Williams’ return brings relief for Lobos
Brown especially helped by presence
There were 13,958 fans in the Pit on Saturday night.
It was hard to know for sure who was happiest about the return of Tim Williams, the University of New Mexico star power forward.
Obviously the 6-foot-8 senior, after a month away from the court due to a foot injury, and his parents who flew in from Flossmoor, Ill., for senior night were at the top of the list. And, of course, Lobo fans loved the win in his return.
But the grins on the faces of Lobo coach Craig Neal and junior guard Elijah Brown were hard to ignore. They saw how the entire court opened up for the Lobos in the second half because of the presence of the 17.9 points per game low post scorer.
For Neal, his “security blanket” is back.
For Brown, it was a relief to not have to absorb 40 minutes
of double teams for the first time in a month and his final stat line showed it.
“I think his (Williams’) presence on the floor does a lot of things, especially, you can tell, with Elijah,” said Neal. “People can’t target Elijah. I think it eases everybody’s sense of confidence. We can go inside again.”
Brown flourished in Saturday night’s victory, scoring 29 points — the most in four career games against the Aztecs — and did so much of the game against one of the best defenders in the league, SDSU senior guard Dakarai Allen, who fouled out in 28 minutes.
Brown set career highs in free throws made (15) and attempted (17) in the game. He shot a combined 4-of-6 in the three previous games, all Lobo losses and all with Williams out with the injury.
Saturday’s game, Neal said, was a good indication of how unguardable Brown can be, and also how much respect the rest of the league has for Williams.
“There’s not one player in this league that got doubled all year but Tim Williams,” Neal said. “That should tell you enough. You’re talking about a kid who’s gone for a month and he’s one game back and they doubled him every time that he caught it. So, if people want to do that, we’ve prepared for it and we’re ready for that.”
AWARDS: The praise Neal was heaping on his potent duo at a press gathering Monday afternoon begged the question: What did the Lobo coach think of Brown only making the second team in the All-MWC picks released Sunday by conference media and Williams sliding to honorable mention after playing in just 11 of 18 league games?
“I thought he would be first team, but it didn’t happen that way,” Neal said of Brown. “It’s one of those things. I think he’s an excellent player. The one that really (makes me) scratch my head is Tim Williams. He’s sixth in scoring, seventh in rebounding. He was playing as well as anybody in the league and if he plays in February, he was going to play better.
“So, I guess the media I should probably petition since they didn’t think he played enough games maybe I can get him back for next year.”
Neal added that while he was one of the coaches who thought the media should do its own poll after the coaches initially decided three years ago to cut them out of what previously had been a joint postseason awards list, the Williams snub wasn’t a good sign.
“That’s one of the reasons I think media didn’t have votes before,” he said. “... Tim didn’t take a hammer and break his own foot, so he’s supposed to get disrespected and not be able to get honored for what he did for 11 conference games?”
Williams appeared on two of the 11 MWC media ballots, which had one ballot from each media market in the league.
The All-MWC coaches awards, a separate list, are scheduled to be released today by the league office.
RECORDS FOR BROWN: Saturday’s game also put Brown at 125 made free throws in Mountain West play this season, a new record for a junior in the 18-season history of the conference. Last year, Brown set the sophomore record (137).
The senior record is also held by Lobo, set in 2003 when Ruben Douglas hit 158 from the charity stripe in what, then, was just a 14 game league schedule.
Brown’s 398 made free throws in his two season Lobos career puts him one behind Lamont Long (399 from 1996-2000) for No. 9 all-time in UNM history. Cameron Bairstow is ranked No. 8 at 401.