Albuquerque Journal

LOBO FALLOUT

UNM’s collapse against Nevada draws some national attention

- BY GEOFF GRAMMER JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Ping … ping … ping … ping … ping. With a tie draped over a still sweat-soaked dress shirt, Eric Musselman had the sweet sound of success chiming away in his pants pocket while talking in a hallway outside the visiting locker room in the Pit late Saturday night.

“My phone has been going crazy with texts, non-stop, for awhile now,” said Musselman, the Nevada coach after his team’s improbable 105-104 overtime win over the New Mexico Lobos in the Pit on Saturday night.

Not only did his Wolf Pack erase a 25-point second half deficit, it dug out of an improbable 14-point hole in the final 1:16 of the game thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers. Nevada scored its final 21 points in regulation by going 7-of-7 from beyond the arc. Senior Marcus Marshall banked in the final two in that stretch with off-balanced, well-defended shots.

“It’s the greatest win that I’ve ever been a part of,” the beaming Musselman said. “The tough thing about basketball is I thought New Mexico played absolutely phenomenal. Through 38 minutes, they played as good as anybody we’ve played all year. …

“You can watch the rest of the college basketball season and you’re not going to see a comeback like that.”

Officially, the 11 points erased in the final minute was the second most overcome in the final minute of an NCAA game. The record is 12.

Which is why the college basketball world took notice, not only Saturday night, but even on an NFL playoff Sunday.

“Did you see last night’s Nevada-New Mexico game?” wrote the official Purdue basketball Twitter account when an angry fan questioned why star Caleb Swanigan was still in their game as the Boilermake­rs led by Wisconsin by 16 points with just two minutes remaining. Purdue ended up winning 66-55.

“Montage game for Bad Beats. New Mexico, what have you done?” tweeted

ESPN host Scott Van Pelt, referring to a weekly segment he airs on Sports Center about the worst ways sports bettors can possibly lose a bet late in a game. UNM was favored by 3.

The statistica­l analysis website KenPom.com posts after each game the computer generated minimum win probabilit­y for every winning team.

For Nevada, it read: “Minimum win probabilit­y: 0.0% (trailed 90-76, 1:16 2nd half).”

The unique, albeit painful, nature of it all wasn’t lost on the Lobos.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game like that,” said Lobos coach Craig Neal.

There have been similar ones, though.

In Neal’s first season as head coach, the Lobos led at San Diego State by 16 with 12 minutes to play on March 8, 2014, with a Mountain West title on the line. A 1-3-1 zone defense befuddled the Lobos down the stretch in a 51-48 loss.

In February 2015, against Nevada, UNM let a 14-point lead with under 8 to play evaporate in a 66-63 overtime loss in Reno.

UNM led the lowly Rice Owls by 15 with under 8 to play in December 2015 before committing several turnovers and allowing several 3-pointers before calling a timeout it didn’t have with 0:00.1 seconds on the clock. That led to a technical foul shot, handing the Owls a 90-89 win.

But Saturday, it wasn’t like that. The Lobos lacked urgency late, and going 4-of-10 from the free throw line in the final minute of regulation certainly didn’t help. But they had just five turnovers all game, shot 50 percent and had bench players out-score Nevada’s reserves 27-8. All of this happened against the team many consider the best in the league.

“We were in total control,” Neal said. “Your team has to figure out that you have to finish games when you’re ahead. If you’re up 15, you’ve got to go up 20. If you go up 20, you’ve got to try to go up 25. You’re up 25, you’ve got to try to go up 30. But it all starts with your defense. Granted, they banked three (3-point) shots in. They banked them in. But they went in.”

POST GAME: Lobo junior guard Elijah Brown, who scored 26 points and was 9-of-12 from the free throw line, missed one of two free throws with 8.7 seconds left in overtime that would have put his team up 3. He was still in uniform, head phones on, until about 1 a.m. Sunday, shooting free throws on the Pit floor.

He later tweeted: “We the best team in this league, I promise you that. Ain’t a damn thing change after tonight & we right back to the grind just like we won.”

SWEET CAROLINE: The Lobos knew entering Saturday’s game there was a potential for Marcus Marshall and Cameron Oliver to go off if the defensive game plan wasn’t on point. It was for most of the game. But lost in the mix was Nevada’s third star, Jordan Caroline.

The 6-foot-7 sophomore had eight points in the first half, 32 in the second and five more in overtime, including the game-winner, for 45 total points — the most points ever scored in the Pit by a non-Lobo.

“Really?” a wide-eyed Caroline said when a reporter told him of the accomplish­ment. “That’s a pretty good feeling.”

On Caroline’s historic night, Neal tipped his hat.

“I just think he got real aggressive and we had a hard time guarding him,” Neal said. “We played a lot of zone second half, then when we went man, he just drove us. We didn’t have an answer for him.”

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 ?? ROBERTO E. ROSALES/JOURNAL ?? Nevada’s Jordan Caroline, left, is guarded by UNM’s Obij Aget, back, and Dane Kuiper, right, during Saturday night’s game in the Pit. Caroline scored 45 points to help the Wolf Pack rally from a 25-point, second-half deficit.
ROBERTO E. ROSALES/JOURNAL Nevada’s Jordan Caroline, left, is guarded by UNM’s Obij Aget, back, and Dane Kuiper, right, during Saturday night’s game in the Pit. Caroline scored 45 points to help the Wolf Pack rally from a 25-point, second-half deficit.
 ?? ROBERTO E. ROSALES/JOURNAL ?? New Mexico coach Craig Neal talks with Elijah Brown late in the second half of Saturday’s game.
ROBERTO E. ROSALES/JOURNAL New Mexico coach Craig Neal talks with Elijah Brown late in the second half of Saturday’s game.

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