UNLV tops Lobos to take MWC lead
Rebels have no trouble figuring out UNM’s zone defense in easy win
The Pit magic of Saturday night didn’t survive the weekend.
And with first place in the Mountain West Conference on the line, the UNM Lobos looked again like the same disjointed team that struggled through non-conference play in a lackluster 80-69 loss to the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels on Tuesday night in front of an announced crowd of 10,242 in Dreamstyle Arena - The Pit.
After the Lobos (8-7, 2-1 Mountain West) led 42-35 at the half, UNLV coach Marvin Menzies, the former New Mexico State coach and boss of UNM’s Paul Weir for nine years with the Aggies, solved everything the Lobos were doing on both ends of the court for a dominating 45-27 second half that, again, had fans hitting the parking lot well before the final buzzer sounded.
The Lobos’ zone defense that looked good in wins at Air Force and in Saturday’s historic 85-58 win over previously undefeated No. 6 Nevada on Saturday, looked basic and simple as UNLV’s Kris Clyburn continued getting behind it and slashing from the left wing for easy layups. And when Clyburn, who scored a game-high 25 points, wasn’t killing the Lobos, UNLV’s offensive rebounds were, scoring 10 second-chance points off six offensive rebounds in the second half.
UNM, which didn’t practice zone even once before a Dec. 18 loss before shifting to zone, didn’t switch to man defense once Tuesday despite the Rebels clearly not being bothered by the zone.
UNLV (9-6, 3-0 MW) is now alone in first place in the Mountain West standings.
On offense, the Lobos, almost inexplicably, continued to do the same thing time and time again. With UNLV’s 6-foot-1 point guard Noah Robotham in the face of Lobos point guard Anthony Mathis the entire half, the Lobos never seemed to get their offense started and, for some reason, never even tried backup point guards Drue Drinnon or Keith McGee in the second half.
UNLV used runs of 8-0 and 7-0 in the second half while holding the Lobos to 24.0 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes (6-of25), including 1-of-10 from 3-point range.
Mathis, who scored 27 in Saturday’s win, had nine points and five turnovers on Tuesday.
UNM did find success when getting the ball down low to Carlton Bragg, who scored 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including a first half stretch of eight points on four consecutive possessions.
UNLV shot 57.1 percent in the second half and the Rebels were 18-of-21 from the free throw line.