ANOTHER STUNNER
UNLV finishes strong to hand the Lobos another tough defeat.
The bank wasn’t open Tuesday night.
And there was no miraculous comeback. It wasn’t needed. Three days after finding itself on the wrong end of one of the biggest, and most improbable, comebacks in college basketball history, the University of New Mexico looked to still be in shock in a largely lifeless performance in a 71-66 loss to the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels. The defeat came in front of an announced crowd of 11,379 that was cascading boos down on the Pit floor by the end of the game.
The Rebels (9-9, 2-3 Mountain West), who are now coached by former New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies and were 11-point underdogs, outscored UNM 40-29 in the second half and 10-2 in the final 3:31 of the game. The Lobos, 9-8 overall and 2-3 in league play, are losers of three consecutive games and playing the part of a team whose coach is very much the target of fan discontent.
“There’s got to be some answer,” said UNM head coach Craig Neal, who spent much more time than usual in the team’s locker room before talking with media after Tuesday’s loss. “My staff can’t work tirelessly and these kids are working hard, and they’re doing this — to come out like that, I just asked them some questions. That’s between my team and I. We’ve got to figure that out right now.”
The 25-point blown lead in Saturday’s 105-104 overtime loss to Nevada made the rounds on national news for the past three days and, despite a lively Monday practice with Neal insisting the optimism and confidence on the team was high, it clearly had not been forgotten.
“I don’t know if it’s going through what they went through with Nevada and all the stuff surrounding it — that loss,” Neal said. “It definitely affected us and we didn’t regroup. I take full responsibility for that. I thought they would come out and play harder and I thought we would play better and we didn’t.”
UNM did get a career-high 17 points from sophomore Dane Kuiper and a careerhigh seven blocked shots from Obij Aget, but all of his blocks and 13 of Kuiper’s points were in the first half. The Rebels held UNM to less than 40-percent shooting in the second half and largely held in check UNM stars Elijah Brown (13 points on 4-of-13 shooting) and Tim Williams (11 points on 5-of8 shooting).
That duo ranks No. 2 and 3 in the league in getting to the free throw line, where UNM leads the nation in the percentage of points it gets from the charity stripe. With 11:57 left in the game, Williams took the first of what would end up being seven free throws between the two in Tuesday’s game, far below their average.
UNLV guard Jovan Mooring (19 points, six assists) said keeping that pair off the free throw line was atop the defensive scouting report.
But Tuesday was maybe less about the Rebels game plan and more about the Lobos looking the part of a lost team.
Boos and jeers directed at Neal were constant and the coach, and Lobo players, acknowledge they have to find better ways to block out the noise.
“I don’t really pay attention to that during the games,” said Kuiper, though he conceded it is heard. “We know we’ve got to turn it around and start playing a little harder and get the job done . ... I love coach Neal. I want him here. So I’m just trying to do anything I can to win games. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
With UNM trailing 64-61 with 3:57 remaining, UNLV guard Jaylen Poyser hit the Rebel’s ninth 3-pointer of the night to start the closing charge of 10-2 for UNLV.
UNM was down 69-66 with 1:19 remaining after Jalen Harris hit two free throws, and UNLV milked the clock and got its 12th offensive rebound of the game (the Rebels scored 10 secondchance points) with 48 seconds remaining.
Still down three, Neal said he opted not to foul, leading to 30 more seconds off the clock and a contested Brown 3-pointer that missed in the closing seconds.
“All I can do is keep working,” Neal said. “I still think we have a really good team. I can’t control injuries. I can’t control things that have happened to this team. But I can control certain things and we’ve show signs that we can play really well. I have to still believe that we’re going to continue to play well.”