HEATING UP
Second-half surge lifts UNM men to hoops win over UTEP
It wasn’t the Lobos’ defense that was the problem this time.
At least not early in the game. Senior Anthony Mathis scored 16 of his team-high 18 points, including a 4-for4 night from 3-point range, to lead the University of New Mexico men’s basketball team to an 84-78 win over the UTEP Miners on Saturday night in front of an announced Dreamstyle Arena crowd of 11,266.
“I’d be lying if I said I love where we’re at,” said Lobos head coach Paul Weir, who last week said he was most troubled by how bad his team’s defense had been over the first three games of the season. “But we’re winning and this was a game a year ago that, quite frankly, we lost. And
there is growth in that regard.”
UNM (3-1) entered Saturday’s game as the national leader among 353 Division I programs in effective field goal percentage (65.0 percent), a statistic that adds value to 3-point shooting over two-point shooting.
Against the Miners (2-3), double-digit underdogs who have yet to beat a Division I team this season, the Lobos missed their first eight shots, scored their first basket 7 minutes, 37 seconds into the game, and didn’t break five points until more than 11:30 into the game. UNM trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half and shot just 23.3 percent (7-of-30) in the opening 20 minutes.
“We missed a lot of layups,” Weir said. “We had missed dunks. We had missed layups. We were doing reverse layups — we were just doing some stuff around the rim that ordinarily we’re getting to the free throw line, ordinarily we’re finishing.”
UTEP coach Rodney Terry, who is familiar with Weir, the Lobos and the Pit after having coached at Fresno State the past seven seasons, was proud of his team’s role in the Lobos’ early struggles.
“I thought a lot of that was predicated on our defense,” Terry said. “I thought our defense played really hard defensively. I thought we had the lead because we played harder on defense.” UTEP led 34-29 at the half. In the second half, after having not attempted a 3-pointer in the first half, Mathis was 4-for-4 from beyond the arc — hitting two in a 19-second span that put the Lobos up 55-53 with 12:11 left in the game, their first lead of the night.
It was the only lead change in the game as the Lobos closed out the feisty Miners down the stretch. UNM hit 19 of 28 (67.9 percent) shots in the second half.
Mathis said the win Saturday was as much about the crowd staying with the Lobos through their struggles — both Saturday and after last week’s loss to New Mexico State — as it was about his offense.
“I get chills every time I hit a 3,” Mathis said. “People don’t realize how fortunate we are to play in the Pit. It’s unbelievable. I’m so grateful to be here. If this was any other college program and we lose to a big rival like we did last week, we might not get 1,000 people in the gym.”
Four Lobos scored in double figures, including Mathis’ 18 and sophomore Makuach Maluach with 13, 10 of which were in the first half. Maluach added three blocked shots.
“Kuach picked us up (in the first half),” Mathis said. “So that helped a lot.”
All five Miner starters scored in double figures, including 5-10 guard Evan Gilyard with 22, who hit 5-of-9 from 3-point range.
MANIGAULT: The Lobos’ leading scorer, junior Corey Manigault, played just four first-half minutes on Saturday.
Weir said it was a disciplinary matter that kept Manigault on the bench the rest of the game, but he wouldn’t elaborate.