Nov. 5, 2011
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UNM vs Western New Mexico Highlands
November 5, 2011
Coach Alford
Opening Statement
“I thought this was another good minutes. We wanted to see how we were going to back up Tuesday nights play. We played a lot of combinations. We had ten guys with ten or more minutes and we played a lot of different players and different combinations and sometimes that’s not easy to get into a flow but I thought our guys did some good things. Our turnovers were down, our assists were up. We did a good job of getting to the free throw line again and making the foul shots. We are shooting the ball pretty well and I like going into the season by giving them the day off tomorrow and really getting to work on Monday. We should be pretty healthy. AJ (Hardeman) could have played today but we just set him out. It was good to have Phillip (McDonald) back so we should be as close to one hundred percent health wise on Monday which is good as we get ready to begin the season.”
On deciding the starting lineup…
“Everyone is playing well and that’s what you want. We don’t put an emphasis on lineup per say. Our guys understand that regardless of if you’re a starter, you have a guy like Hugh Greenwood who gets six assists, no turnovers, six rebounds. You’ve got to have bench production and we should have a bench that’s capable of producing not just guarding but also producing at the offensive end. We have potential to be a deep team, we just have to keep everyone healthy and push forward and I thought we did that tonight.
On free throw shooting…
“We have had two games now and we have made more foul shots than our opponent shot and those are always good indicators that not only are we doing the things we want to do offensively but we are guarding well. We are defending without giving up easy baskets and easy basket shots . Keeping them off the line and us getting to the line and then making foul shots is crucial.”
On rebounding…
“They did a really good job. There were a lot of threes in the game, so you’re gonna have a lot of long rebounds and loose rebounds and I thought they did a really good job of working and hustling. If there is one stat that glares at us it’s probably giving up eighteen offensive rebounds and fifteen in the first exhibition game. Our guys are doing a good job defensively on the first shot. We just have to do a better job of securing those things. That will rely a lot on guard play, Demetrius (Walker) had eight at the guard position, Hugh (Greenwood) had six. We are going to have to get more rebounding out of our guards.”
On Drew Gordon…
“He is playing really well. I think he has had his best week. His last week has been very focused and very concentrated and it has proved in both exhibition games and in practices. Hopefully, we can get him some rest now. Drew has had to log a lot of minutes just in practice and he is ready and pretty healthy. We are getting everybody back here next week healthy.”
On Tony Snell…
“Hopefully, we don’t keep him off the floor because he is an outstanding player. He is one of our better defenders. He had 3 blocks tonight, four assists and no turnovers. He rebounds and is one of our best shooters. He knows how to score and I like what he is doing. Through eighteen practices and two games he’s done a really good job of not just shooting threes. He’s mixing it up. He’s driving the ball and he has got a chance to be really special. You are obviously gonna see Tony (Snell) in the lineup a lot.”
On Jamal Fenton…
“He was solid and it was a hard game for him because we ran so many different combinations. He has done a really good job of leading us. In practice his teams win a majority of the time and we know that. We put a heavy pricetag on that. Jamal is doing a terrific job for us and Jamal has to be who Jamal is. He brings us energy at the offensive end but really bringing us energy at the defensive end.”
Freshman Guard Hugh Greenwood
On his performance…
“It was good. It was a lot better than the first one. I felt a lot more comfortable.”
On the multiple guard-heavy looks the Lobos have…
“I think we’re fitting in fine. It was kind of fun I think watching four or five guards out there on the floor, it a lot of fun watching us get up and down.”
On his six rebounds…
“Yeah that’s something I always taken pride in. I guess coming from a football background it’s always crashing packs and trying to get in there and rebound. It’s just second nature to try and rebound. Coach put an emphasis, because we were small, we needed to help out on the glass, so I just tried to do my part.”
On his first impression of Lobo Basketball…
“The first that stands out is the crowd. It’s an awesome atmosphere and there’s just a great group of fans. At the pregame scout and the pregame notes, we just wrote down the attendance of all the exhibition games across the country, and New Mexico, we had the most attendance by far. So that’s the thing that stands out to me the most.”
Sophomore Guard Kendall Williams
On how his impression of the game…
“Felt good. I think it was a couple of good exhibition games to get a feel for it. We have a lot of scorers, so it’s good to see everyone being aggressive. Once we really get our chemistry down, which I think we really have a strong one, we’ll be set.”
On the multiple guard-heavy looks the Lobos have…
“I think, like I said, these two exhibition games were really important for us to take care of and evaluate what combinations we need to be effective with. I think, just from these two games, you see we can throw any mix in there. We can go four guards, even five guards with how many guards we have, and even be really effective. I like where we’re looking right now, and I’m comfortable running with anyone in there.”
On any improvements the Lobos need to make going into the regular season…
“We can always get better defensively. I think it was a better effort today, even though they might have scored a little more. I’m not too sure. They caught a little fire. But we just want to be consistent with our help defense and make sure when we’re ball pressuring we have someone helping on our left and right. But besides that, I think offensively we need to keep the continuity going, supporting each other and getting the chemistry right more than anything.”