UNM’s defense a sizable concern
Opponents lately have had little trouble getting to the rim against the Lobos
In the offseason, the New Mexico Lobos knew they had a big problem.
As in, they simply don’t have many bigs.
And that was when they still thought 6-foot-9 Connor MacDougall would be a part of the rotation.
Throughout the season, the Lobos’ lack of size, to varying degrees, has led to major issues in protecting the rim. Wyoming (primarily from Justin James blowing by defenders) and Fresno State each scored 42 points in the paint against the Lobos in the past two games. Last week’s blowout at Boise State saw the Broncos go off for 52 points in the paint.
And, unlike it might have been earlier in the season, the press isn’t the culprit. UNM has been allowing teams to get to the rim in their halfcourt defense far too often for UNM coach Paul Weir’s liking lately.
In the Fresno State loss on Saturday, scoring at the rim for the Bulldogs also created open looks on the perimeter as they hit 9-of-12 (75 percent) of their 3-pointers.
Unfortunately for UNM (8-11, 3-3 Mountain West), trying to get 6-foot9 Joe Furstinger some more help in the front court while MacDougall and senior Sam Logwood are unable to help the team, has meant relying more and more on freshmen Makuach Maluach. The 6-5 forward is often asked to play the “4” spot, and Vladimir Pinchuk, a 6-10 center, is not yet up to speed defensively.
“If Vlad starts giving us maybe more consistent, better minutes — I thought
he hit a little bit of a wall three or four weeks ago,” Weir said. “I feel like he’s starting to come out of it a little bit, but until we can play him and Joe together, it’s just going to leave us small and it’s going to leave us undersized.
“We have to protect Joe as much as we can. We had that issue early in the year of trying to keep him out of foul trouble as best we can. We’re trying to keep him out of harm’s way a little just to keep him out on the floor. Until we find a way to kind of get Vlad going, or come up with smart, creative ways to keep Joe out of foul trouble, right now we just are who we are and we’ll have to keep playing this way.”
Maluach, meanwhile, is coming off a career-high scoring game at Fresno State with 21 points. He drew the praise of Fresno State coach Rodney Terry, who told the Journal on Saturday the freshman gave his big men fits all game. Maluach is often going against larger, and slower, players. He’s blown by them with relative ease lately.
But the trade-off might be on the other end of the court.
“I think it helps us offensively to be smaller,” Weir said Saturday. “And it’s obviously hurting us at the defensive end.” ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Lobos hit the road again Wednesday against UNLV. That isn’t a good omen based on past results — the team is 0-6 in road games, 0-8 overall this season outside of Albuquerque.
But it should also be noted it isn’t as though the Lobos have lost many games outside of the Pit this season the Vegas oddsmakers say they were supposed to win.
UNM has gone 3-5 against the spread in away games and were betting underdogs of at least 4.5 points in seven of those eight games (the only away game UNM has been favored to win was at UTEP, which the Lobos lost 88-76).
The team has arguably played two of its best games, albeit in defeat, away from the Pit. In its 69-67 loss to nationally ranked TCU on Nov. 24 in a game played in Florida, the Lobos missed 3-point attempt at the buzzer that would have won the game. In a 77-74 loss to league favorite Nevada in Reno on Dec. 30, the Lobos had multiple looks in the closing seconds and got off a 3-point attempt that could have sent that game to overtime.
Weir, while clearly not happy with the road record, said he hasn’t seen enough of a drop-off between road and home games to be overly concerned.
“I think we’ve had a pretty competitive schedule,” Weir said. “... Right now I’m not really putting much thought into it.”