Together at last, UNM takes court for season
First official hoops practice of 2018-19 season is in the books
About a dozen small tables with bright orange basketball tablecloths decorated the lobby of the Rudy Davalos practice facility Friday evening.
On top of them sat team rosters for the 40 or 50 Sixth Man booster club members on hand for refreshments and a first glimpse of the University of New Mexico Lobos men’s basketball team at the first official practice of the 2018-19 season.
The rosters served two purposes. The obvious was for the fans to get to know who these guys are as only four players who played a season ago are back.
But there was also something else on these rosters that isn’t normally included. Along with a picture, jersey number, name, height and weight of all 15 players on the team was another notation: Wingspan.
There was no hiding this is one of the biggest, longest UNM teams in years.
No, there are no 7-footers on this team as there were on almost all Lobo rosters over the past decade. But the size, and length, is hard to ignore with eight of the 13 scholarship players have listed wingspans of 6-feet-10-inches or longer.
For a team predicated on full-court, high-pressure defense that determines starting lineups from a game-to-game basis on player deflection statistics, there might not be a more telling, or important list of numbers, which is why the team decided to include on its preseason rosters.
Here are some other odds and ends, news and notes from Friday’s first practice session, which did not include players being made available to media for interviews, but the two hour practice was open throughout:
BRAGGING ON BRAGG: Carlton Bragg, the 6-10 transfer from Arizona State who played his first two seasons at Kansas, is down about 25 pounds from when he arrived on campus and looked to be in the best shape he’s been in since he started practicing last spring.
UNM still hasn’t said whether the NCAA has cleared Bragg to play in the Nov. 6 opener, but if he is cleared, Bragg will be as ready as any of his teammates.
NEW WALK-ON: With walk-on guards Anthony Chavez, from Valley High, and Matt Vail, from Grants, no longer on the Lobos roster, Friday’s practice revealed a new in-state walk-on that Weir hasn’t publicly announced.
Former Rio Rancho High guard Clay Patterson, a 6-foot-1 guard who was the 2016 New Mexico Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior and attended Division II Fort Lewis College last season, has transferred to UNM and is on the team, though not yet included on the online roster.
Patterson will have to sit out this season as a transfer, even though he did not play last season at Fort Lewis.
UNM’s other walk-on is Atrisco Heritage forward Jordan Arroyo, who was also a full participant in Friday’s practice. KUIPER STILL OUT: Senior guard Dane Kuiper was the only player who did not practice Friday, though he was in uniform and in the gym. He spent most of the practice off to the side of the court doing non-contact drills nursing a back strain that one week ago head coach Paul Weir said again Friday wasn’t much of a concern.
“It’s still the back issue, but nothing major,” Weir said. “There just isn’t any need to rush it at this point.”
SEASON TICKETS: At close of business on Friday, the Lobos have sold 7,518 season tickets more than a month from the start of the season, including 595 new season ticket holders.
TWO NEWBIES: The two newest scholarship Lobos — South Plains (junior) College transfer point guard Keith McGee and Towson transfer guard Zane Martin — looked like one might expect based on their backgrounds and based on neither having taken part in summer workouts.
Both showed glimpses of being really good players. The 6-1 McGee was the 2018 NCJAA Tournament MVP and the 6-4 Martin averaged 19.8 points per game at Division I Towson last season.
But both also looked winded at times. Martin will sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules, but McGee is expected to get heavy minutes at the point to start the season.
GOOD STARTS: Though there was no scrimmage, there were plenty of competitive drills with players going against each other. Probably the bestlooking players of the opening practice were sophomore wings Vance Jackson and Makuach Maluach and Bragg, the junior power forward.