UNM’s Davis appreciates life back at home
Men’s basketball assistant coach talks about challenges of season
Ralph Davis never imagined he’d enjoy trash day, and a little bit of weather, so much.
The Lobo basketball assistant coach, who is in his third season with the program after also serving as video coordinator and director of operations, said when the team was able to return to Albuquerque last week for practices thanks to an amendment to the state’s public health order, it brought on a new sense of appreciation for the little things.
“So, this morning was trash day,” Davis said in a conversation last week now posted on ABQJournal.com/sports for the latest edition of the Talking Grammer podcast. “Just being able to take out the trash, take out the recycling, clean off my car — we had a little snow this morning. That right there. It’s pretty exciting, actually.
“When every single day it’s the same hotel room, or multiple hotel rooms, looking out the window, going downstairs for some breakfast, seeing the front desk attendants and all that — it’s pretty awesome to wake up next to your loved ones. … it just feels great to be back.”
Being “back” for some home practices didn’t last long, though. The Lobos (5-11, 1-11 Mountain West) dropped a pair of road games in Fresno, California, over the weekend and as the state’s public health order still prohibits games from being played in the Land of Enchantment. UNM is back on the road
this week with a pair of designated “home” games in Lubbock, Texas, hosting perennial title contender San Diego State.
The trials and tribulations of the Lobos being relocated much of the season have been well documented at this point, and UNM on Saturday had its third player since August (Nolan Dorsey, following Zane Martin and Keith McGee) leave the team, citing the unique circumstances for the Lobos situation as a primary reason.
One place where some of what the team has been going through can specifically be seen on the court, Davis said, comes from skill development and the difference between what practice time is and what having gym time does for a team.
The Lobos much of this season have only had access to gyms when whatever school they were renting gym time from didn’t have practices going on of their own. There has been no regular access for players to show up early or stay late to put up shots or work much one-on-one with coaches.
“In a practice, you’re more so working on the team,” Davis said. “You’re working on being better as a unit, pushing the needle forward together. So in a practice, let’s say a player may shoot … 40 shots in a practice.
“That’s why being able to give them more court time and gym time for them to get up a couple hundred shots makes, work on their ball handling, all those things, it’s very important.”
Aside from this season’s specific challenges, Davis talks in the podcast on a variety of topics: movies; how coaching at the junior college level may have prepared him for this season; his 2003 New Jersey state high school championship in the triple jump; and how he was set to go to Rhode Island for college track and field before a phone call changed his path toward basketball.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: San Jose State senior forward Ralph Agee was named the MWC Player of the Week on Monday, the program’s first such distinction since 2017 when Brandon Clarke, who later transferred to Gonzaga and now plays in the NBA, won the award three times.
Agee averaged 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in a sweep of Air Force, giving SJSU a threegame win streak that started Jan. 23 with a win over UNM. It’s also SJSU’s first threegame conference win streak since 2017.
POLL POSITION: There were no Mountain West teams ranked in Monday’s new Associated Press Top 25 poll, though two schools — Boise State and San Diego State — appeared in the “others receiving votes” section.
With 23 points, from appearing on eight of 64 voter ballots, Boise State is six spots out of the Top 25. The Broncos had a high vote of No. 20 on one ballot. SDSU (6 points from two ballots) had a high of No. 21.