Feb. 6, 2009
Lobo Basketball
What: Lobos vs. UNLV
When: 6 p.m., Saturday — The Pit
On Radio: 770-AM KKOB
On TV: CBS College Sports (Comcast 274, DirecTV 613, Dish 152)
Online: GameTracker on GoLobos.com
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The simple thing about the numbers game going into the second half of the Mountain Conference race is the teams’ records and which teams appear to be serious contenders.
The top dogs after eight games are San Diego State and Utah at 6-2. The pack at their heels includes Lobos, Brigham Young and UNLV at 5-3. And likely the 2009 MWC regular-season champ will be one (or several) team from this MWC fist.
“It could come down to the last set of games and there could be multiple league champs,” said Lobo coach Steve Alford. “The big (teams) aren’t going to lose a lot of home games.”
Eventually, the numbers will determine the MWC King of 2009. And those numbers often are determined by which teams get to host the league bullies in the second half of the race and which teams have to go on the road to face the league bad boys.
If you buy into this theory, there are two MWC teams with a slight advantage in the league’s final eight games: San Diego State and New Mexico.
“They (SDSU) are sitting 6-2 and they’ve played five road games,” said Alford. “When that happens, there is obviously a little bit of an advantage.”
The Aztecs have a little edge on the schedule, too. Of the Big Five (UNM, UNLV, BYU, SDSU, Utah), the Aztecs are the only team with five home games and three road games. The Aztecs play two of the Big Five in San Diego: BYU and UNLV. The Aztecs travel to New Mexico and Utah.
The other four members of the Big Five play four home games and four road games to finish out the MWC race. The Lobos’ edge is they play in The Pit against three of the four other Big Five members. The Lobos begin the second half Saturday vs. UNLV and UNM also will play host to SDSU and Utah. The Lobos still have to go on the road to BYU.
The Rebels might have the toughest road to travel with only BYU coming to Vegas. The Rebs have to travel to Utah and SDSU — and into The Pit on Saturday. The talk from Vegas is that the Rebs’ critical 68-66 overtime loss to SDSU Tuesday in Vegas has the Rebs fired up and focused for the rest of the MWC race.
“They have an outstanding team coming in here,” said Alford, whose Lobos were a couple of plays and a couple of shots away from beating UNLV in Vegas. The Lobos, 14-9 overall, lost 60-58 at Vegas on Jan. 3.
The Rebs surely will be tested in The Pit against an improving UNM team that in its past four home games has held MWC teams to their lowest scoring totals of the season. The Lobos’ play in The Pit also had helped UNM win its five league games by an average of 21.6 points.
“We’ve gotten better,” said Alford. “We’re much better than we were in November. We’re playing well at both ends.”
The Rebs haven’t changed much since the Lobos played them in Vegas, but the Rebs’ Wink Adams was not at full strength in that game. He scored 16 vs. SDSU in Tuesday’s loss and he is one of the Rebs fired up to do better in the second half of the season.
“Wink is healthy,” said Alford. “He’s playing at a higher level. They do what they do and they do it very well. They are going to put a lot of pressure on you at the offensive end by running an awful lot of pick-and-rolls. You have to defend maybe three, four pick-and-rolls in one half-court session.”
The Rebs and the Lobos have a few things in common. They like to score points in transition and they believe in pressure, in-your-face defense. The Lobos’ improved defensive play this season has fueled their Pit poundings and have kept the Lobos close in their three losses on the road.
“If we play defense, we give ourselves a great shot to win,” said 6-foot-9 Daniel Faris, who will be challenged inside by a group of athletic and tall Rebels. “I feel like every game we’re getting better and I think we’re going to keep improving.
“It seems like almost every team is in the conference race. It’s like every game is monumental. We have to protect home court. You can’t lose home games.”
Said Alford: “I think they’ve (Lobos) gained confidence and know that they can play with anybody, they can beat anybody. But they also know that they can be beaten. I think there has been a lot more urgency and a little more focus on what has to be done defensively.”
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