BEEFY BIG MAC SATISFIES LOBOS’ HUNGER
Neal: Sophomore has ‘bright future’
The Mac is back. Or so the Lobos hope. Tuesday’s strong bench showing from 6-foot-9 sophomore Connor MacDougall, who had 10 points in his first 10 minutes of court time since suffering a concussion early in the Jan. 7 loss to Nevada, is a hopeful sign for the University of New Mexico men’s basketball team for more than one reason.
MacDougall, a transfer from South Mountain Community College who played six games at Arizona State in 2014-15, had two three-point plays in the first half and blocked a pair of shots Tuesday. That helped set a strong tone on the paint for UNM in a 74-61 win over Utah State at the Pit.
“It’s good for us,” UNM head coach Craig Neal said Tuesday of his third-year sophomore’s big night. “We think he’s going to have a bright, bright future. We recruited him to be a big, integral part of this team. I thought he showed that tonight. I thought he was physical. I thought he was a lot more physical than he’s been all year.”
The production of the big man wasn’t exactly something Utah State saw coming.
“That’s not something you’re expecting,” Utah State head coach Tim Duryea said. “You can’t give a guy like that 10 points when you’re struggling with (Tim) Williams and you’re struggling with (Elijah) Brown. You have to defend (Dane) Kuiper and the speed at the point (guard position) and those things. So, to give him 10 points, those are points you don’t plan on.”
MacDougall was 6-of-6 from the free throw line in the win while posting just his second double-figure scoring game of the season. He scored 10 points on 10-of-10 free throw shooting in a Dec. 17 win over Arkansas-
Pine Bluff.
As the Lobos now start down the path of the second half of their 18-game Mountain West Conference schedule — UNM (13-8, 6-3) is the first to play nine games and still has two “bye” spots in the schedule in the second half — MacDougall’s emergence might be bigger than just what he provides directly on the stat sheet.
If he can give the Lobos consistent minutes in the front-court rotation, it could help ease the need for big minutes on the increasingly weary legs of Williams. While facing regular doubleteams from the opponents’ big men all season, Williams has logged 33.6 minutes per game, fifth most in the league.
“I’m concerned about his minutes,” Neal acknowledged about Williams.
Since playing 41 minutes in that 105104 Jan. 7 overtime loss to Nevada, the same game MacDougall was hurt and played only two minutes, Williams has averaged just 14.4 points and 2.6 free throw attempts per game. Prior to that, he was at 19.1 points and he was getting to the line 6.4 times per game.
Neal said he and MacDougall spent 30 minutes on Monday working out oneon-one without other players on the court trying to get him focused on his return to the lineup.
“You have to give the kid credit,” Neal said. “He was ready to play. He wants to play.” THOSE FREEBIES: The 17-of-17 the Lobos hit from the free throw line Tuesday set a couple of benchmarks:
Most without a miss for any Mountain West team this season.
Most in program history without a miss during a conference game. The record for any game is 21-of-21 on Nov. 19, 2012, in a win over Connecticut.
UNM is leading the MWC in free throw shooting in league play (77.1 percent) and overall (75.8 percent, which is also good for No. 27 in the country).
Williams and Brown have attempted at least one free throw every game. Brown has attempted at least one in all 53 games he’s played as a Lobo. But Williams had just one attempt Tuesday — he made it on a three-point play in the first half — and Brown attempted his first free throw with just 2:42 left in the game.