High anxiety
After three straight losses, the Lobos travel to Colorado State in desperate need of a win
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — There is no rest for the weary.
As the wounded Lobos head north to Fort Collins today looking for some Moby Arena magic against Colorado State, a place where they essentially clinched their last Mountain West regular season title with a game for the ages thanks to Kendall Williams’ 46-point outburst in 2013, the program is desperate to find anything to stop the bleeding of a threegame losing streak in a league that is still very much wide open.
The Rams (11-6, 3-1 MWC), with two of the best players in the league in guard Gian Clavell and forward Emmanuel Omogbo, arguably have been as good as any team in the league since conference play began. They have lost only on the road to Boise State on Dec. 31 thanks to an improbable banked-in 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Lobos (9-8, 2-3) have little sympathy for how the Rams lost that game after having the same
thing happen to them, twice, in last week’s Nevada comeback win from a 25-point deficit that was still being discussed on ESPN’s SportsCenter as recently as Thursday night.
Getting back on the court, home or on the road, is now the most important thing for a Lobos team that seems to be desperate to end its three-game losing streak.
“I think it’s pressure wherever you play,” UNM coach Craig Neal said. “My thing with them is you don’t have too many games to keep throwing away. (Seniors) Tim Williams and Obij Aget only have 13 games guaranteed and then their careers are over. I told them I’d give anything that I’ve accomplished, anything I’ve done, anything I have material wise, anything I have, I would give it back to go play again.
“You don’t know until it’s gone . ... But they’re kids and you’ve got to try to pull the right strings to play at a certain level.”
Pulling the right strings will be tough at CSU. The Rams, like Nevada a week ago, can match the inside-out attack of the Lobos with a high scoring guard (Clavell’s 21.5 points per league game is No. 2 in the MWC) and all-league caliber post player (Omogbo is averaging 16.0 points, 10.8 rebounds per league game).
With those two leading the charge, the Rams are averaging 81.2 points per game and will be a challenge for a Lobos defense that isn’t exactly the team’s strength.
“I’m worried about scoring,” Neal said about trying to match the Rams’ potent motion offense. “... It’ll be a challenge defensively and it’ll be a challenge to keep them off the boards.”
But more important maybe than the opponent, Neal seems to acknowledge, is the challenge the Lobos seem to be presenting to themselves most games.
“I think the biggest thing with our team is when we’re on the same page and we do what we’re supposed to do, we’re really, really good,” Neal said. “When we have one or two guys who get off of that team bubble, then we struggle. Until they do it all together, then we’ll continue to be an average team when they can be a really, really good team.”
HUNTER BACK: While his right ankle injury suffered Jan. 1 at San Diego State still bothers him, sophomore point guard Jordan Hunter will play more minutes today at CSU. The Lobos could have used more of Hunter’s contribution in Tuesday’s loss to UNLV. While he played two minutes in that game, it was clear he wasn’t ready for a bigger load.
“I don’t know if he’ll be 100 percent for a while,” Neal said. “But he’ll be where he can play and give us some minutes.”
With Hunter out, Anthony Mathis has tried spelling freshman Jalen Harris at the point guard spot at times, but it’s clear he’s a shooting guard, not a ballhandling point guard. With Harris getting in early foul trouble, and Hunter unable to go more than two minutes, the Lobos played almost exclusively zone defense in the second half to protect Harris from fouling out, Neal said.
Even with Harris’ recent emergence, Hunter’s return is a much bigger piece of the Lobo puzzle than many probably predicted.
“We need him to be a really good team,” Neal said. “... He does two things really well: He can make free throws and he can make shots.”