‘I’m giving it everything I’ve got’ for Lobos
Much at stake as Logwood, Lobos host Fresno State on Senior Night in the Pit
There were times he wanted to quit. In fact, there were times where he actually did quit. On Saturday night in The Pit, he’ll finally get a chance to go out in style instead of letting the door hit him in the rear end on the way out.
Senior power forward Sam Logwood is one of three players suiting up in the home whites for the last time on Saturday night as The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team wraps up its regular season with a critical home finale against visiting Fresno State. The winner claims third place in the Mountain West standings, earning a coveted top 3 seed in next week’s conference tournament in Las Vegas, Nev.
The loser drops to No. 4 with a first-round game against either San Diego State or Wyoming. It all comes down to Saturday’s games to iron out the kinks for seven of the 11 seeds in the single-elimination tournament.
It’s a surprising end to what has been a wildly optimistic turnaround for the Lobos this season. The team started 3-8 and appeared to be headed for one of the worst years in school history. The wheels started to come off for Logwood in early December, when a postgame meeting with head coach Paul Weir following a loss at Colorado led the 6-8 senior to take a leave of absence to contemplate his future.
He missed the next game, a home loss to New Mexico State, only to return a week later and post six straight uninspiring performances over the next three weeks. That led to a second hiatus, this one equal parts “shoulder injury” and coach’s decision.
“Coach Weir physically pushed me beyond my limits early in the season,” Logwood said. “Mentally, he’s pushed me to the point where I’ve learned a lot about myself.”
On paper it seemed the Lobos were doomed without their 6-foot-8 low post man. Gifted with an NBA player’s body, he appeared to be an irreplaceable part to an already shaky mechanism.
Then a funny thing happened. The Lobos started playing better without him. Fellow seniors Joe Furstinger and Antino Jackson helped pick up the slack, as did there rest of the team’s makeshift lineup that somehow found perfect chemistry with Logwood on the shelf. Seven games went by before Weir finally gave Logwood another chance.
All he’s done since is supply big minutes and a team-first attitude that probably leaves some fans (and teammates) wondering where that Logwood had been all along. He has averaged 14 points and 6.3 rebounds since his return; 18 and 8.5 in the last three games, all wins.
“It’s not always perfect,” Weir said. “I’m not always perfect, but that’s the strategy we’re employing and it worked,
fortunately, down the stretch.”
Logwood spoke briefly about his resurgence after the UNLV game last week, a game in which he more than held his own against Runnin’ Rebels 7-footer Brandon McCoy.
“I’m giving it everything I’ve got, like I’ve got just a couple games left in college,” he said. “I just don’t want to go out and regret not playing as hard as I could have. Things are working out well for me. I’m just going to keep trying to push myself past my limits and give the rest of the team what it needs heading into the tournament.”
With one more strong effort on Senior Night, he might well help some Lobo fans erase memories of his tumultuous January and give them something to brag about with a No. 3 seed in the MWC Tournament.
GAME NOTES
Fresno State lost guard Jaron Hopkins for the season when he injured his foot in a game last week against Wyoming. He is the team’s thirdleading scorer at 11.4 points and was the team leader in assists with 3.1 per game. He was also averaging 5.7 rebounds, third on the team. … The Bulldogs are the top shooting team in the MWC, converting 49.4 percent of their shots. UNM is, statistically, the worst defensive team, allowing opponents to shoot 48.5 percent. The first time the teams played, the Bulldogs were on fire, hitting 32 of 49 field goals (65.3 percent) while making 9 of 12 tries from 3-point range. … The Lobos are the league’s best free throw shooting team at 76.8 percent. Fresno is the worst at 68.9. They’ve made 27 fewer freebies but attempted 31 more. The Lobos either lead the MWC or are last in nine statistical categories.
SENIORS
Furstinger has played in 113 games as a Lobo, but he had never scored more than 20 points until his last outing when he dropped 22 at Colorado State. Of his 583 career points, 281 have come this season. … Jackson was an honorable mention point guard in the Mid-American Conference two years ago, the same year he had what was then a career-best 23-point outing while playing for Akron. He has since topped that as a Lobo, scoring 24 points in a win over San Diego State on Jan. 20. He established a new standard for assists a week later with 11 against Colorado State. … Logwood has started 77 of the 112 games in which he has appeared. He is averaging 7.8 points and 3.8 rebounds for his career despite playing much of his career out of position as a small forward or shooting guard in previous head coach Craig Neal’s system. He attempted 98 3-pointers in his first two years at UNM but only eight his entire senior season.