Jan. 30, 2009
Lobo Basketball
What: Lobos vs. Utah
When/Where: 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Salt Lake City
On TV: The Mtn (Comcast 276, DirecTV 616)
On Radio: 770-AM, KKOB
Online: GameTracker on GoLobos.com
“It’s not my fault, being the biggest and the strongest,” Andre The Giant in “The Princess Bride.”
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The biggest and the strongest issue really isn’t an issue in the Mountain West Conference. Luke Nevill is 7-foot-2 and 265 pounds. The guy should be given his own zip code. You could land a small aircraft on his back. Sometimes he places a whole team on his back. It’s called the Utah Utes.
“He makes me feel normal,” said UNM’s 6-foot-9, 235 pound Daniel Faris. “He’s enormous.”
Said Lobo Dairese Gary: “I’m absolutely thrilled that I don’t have to guard him. I think I come to his waist.”
The thing about Nevill is, like Faris said, he’s enormous. In “The Princess Bride,” Andre The Giant was called “a land mass.” That’s Nevill. When he prowls the paint on defense, there is hardly room for anyone else in the area. Which is what the Utes like. Put Nevill in the paint, and the rest of the Utes can concentrate on defending jumpers and 3-point bombs. If the enemy wants to drive at Nevill, well, good luck!
So, what do you do with a giant like Nevill? Would it be gentlemanly for Lobos coach Steve Alford to arm Faris with a slingshot and a rock? Would it be sporting to have Gary nibble on Nevill’s Achilles?
“I think his wingspan is about 12 feet. I can’t guard him by myself,” said Faris. “The guys are going to have to drop down and help me. If I let him get too deep of a catch, I’m pretty much at his mercy. He’s huge, but he’s talented. He has some skills.”
Said Gary: “Everybody will have to help on him. If he puts it on the floor, we (guards) can help. If he puts it in the air, there isn`t much we can do.”
Said Roman Martinez: “He’s a big-time player and Daniel will have his hands full. He affects the game at both ends of the court, in post play and defensively. We’re going to have to help Daniel as much as we can.”
One way to defend Nevill is to bump and grind him out of the paint and away from the basket. Defenders also seem to get away with a lot of contact on the Utes’ big guy because the contact doesn’t usually do much to Nevill’s body — like an aircraft carrier getting bumped by a frisky dolphin.
The Brigham Young Cougars tried the bump-and-grind approach on Nevill. He scored a career-high 32 points. Another way to defend Nevill is to swarm him from the weak side with “help” defense. The Cougars tried this, too. The problem with this strategy is that Nevill really isn’t a one-man show. The Utes are loaded. The Utes are a team.
“They are a dangerous team. Not a lot of holes,” said Alford. “You have a guy in Nevill, who is a first-round NBA draft pick and then he’s surrounded by the entire lineup from last year. It’s an outstanding team that we’re playing.”
Nevill isn’t the only huge thing about this game. The game is huge, too. The winner of the game keeps pace in the all-important loss column with two losses. UNM, Utah, San Diego State and UNLV all enter Saturday games with 4-2 MWC marks.
TCU, BYU and Wyoming each have three losses. A win at Utah would be a huge road breakthrough for the Lobos. A home court loss would damage the Utes, who are 51-6 vs. UNM in the Huntsman Center.
The Lobos are 13-8 overall and Utah is 13-7. UNM has won four of its past five games and Utah has won three of four, including the 94-88 overtime win over BYU on Tuesday. Saturday’s game is a clash for at least a share of first place. “You can’t wait for games like this because it’s such a big game,” said Martinez. “I’m excited. It’s going to be fun.”
It’s going to be intense, too. The nature of the game demands that. The nature of the Lobos coach demands intensity from his Lobos, too. “It’s going to be a great challenge,” said Gary. “We have to make sure their crowd doesn’t take us out of the game.”
The Lobos have to make sure Nevill doesn’t take them out of the game either with his lurching presence in the paint. Nevill can block shots or alter how they go up. The Utes are good at picking up the garbage and running down the court. The Utes have the shooters to score in transition. When those open shots aren’t there, they simply back away and wait for the big guy to get down the court. He sets up like a volcano. An active one.
“He does so many things for them,” said Faris. “But I want another shot at him. I’m excited because he’s such a great challenge.”
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.