Jan. 9, 2009
Lobo Basketball
What: Lobos vs. Air Force
When/Where: 7:30 p.m. Tonight — The Pit
On The Air: The Mtn (Comcast 276, DirecTV 616); 770-AM KKOB
Online: GameTracker on GoLobos.com
Tickets: $10
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Lobo coach Steve Alford is pretty set on the qualities he seeks in a go-to Lobo. He also knows exactly what a go-to Lobo looks like. He looks like the Lobo named J.R. Giddens, who the Boston Celtics drafted after last year’s season.
But J.R. obviously is gone and Alford has spent about two months trying to identify the go-to player on the 2008-09 University of New Mexico Lobos.
At times, Tony Danridge has been the man using his jumping ability and his stop-and-pop jumper to hurt teams.
At times, Daniel Faris has been the go-to guy throwing a nice array of Kevin McKale-type moves at defenders and doing a nice job on the boards.
At times, Roman Martinez has dazzled his coach with an all-around game of fundamental and savvy basketball.
But is there really a go-to guy on this Lobo team? Alford says he is still looking, in part, because he is looking for a Lobo who does a lot more than simply put the ball in the hole.
“I think the go-to guy isn’t just a guy to go get a basket,” said the Lobos coach. “It’s who’s going to deliver the pass? Who’s going to set the screen? Who’s going to get the defensive stop or the big rebound.?
“Go-to guys don’t just score. Go-to guys get (defensive) stops. They get rebounds. They make plays. We’re unfortunately still searching for who that is. It’s kind of been by committee or who’s hot this game. We have guys who have two or three good games and then we have some slippage.”
Danridge, UNM’s 6-5 high-jumping senior, probably is the Lobos’ best threat to be the team’s go-to player in clutch situations. Sometimes he has been, well, go-to. Sometimes he hasn’t been go-to.
“I think his go-to move is the pull up,” said Alford. “I think he’s as good as anyone with the pull-up jump shot. But it’s almost like now he’s trying to get to the basket every time and you’re seeing him double pump at the rim instead of just pulling up from 12 feet and taking the shot he’s so good at.”
Alford said he has spent a lot of time over the Christmas break working on his Lobos individual skills. So, maybe Alford has hit the right note in the heads of some of his Lobos as they head into tonight’s Mountain West Conference game with the Air Force Falcons.
“This is the time of the year where teams either stay put and people pass them by or you prepare yourself for what is going to happen in February and March,” said Alford.
“Whether we got guys not making shots or maybe not handling the basketball, or whatever it may be, we want to make sure we continue to get better individually. But we have to spend time on Air Force because with young guys, if we don’t, we’ll get back-cut to death and it will be a lay-up fest.”
The Falcons’ offense is a maze of screens and cuts and dribble-drive penetration and then all of a sudden a Falcon is racing toward the basket unguarded and in possession of the ball. Or maybe there is a wide-open Falcon throwing in a 3-pointer. But that’s only if you mess up on defense. Alford doesn’t plan on his Lobos messing up on defense.
“You have to defend the whole 35 seconds,” said UNM freshman Nate Garth. “Us young guys, that (Air Force offense) is something that we’ve never seen before.”
Said Alford: “This is a big, pivotal home game for us. It’s important that as each day goes by, we keep getting better. We have to get everybody’s confidence back up.”
The Lobos’ confidence is a little wobbly after dropping two straight games. UNM shot 28.8 percent in the loss to UTEP, the lowest shooting percentage by a UNM team in The Pit in 12 years. Air Force has dropped three of the past four games.
The Falcons enter the game No. 1 in the MWC in 3-point percentage at 42.5 percent. They also are No. 1 in field goal defense at 37.6 percent. Senior Anwar Johnson leads three players in double figures at 14.4 points a game. Forwards Matt Holland (46.9%) and Andrew Henke (46.4%) rank 2-3 in the league in 3-point accuracy.
“There are a very good dribble-drive team,” said Alford. “They can kick to the corners for their threes. They’re shooting the three at such a high level, not just because they have good shooters, but because they take high-percentage threes.
“They get a lot of uncontested threes. We have to make sure we’re not giving them uncontested looks because they have a lot of guys who can make them.”
The Lobos will step into The Pit with a 9-7 overall mark and a 0-1 MWC slate thanks to a loss at UNLV. Air Force is 9-5 and also 0-1 in league play. The game is Alford’s 50th as the Lobos’ coach and is No. 750 for The Pit. The Lobos next game is Jan. 17 in The Pit vs. Brigham Young.
Lobos have held three straight teams to less than 40 percent shooting and Alford is pleased with that part of the Lobos’ game. But he would like to see a few more points on the boards for his Lobos, who have shot 36 percent in the past three games.
“I feel like this is a game where we have to get a lot of points in transition,” said Garth. “We’re going to be the more athletic team. If we get easy looks in this game, I feel we’ll pull away.”
Editor’s Note: Richard Stevens is a former Associate Sports Editor and sports columnist for The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net. Previous articles are available at The Richard Stevens Corner