Lobo Hunter stays on point
Despite losing starting job, he keeps working
Jordan Hunter came into the season as the starting point guard for the UNM Lobos.
And while the 5-foot-11 sophomore from Beaumont, Texas, didn’t exactly play his way out of that role, he was relegated to backup duties as lightning quick freshman Jalen Harris began showing flashes of becoming a high level floor general himself.
When Hunter sprained his ankle Jan. 1 at San Diego State, missed the next two full games and was only available in a limited capacity for a third, it appeared the roles had been locked in: Harris was the starter and getting the bulk of the minutes while Hunter had become the backup.
But a funny thing happened over the past month.
Hunter quietly kept improving and working as though he was still the starter. And as Harris seemingly hit a freshman wall and has seen his production drop significantly since mid-January, Hunter has been the guard who has been turned to in recent games to steady the Lobos.
Outside of Elijah Brown and the injured Tim Williams, a case could be made for Hunter being as valuable as any Lobo since Jan. 14, even if his statistics aren’t going to jump off the page at you.
In Tuesday night’s win over then-first place Boise State, it might have been Brown scoring 17 of the team’s final 19 points that grabbed the attention, but Hunter might have been the overlooked reason for the win.
Hunter ran the point and scored all nine of his points in his 17 second-half minutes. He was a calming force when his teammates seemed flustered at times as Boise State charged back from 17 points down.
With 6:27 remaining, and after a 15-4 Boise State run had cut the UNM lead to 57-53, Hunter went left off a ball screen at the top of the key and knocked down a deep jump shot that seemed to get the Lobos back on track.
“(It) was probably the biggest play, I thought, in the game as far as getting us going again,” said UNM coach Craig Neal.
Since UNM went 0-3 with him either out (at Utah State and vs. Nevada) or limited (2 minutes in the UNLV loss), the Lobos are 7-2 with Hunter back and playing arguably his best basketball of the season, albeit still as the backup.
In those nine games, Hunter is averaging 7.1 points, 2.4 assists and shooting a team-best (for players attempting at least one free throw a game) 88 percent from the free throw line. He’s doing so while averaging 19.3 minutes.
His 22-of-25 free throw shooting in that span has been padded frequently by being, along with Brown (87.7 percent at the line in the past nine games), the go-to ball handler when opposing teams have been relegated to fouling the Lobos late in games.
“I think Jordan Hunter in the last two weeks, three weeks, is playing with pace he’s never played with before,” Neal said. “I think he’s playing with a higher motor. He’s played with a different energy level. He’s played with a different confidence level. He does so many things for you because he can make shots.
“When you’re that size and you have his strength and his quickness, and he’s shifty — he can get in spots, he can create his own shot. But he’s going to make free throws. He’s an excellent passer and he’s able to make jump shots. That’s big. And it helps us have another guy on the floor who can make plays.”
Neal has given no indication he plans to make a change as to who starts at point guard, but he did acknowledge after the Boise State game that Harris has been struggling in the last couple weeks. Meanwhile, it is clear Hunter has the full confidence of his team late in games.
BROWN: Thanks his 27-point game against Boise State, Brown’s scoring average in Mountain West play improved to 21.6 points per game, making him the Mountain West Conference’s scoring leader in league games.
San Jose State’s Brandon Clarke, who led the league when he came to the Pit on Feb. 4, has dropped to third at 20.5 points per game. Colorado State’s Gian Clavell, who comes to the Pit on Tuesday, is second in league games at 20.7 points per game.
WILLIAMS UPDATE: Williams will have to keep the walking boot on his left foot after doctors examined X-rays taken Thursday of his stress reaction. Neal said Williams is scheduled to be re-examined near the end of February.
Williams, a senior, has missed four games because of the injury. It now appears he will miss at least three more.