New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball in The Pit
Sunday: 2 p.m. – USC Trojans at New Mexico Lobos
On TV: CBS Sports Network (Comcast 274/838, Dish 158, DirecTV 221)
On The Radio: 770-AM KKOB/Lobo Radio Network; 1450-AM ESPN Deportes
GoLobos.com: Game Story, LoboTV, Final Stats, Quotes, Photo Gallery
Toys For Tots Promotion: $10 ticket in bench rows 1-10 while supplies last if you bring in an unused toy to the ticket at time of purchase at the Lobo Ticket Office in The Pit.
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The Craig Neal new-look Lobos are back – with a new look.
The University of New Mexico’s second-year head man started the 2014-15 season challenged to fill the three major holes left by Cameron Bairstow, Kendall Williams and Alex Kirk.
And he was working on it.
Neal will get back to work on Sunday at 2 p.m., vs. the Southern California Trojans looking to fill three new holes.
Gone to injury are point guard Cullen Neal, off-guard Arthur Edwards and 6-9 power wing Jordan Goodman. Neal is out around four weeks with a severely sprained left ankle. Edwards has a fractured finger with no set return date. Goodman got hit in the head during practice and is suffering concussion symptoms that will keep him benched for at least the USC visit.
“We’re going out there with the team we have and I’m confident they can do it,” said Coach Neal. “The new guys will gain valuable experience. We’ll see what happens.
“USC doesn’t have a good record, but it does have a lot of talent. They got a really good point guard in Jordan McLaughlin.”
The 3-2 Lobos return to The Pit from Puerto Rico where they went 1-2. They are coming off a 64-51 loss to Texas A&M. That loss had some extra sting as the Aggies rallied from a halftime deficit and into a 13-point win. The Lobo lineup in the first half played with good chemistry and good defense. The second half was not as productive on either end of the court.
The USC Trojans are 3-3 and Coach Andy Enfield, in his second season, has five first-year Trojans on his roster. USC, in a rebuilding mode, was picked to finish tenth in the preseason Pac-12 media poll. The USC 14-player roster also has 11players who are freshmen or sophomores. USC has no seniors.
In its past three games, USC beat Cal Fullerton 53-49, lost to Penn State 63-61 and beat Drexel 72-70. USC appears to be better than the team that lost 66-46 to Akron. The Trojans are coming off the Fullerton win where center Darion Clark had 10 points and 10 boards and Nikola Jovanovic had 13 points and 11 rebounds. USC outscored the Titans 32-18 in the paint.
Jovanovic is a 6-foot-11 sophomore from Serbia and Clark is a 6-7 sophomore. USC has had 21 fewer turnovers in the past three games than it did in its first three games.
“They have a couple of foreign kids who are big kids and are good players,” said Coach Neal. “We’ll have our hands full on Sunday.”
The Trojans are getting a lot of production from freshman point guard Jordan McLaughlin, who tops USC in scoring with an 11.5 average. The Trojan rookie can score, pass and get to the free-throw line. USC had held four of its six opponents to under 40 percent shooting and give up an average shooting percentage of 39.3.
Coach Neal also is stressing defense with his young Lobos. UNM didn’t press much in Puerto Rico because of the three games being packaged into four days. UNM might press USC at times, but the smaller roster could influence that decision – fatigue, foul trouble.
“Some of them have never been put in a situation where they have been asked to guard in a certain way,” said Neal. “They have to mature pretty quickly.”
Neal probably has to show some quickness Sunday in The Pit, too. He has to be quick to figure out lineups that work against what the Trojans will throw out. Cullen Neal was leading the Lobos in scoring, assists, 3-pointers made and free throws made. Edwards was one of the first Lobos off the bench. Goodman, tall and athletic, looked poised to lock down a starting spot.
Those missing Lobos open up windows of opportunity (playing time) for other Lobos. “They came here to play,” Neal said of his Lobos. ‘They have that opportunity and they need to take advantage of the opportunity. We are having very competitive practices.”
Neal’s starting lineup on Sunday should be 6-3 Hugh Greenwood, 6-4 Xavier Adams, 6-5 Deshawn Delaney, 6-8 Devon Williams and 7-1 Obij Aget. Neal said he is looking for his Lobos to honor ball possession, run efficient offense, take good shots, play solid team defense – and handle the pressure that comes with games in The Pit.
Oh, yeah – he also wants his Lobos to score.
“We have to shoot the ball better,” said Neal. “We have to get to the line better. We have to get some scoring from X (Adams) and Sam (Logwood). We have to get some points in transition, because we don’t have anyone we can just throw it to in the low post. But we still have to get some scoring from our inside players.”
Editor’s Note: Richard Stevens is a former national award-winning Sports Columnist and Associate Sports Editor at The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net.