UNM women work on mindset
Bradbury wants aggressive Lobos
Lesson learned — the hard way.
The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team received an unpleasant reminder Saturday about life in the Mountain West Conference. It’s never easy.
UNM (15-2, 3-1) flew into California riding high, in sole possession of the MWC lead and fully expecting to extend its fourgame winning streak against struggling San Jose State. But the Spartans (5-10, 2-2) had other ideas, outworking and dramatically outshooting the Lobos in a 95-86 upset.
New Mexico coach Mike Bradbury and his players addressed the loss in a team meeting Monday morning and followed it up with an inspired practice at the Rudy Davalos Center.
“Mentality was the biggest
thing we had to correct,” Bradbury said, “and it’s been corrected. We didn’t take the right mindset to San Jose State and everybody saw what happened. We have to get back to being us, being the aggressors. That didn’t happen Saturday.”
What did happen, much to the Lobos’ chagrin, was the Mountain West race became a lot closer. UNM is one of four one-loss teams, along with Fresno State (3-1), UNLV (2-1) and Wyoming (2-1). New Mexico takes on the Cowgirls in Laramie on Wednesday.
The Lobos do not expect this one to be easy.
“The positive side (of Saturday’s loss) is it makes us humble,” senior Cherise Beynon said. “It reminds us that because of our record we’ve got a target on our backs. Every team in the league is going to give us their best shot and we have to be ready for it.”
UNM’s defense was not up to the task at San Jose State, allowing the Spartans to shoot 56 percent and cash in numerous open layups and 3-pointers. Defense was top priority at Monday’s practice.
“We have got to guard the ball better,” Bradbury said, “and just be committed to doing it.” Junior post Jaisa Nunn agreed. “We have to go back to the drawing board a little bit,” she said, “especially on defense. We gave up way too many drives and open looks on Saturday. Our communication and effort have to be better.”
The Lobos’ resolve figures to be tested immediately against Wyoming (9-5, 2-1). The Cowgirls are one of the Mountain West’s best defensive teams and are coming off an impressive 66-51 victory at Boise State.
“They don’t beat themselves,” Bradbury said. “They’re going to play smart basketball and force you to beat them. Not easy to do (in Laramie).”
Saturday’s clunker aside, the Lobos don’t expect to go down easily either.
“We’re still one of the best teams in the conference,” Beynon said. “We know the talent level is good enough as long as we’re mentally ready to play.”
Beynon, who is UNM’s team captain, shouldered much of the blame for Saturday’s subpar performance.
“We didn’t play hard enough on defense and that starts with leadership,” she said. “I didn’t do my job well enough and I need to be better. I expect to be better Wednesday.”
EXCLUSIVE COMPANY: Saturday’s defeat took some of the luster off a 12-assist performance that put Beynon in elite company at UNM. She now is one of just two Lobos to amass 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists for her career.
Beynon has 1,424 points, 658 rebounds and 500 assists.
“I didn’t even realize I had 500 (assists),” Beynon said Monday. “That’s pretty cool. I really like sharing the ball, especially this year with all the scorers we have. It’s a lot more fun than throwing up a ton of shots.”
Mandi Moore (2001-05) is the only other member of UNM’s 1,000-500-500 club. Moore finished with 1,057 points, 603 rebounds and holds the program record with 651 assists.