Lobos, ‘little down,’ visit Fresno State
UNM has lost four straight Mountain West road games
There is no safe haven for the University of New Mexico basketball team these days.
Reduced to a mixed bag of controversies and nightmares at home, the team is an even bigger mess on the road.
Next stop, the heart of the San Joaquin Valley and a Saturday night game at Fresno State. The Lobos have lost four straight games on the Mountain West Conference road, losing the last three by an average of 25.3 points while playing defense as though it were optional.
The last three opponents they’ve faced away from The Pit have averaged 100 points using a familiar formula to completely pick apart a team that has done a good job of destroying itself behind the scenes since late
December. Minus four of the five players who began the season as regular starters, the shell of what had been a good Lobos team is suddenly, on paper, one of the weakest teams in the MWC. “We’re a little down right now but it’s just a game,” UNM guard Keith McGee said. “You’ve got to always come back, go to practice, work harder, just get better for the next game.”
In other words, do whatever you can to shake off the latest haymaker and try to stay positive. That’s not so
easy anymore. The Lobos are coming off one of their worst losses in the history of The Pit, a 28-point rout at the hands of San Diego State.
UNM (16-7 overall, 5-5 MWC) spotted the Aztecs a comical 17-0 lead,
wasting little time in turning to benchwarmers and even walkons to contribute with key minutes before what had been the season’s biggest, most energetic crowd. McGee said later that had the team been at full strength, it could have given SDSU a run for its money.
That team and those days are nothing but a distant memory. Without a true post presence, the Lobos are getting trounced in rebounding, and with their defensive scheme set up to protect the paint, not even a four-guard lineup can supply the help necessary for opponents from launching away from 3-point land.
San Diego State hit 15 of them. Nevada had 17 and Colorado State a school-record 19. Six of the 10 games UNM has played in conference have ended with the opponent hitting at least 10 shots from beyond the arc.
It’s not all bad, though. Junior Vance Jackson is getting closer to his return from a knee injury. He began light running for the first time in over two weeks Friday and could be set to return perhaps as early as the Lobos’ next home game Feb. 8 against league doormat Wyoming.
In part, he tweeted this Friday: “Really excited in my recovery process making me appreciate the game so much more.”
The game against Wyoming will also mark the return of senior JaQuan Lyle. The 6-foot-5 point guard went down with a knee injury following the UNLV loss on Jan. 18 and he sat out the next two games. He was then suspended for two more due to his involvement in an off-campus party that ended in a shooting Jan. 26.
He was held out of the San Diego State game and did not make the trip to Fresno State.
Until then, the Lobos will merely have to weather the storm one final time Saturday. Forced to use the same group of players that were on hand for the SDSU debacle, the only potential help could come in the form of freshman Bayron Matos-Garcia.
The 6-foot-8 power forward joined the team Monday and has had just four official practices, and Weir said that he can’t help but notice the potential Matos-Garcia has shown.
While saying he’d rather have Matos-Garcia take a redshirt year rather than playing right away, Weir also added this about what he saw: “That being said, he might’ve been the best player on the floor in practice for two days. He knows that; he felt that.”
Matos-Garcia didn’t play in the SDSU game because his name wasn’t included in the official scorebook. To get him out there for Fresno State (or any game), all that needs to be done is Weir giving the OK to put his name down.
“He’s a young kid. It really is his decision,” Weir said. “It’s not something I’m going to put my head in the pillow tonight saying that I played him or I didn’t play him.”
What does Matos-Garcia think? UNM has not given the media access to him to find out the answer.
At this point, giving the freshman the chance to play might be the only safety net left.