LOBOS TRIUMPH
Neal says experience helped secure victory
The UNM men’s basketball team stuns San Diego State on the road >>
SAN DIEGO — There was no 1-3-1 defense on Sunday.
No Mountain West memo confirming a blown call.
Most important, and maybe most surprising, there wasn’t a fragile Lobo psyche waiting to shrink when adversity set in as it often does for visitors to Viejas Arena.
Instead, a Lobos team and coach who have had their resolve and mental toughness questioned in the past several weeks, made winning play after winning play down the stretch for a come-from-behind, potentially season defining 68-62 win over the San Diego State Aztecs in front of a sold out crowd of 12,414.
“I think we’ve learned from our past experiences,” said Lobos coach Craig Neal, who was 0-3 in San Diego. That included a bitter 2014 loss for a Mountain West championship when the Aztecs came from behind with a 1-3-1 zone defense and a loss last year that the league office acknowledged a blown call may have cost UNM a victory, leading the team to close the season with a 3-7 record.
Reminded of those losses, not that it needed to be done, Neal acknowledged Viejas Arena has been the site of many “Tough ones. Yeah. Really tough.”
But Sunday, after trailing by as many as 11 points and looking seemingly incapable of scoring on the vaunted Aztecs defense in the first half, the Lobos put a season worth of inconsistent play and locker room drama behind them. They closed on a 10-1 run in the final 2½ minutes to improve to 2-0 in MWC play (9-5 overall) and, at least for now, exorcize the Viejas Arena demons of years past.
“We came close so many times,” said Lobo junior guard Elijah Brown, who scored a game-high 22 points. “Last year, obviously ending the way it did, really left a bad taste in my mouth. For us to kind of be going up and down as we have been as a team this year, then having a
game like this ... this was a huge win and it took a lot of maturity. I couldn’t feel any better after this one.”
Neal, who has had the calls for his job grow louder in recent weeks, said Sunday’s win was about the players far more than himself.
“I think they were hungry to come in here and get a win and I’m happy for them,” Neal said. It didn’t look good early. The Aztecs (8-5, 0-1) jumped to a 14-4 lead and led at halftime 36-25 while holding the Lobos to 36.4 percent shooting and forcing 11 firsthalf UNM turnovers.
The Lobos couldn’t figure out how to handle SDSU’s doubleteaming of UNM senior forward Tim Williams in the first half. He had more first-half turnovers (4) than shot attempts (3).
In the second half, with a few minor tweaks but mostly an emphasis to return to the original game plan of better floor spacing around Williams, the Lobos scored 43 points.
“I think our guys were in the wrong spots (in the first half),” said Neal. “... We tried to do it how we practiced it. You still have to make adjustments throughout the game, no matter what you plan or what plan you have, you still have to work to get your guys in the right place.”
Williams finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Neal credited the bench production of Dane Kuiper (eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals) and Xavier Adams (eight points, five rebounds, two steals) in particular for the second half surge.
SDSU took a 56-47 lead on a Valentine Izundu dunk with 6:13 remaining. UNM answered with a 7-0 run, started by a Kuiper 3, to cut the lead to two. By the time Adams sank two free throws with 1:50 remaining to put UNM ahead 62-61, its first lead since 2-0, the Aztecs looked the part of the stunned road team unable to handle adversity.
After Jeremy Hemsley tied the game at 62-62 with a free throw with 1:03 left, the Aztecs closed the game with a hurried missed shot and a sloppy turnover in traffic. Meanwhile, the Lobos had six points in that span.
“Disappointing, probably an understatement,” SDSU coach Steve Fisher said. “When for about 34 or 35 minutes you play significantly better and then are not able to hang on, it’s disappointing. Give New Mexico credit. They fought and fought their way back in. (They) did what we did to them here last year.”
UNM starting center Obij Aget “may have” broken his left hand on a rebound in the second half and did not return . ... Point guard Jordan Hunter turned his right ankle in the second half and did not return . ... Adams, who did return to the game, will have his right shoulder re-evaluated before the next game after diving for a loose ball and having an Aztecs player fall on it in the second half.