, that his attempt to get his star guard’s full attention had been successful.
He might want to reconsider. Hey, the Lobos are on a roll — one in a row. Why change anything?
Coming off the bench, Brown wound up leading the Lobos in scoring with 19 points — though he went 2-of-10 from the field. He ended up playing more minutes (30) than any other Lobo except star forward Tim Williams (33).
Many is the coach who has said, “It’s not who starts, it’s who finishes.” Brown played the lead role in finishing the Bulldogs, hitting 6-of-6 free throws in the final 25 seconds.
Many is the coach, as well, who has said, “We want to make more free throws than our opponent attempts.”
The Lobos were beyond exceptional in that department Wednesday, going 29-of-33 from the foul line. Fresno State was 7-of-12.
That’s been a UNM strength all season long. Entering Wednesday’s game, the Lobos had made 252 free throws in their previous 12 games. Opposing teams had attempted 235.
But 3-point shooting, a weakness this year, continued to be. The Lobos were 3-of-10 on 3s Wednesday, slightly above their percentage on the year.
Fresno State (6-of-16) was only marginally better, but this was the 11th time in 13 games that UNM has been outscored from beyond the arc.
Sophomore Dane Kuiper hit a pair of 3s in the first half, but after starting the game was limited to 22 minutes with foul trouble.
Brown was 1-of-4 on 3s and continues to struggle finding his stroke. Sophomore guard Anthony Mathis might be the best outside shooter on the team, but evidently hasn’t done in practice what Neal wants to see.
“I look at our (3-point shooting) stats, and I just keep thinking it’s gonna happen,” Neal said. “... I’ve always thought we were gonna be a good shooting team.”
But is this a good team, period? Not yet. Can it be? We’ll see. Even though Kuiper and senior post Obij Aget joined Williams and Brown in double figures, the latter two still need more help than they’re getting.