Lobos return to site of difficult defeat
‘Memo game’ hurt, but UNM is looking for better results today
The memory of the “Memo game” won’t be discussed in the Lobos locker room this season.
But that doesn’t mean it isn’t in the back of the minds of plenty on the University of New Mexico basketball team as it returns to Viejas Arena today to take on Aztecs (8-4).
On Feb. 6, 2016, in San Diego, after the UNM bounced back from an embarrassing fourgame losing streak to end nonconference play with a strong 7-2 start in the Mountain West, the Lobos had their chance.
An Elijah Brown 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining put the Lobos up 66-61. A Winston Shepard layup cut the Lobo lead to three with 12 seconds remaining.
That’s when game official Randy McCall said Xavier Adams did not establish himself out of bounds before taking a pass from Cullen Neal, also out of bounds. The inbounds play was designed with a legal pass from one out of bounds player to another.
The turnover led to SDSU getting the ball back and Malik
Pope hitting a contested 3-pointer to force overtime. The Aztecs pulled away for a 78-71 win.
After the game, in a highly unusual though transparent move, the Mountain West office released a memo stating the call was wrong. SDSU should not have had the possession that led to its tying 3.
“We were a group last year at 7-2, playing really good with a young group with a lot of confidence,” Neal said. “I don’t know if a loss like that they were able to handle maturity-wise. I think it kind of took the wind out of their sails. Then we had to go to a tough place and play Utah State and stay out on the road. That’s one reason we’re leaving (Saturday) then we’re coming right back.”
The Lobos, clearly unable to
handle the way they lost a game to the previously unbeaten Aztecs, also lost their next road game a few days later at Utah State. Neal was heard by reporters emphatically tearing into his team’s effort after the game through a wall shared by the visiting locker room at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum’s working media room in Logan, Utah.
Starting with the SDSU loss, the Lobos lost seven of their final 10 games of the season.
It was a defining “what could have been” sort of moment in the Lobos season, and maybe of Neal’s tenure as the program’s coach.
But that doesn’t mean it needs to be brought up again, at least not by those at UNM.
“I’m not bringing it up,” Neal said. “I think it effected them enough . ... I think a lot of those things they experienced last year helps us. They’re going to be able to feed off of that. That’s one reason some of those experiences aren’t fun, but hopefully they let them grow as a unit.”
Like last season, the road trip to SDSU is followed by a road game at Utah State.
But will the sense of déja vu happen all over again? “We’re thinking about San Diego State because they’re the next opponent, but not Utah State,” said Lobos senior forward Tim Williams. “We’re just taking it one game at a time. They’re a good team and we have to go out and play hard. And last year’s over with. This is a different year.”
Asked if there has been any mention of that two-game road trip this season, sophomore guard Dane Kuiper said, “definitely not.”
Neal did acknowledge that the team changed travel plans for the game this season after sitting out on the road between the two games seemed to backfire with the team dwelling for three days on the SDSU loss. This year, the Lobos fly back to Albuquerque tonight after the game and then to Utah on Tuesday for Wednesday’s game.
As for the Aztecs, who have had the week off to prepare for the Lobos, they’re well aware of what happened a year ago and expect a motivated Lobos team to come in.
“It was a great game,” Fisher said of what happened in last year’s overtime victory. “We won on some controversy and went to 11-0. We hope to get off to a good start, and you need to win at home. That’s a little more stress on us than it is on them. We need to protect the home court and we’re playing at home.”
BROWN AT THE LINE: UNM junior guard Elijah Brown is expected back in the starting lineup today, said Neal. He scored 24 of his 41 points against the Aztecs from the free throw line last year in two games and is coming off a game in which he was 14-of-14 from the stripe in Wednesday’s win over Fresno State.
“One of the things he does best is he draws a lot of fouls,” said SDSU junior guard Trey Kell. “Basically when he gets to the line, it’s automatic for him.”
POPE STATUS: SDSU’s starting forward Malik Pope, who has been repeatedly bitten by injury throughout his high school and collegiate career, may not play today. “It’s a tendon behind the knee,” Fisher said.