LOBO MEN ROMP
Utah transfer brings energy to UNM
Bragg, Lyle lead way to hoops victory over Grand Canyon in Pit
At halftime of Tuesday night’s Lobo basketball game, athletic director Eddie Nuñez introduced to an announced Dream style Arena crowd of 10,925 fans UNM’s new football coach, Albuquerque native Danny Gonzales.
During the game, Utah transfer Vante Hendrix, officially cleared to play just Tuesday morning, gave his own high-energy introduction to Lobo nation, hitting four 3-pointers off the bench in his UNM debut in a lopsided 91-71 win over visiting Grand Canyon University.
“He’s another energy guy like me,” Lobos senior forward Carlton Bragg said of Hendrix, a 6-foot-5 sophomore guard. “Defensively, he’s going to attack you. He’s going to be the aggressor. He’s going to be the bulldog we need.”
Hendrix, who sat the first 12 games of the season as a midseason transfer and was described by teammates as the player they least liked playing against in practice, checked into his first Lobos game with 10:50 showing on the clock in the first half.
With 10:38 on the clock, he had already dove onto Bob King court for a loose ball, pestering a GCU guard and forcing a jump ball situation.
That, was as advertised for the
Lobos, who improved to 11-2 on the season.
“I just thought they could use a little bit more energy,” Hendrix said of what he felt he could bring to the Lobos after watching them from the bench over the first 12 games of the season. “I could be that guy to do that type of stuff.”
What wasn’t as widely talked about in the lead up to Hendrix’s debut was his outside shooting. Over the course of 18 minutes in the game, Hendrix hit 4 of 6 3-pointers and scored 12 points on a night the Lobos hit a season-high 14 (of 26) 3-point attempts against a clearly outsized and overmatched GCU (4-9) squad.
The Antelopes, who play just six players regular minutes and four of those are 6-foot-4 or shorter, basically packed in their defense all night, trying desperately to keep the Lobos from getting the ball inside to the Lobo big men.
“They basically baited us to shoot 3s,” Weir said. “It’s not something I really like to do, but we were making them. Obviously Vante was a part of that. JaQuan was a part of that. A lot of guys made shots tonight. That’s the first time that’s really happened for is.”
Even Bragg hit two 3s in a night that he again mostly dominated the paint and set the tone at the rim, going for 20 points and 14 rebounds. His fellow senior, JaQuan Lyle added 21 points and six assists while point guard JJ Caldwell added nine assists and two steals.
Vance Jackson had a season-high 12 points and several times took advantage of mismatches to have arguably his best game of the season. Junior Zane Martin added 11 points and three assists off the bench and was the fifth Lobo to reach double figure scoring.