New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball – In The Pit
When/Who: 8 p.m., Friday – Idaho State Bengals at New Mexico
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By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
To bust a zone, you usually have to prove you can shoot it. That’s one of the tests for Craig Neal’s Lobos Friday night when they open the 2014-15 season against the Idaho State Bengals – bust the zone, hit the jumpers.
“I don’t know if we can play smash-mouth and just throw the ball inside and dominate,” said Neal.
It also is a different look, of sorts, from the Lobo team Neal threw out in exhibition. Now, there is no holding back. The “vanilla” Lobos will show a few new colors, a few new wrinkles.
“It’s live now. It will be everything we have,” said Neal in his second year as UNM’s head man. “You’ll see it all: whatever we have to do to win, whatever we have to do defensively to win, whatever we have to do offensively to win.
“We have most of it in and we’ll use whatever we have to use to win.”
The Lobos have two exhibition wins over Western New Mexico (89-45) and over Adams State (62-50). The Lobos shot 27.4 percent from the field and 20.8 percent from 3-point range vs. Adams State, the tougher foe of the two.
“They (Bengals) are unique because they are going to zone us in a match-up zone kind of like Air Force,” said Neal. “It’s a unique zone so we’re going to have to shoot the ball better. We have spent a lot of time shooting the ball.
“They are going to give us a really good challenge. It’s the first game so there is going to be some jitters, some anxiousness because it counts.”
The Lobos were picked to finish third in the Mountain West race behind San Diego State and Boise State. The Bengals were picked tenth out of 11 teams in the Big Sky. The Bengals had a frustrating season in 2013-14 with 16 of their 18 losses by eight points or fewer.
The Bengals return two starters – Chris Hansen and Jeffrey Solarin – and two bench players. Hansen averaged 16.6 points and Solarin added 10.4 points and 8.5 rebounds. Idaho State adds eight players who did not see action last year as Bengals. Idaho State had some troubles offensively in 2013-14, but allowed only 64.3 points a game.
The Bengals have a 7-foot freshman in Novak Topalovic from Serbia and a 6-11 center in redshirt senior Ajak Magot. Magot averaged only 11.5 minutes last year with a 2.3 rebounding average.
The Lobos have a quick turnaround with the Cal State Fullerton Titans invading The Pit for a 7 p.m. (MT) tip with the Lobos on Sunday. The Titans open their season at Santa Clara on Friday. The Titans were 11-20 last year and 6-10 in Big West play. They were 3-12 on the road in 2013-14 and picked to finish eighth in the Big West this season.
“They basically just dribble-drive you,” Neal said of the Titans. “They play hard. They move the ball. They dribble drive. They have good size. They play man-to-man defense with not a lot of pressure.”
Fullerton returns five lettermen, three starters and three returning redshirts. There are 11 players (out of 18) on the Titans’ roster, who have never played a game for Fullerton. The Titans’ look for some scoring help this year from Colorado State transfer Jordan Mason and DePaul transfer Moses Morgan. Lanerryl Johnson, a 6-1 guard, averaged 18.3 points last year at Central Arizona College hitting 57 treys.
“We’ll have a game plan for Friday, a zone-package deal,” said Neal. “On Sunday, (Fullerton) plays strictly man so in our walk through on Saturday we’ll go over the things we are going to concentrate on (vs. Fullerton).
“My thing is they (Lobos) really have to communicate. They have to find themselves and some of it they have to do on their own. They have to get better (at communicating) on the floor. That’s a process.”
The Lobos’ Cullen Neal has been nursing a bruised heel and his playing time this weekend might be limited. Which means Coach Neal might have to juggle his lineup a bit.
“I think the biggest thing you have to do as a coach is being able to adapt to your personnel because your team changes every year,” said Neal. “You have to be able to do that.”
Editor’s Note: Richard Stevens is a former award-winning Sports Columnist and Associate Sports Editor at The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net.