Lobos dominate Grand Canyon
ALBUQUERQUE — It took two months and a dozen games for Vante Hendrix to get o≠ the bench and into a college basketball game for the Lobos.
It took him just 12 seconds to throw his muscular 6-foot-5 frame onto the hardwood chasing after a loose ball and, in so doing, earning the love of fans who’ve been anxiously awaiting his debut.
The sophomore transfer from Utah got into his first game with the University of New Mexico on Tuesday night, playing 18 minutes and vastly surpassing the expectations of his coach. He had 12 points, a steal, an assist and three rebounds to go with four 3-pointers to help the Lobos (11-2) win their sixth straight game with a 91-71 win over Grand Canyon in The Pit.
UNM lead nearly the entire way, dominating the game on the glass and, for once, the 3-point line. The Lobos sank a season-high 14 treys after averaging 5.3 through the first 12 games of the season.
“They basically baited us to shoot 3s and it’s not something I really like to do,” said UNM head coach Paul Weir. “But, we were making them and obviously Vante was a part of that.”
Even center Carlton Bragg hit a pair of outside shots on his way to a 20-point, 14-rebound performance in what is becoming an all-conference kind of season for the 6-foot-10 senior. He did admit, however, that every time he chucks one up from the cheap seats he has a knee-jerk reaction to look over at the bench to see what his coach thought
about it.
After pantomiming a typical Weir gesture of throwing his hands over his head and rubbing his face in frustration, Bragg said he planned to shoot at least one 3 per game.
“Overall he likes when I shoot it,” Bragg said. “Just have confidence when I shoot it.”
The Lobos were led by JaQuan Lyle’s 21 points as five players finished with double figures, including a season-high 12 points from Vance Jackson and 11 from Zane Martin. The onslaught included a few minutes for the walk-ons and the rarely used freshmen at the end of the bench.
All told, it was one of the more dominant games of the season from a team that will play just two more games before the end of the calendar year.
“It’s been a long haul and winning takes a toll, too,” Weir said. “It’s tough to manage a lot of guys who either expected to start or play a lot of minutes or do all that.”
Combined, a team can get just 200 minutes of playing time per game for the five players on the floor. It’s Weir’s job to distribute those minutes as evenly as possible and when the depth chart is essentially nine players deep with the addition of Hendrix, it makes time on the court a valuable thing.
“Spreading them out on our team is a major challenge,” Weir said. “It’s our best strength.”
All it took to realize that those minutes are going to get harder to come by is 12 seconds, the short period where Hendrix checked into the game and won fans over by sprawling for on the deck to make a play.
“I just try to bring energy and do whatever I can,” he said.
NOTES
Football: The news of the day was Danny Gonzales getting named as the school’s new football coach. UNM kept it a closely guarded secret, even telling the local media and fans that they’d finally get to meet the yet-unnamed coach at halftime of the basketball game.
The introduction went off without a hitch. The Pit lights were lowered, a spotlight shone on athletic director Eddie Nuñez at midcourt and after a short hype video and energetic monologue from Nuñez, Gonzales and his family came strolling down the ramp and onto the floor to a standing ovation.
He meandered through the crowd before walking up the steps to the west concourse, stopping to shake hands and promise fans of a brighter future for Lobo football.
The real Gonzales intro comes Wednesday at a press conference inside Dreamstyle Stadium.
Up next: The basketball team will host a Sunday matinee against Houston Baptist before taking a few days off for the Christmas holiday. They’ll reconvene Dec. 29 to play UC Davis before jumping back into Mountain West play on New Year’s Day at San Jose State.