What a relief
New Mexico loses its home exhibition game against BYU but gets a good look at how its up-tempo play will fare this season
Lobos lose exhibition to BYU, but they display tons of effort
They ran. Sometimes too fast. They were physical. Sometimes too much so.
And, much to the crowd’s delight, they certainly weren’t lacking in effort.
Paul Weir’s debut as the University of New Mexico men’s basketball coach, albeit it in an exhibition, delivered on promises of fast play and high energy, but the veteran BYU Cougars were still too much for the new-look Lobos.
The Cougars hit six free throws in the final 36 seconds to close out the Lobos, 79-73, in front of an announced charity exhibition crowd of 4,902 in the Pit.
“I think our effort was good,” Weir, the first year UNM coach, admitted. “It obviously wasn’t quite good enough, but I think it was good. I don’t want to say it was poor, but I think we all know we’re going to have to give more to win a game like that.”
The Lobos forced 23 BYU turnovers, many coming from an inyour-face full-court press that the Cougars, despite having 10 returning players and veteran guards leading the team, were visibly bothered by throughout the game. That press also prevented BYU from being able to get into its regular offense in the half-court much of the game, leading the usually hot-shooting team with just five made 3-pointers on 21 attempts (23.8 percent).
The game was full of runs. After UNM fell behind by 10 in the first half, it used a 10-1 run to pull within one and trailed at halftime 37-36.
The Lobos led 65-62 with 5:27 remaining before BYU took charge again, taking a 71-67 lead into the final media timeout with 3:27 remaining and UNM was never able to regain the lead.
Though four Cougars scored in double figures and shot 51.9 percent for the game, it wasn’t the defense that was lacking for the Lobos. While senior forward Sam Logwood had a game-high 23 points, the Lobos, a team Weir has insisted is a better shooting team today than the versions of the past few seasons, shot just 17.9
percent from 3-point range (5-for-28).
While statistics weren’t released after last week’s closed scrimmage at Northern Arizona, Weir said his team struggled mightily shooting there, too.
“It’s really hard for me to kind of figure out this 3-point shooting thing and whether this is just an anomaly and we’re going to keep shooting the ball (as much as they did Friday night), or maybe we’ve got to do something a little different,” Weir said. “But I think outside of the 3-point shooting percentage, we played a pretty good basketball game . ... We’re going to have to make those to win games.”
Logwood was a mismatch for BYU most of the game, at least when he was playing inside the arc. His 23 points came on 8-for15 shooting, but four of his misses were on 3-point attempts.
“Honestly, I just felt a lot more comfortable,” Logwood said. “The new system that we’re in, is just more my style of play. It allows me to be myself out there.”
Fellow senior Joe Furstinger was a spark throughout the game for UNM, scoring nine points in 26 minutes, including a three-point play with 7:26 left in the game that put UNM up 59-57. And that led to the first Furstinger Flex of the season for the crowd.
“I feel like we’ll be really special this year,” Furstinger said, before adding that the result was still not acceptable. “We’re never satisfied.”
CHARITY: The announced crowd of 4,902 included 4,446 paid fans (206 comped tickets and 250 free student tickets). The $44,460 from those tickets, after game-day expenses, will be donated to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. UNM did not have a final total Friday what it will send to the Greater Houston Community Foundation.
MACDOUGALL INJURY: Senior forward Connor MacDougall went down to the court grabbing his right ankle with 16:52 left in the first half. He walked off the court with some assistance of trainer Corey DeBarbrie and was being worked on the rest of the first half. He did not return to the game.
“I don’t think it’s anything serious,” Weir said. “We were going to bring him back in the second half.”