New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball – On The Road
When/Who: 7:08 p.m. (MT), Tuesday — New Mexico Lobos at Grand Canyon
On The Air: 770-AM KKOB/Lobo Radio Network; Online at www.Cox7.com
GoLobos.com: Game Story, Complete Stats,
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
When you are about to go against the spidery web of length and quickness thrown out by Craig Neal’s New Mexico Lobos, a shot of confidence is probably a good thing.
Because the Lobos sticky web of defense can be nasty and annoying.
The Grand Canyon Antelopes got a shot of confidence by scoring a season-high 81 points in their rout of visiting St. Edward’s University. It also marked the second straight game in which the Antelopes shot better than 50 percent from the floor. They shot 60.7 percent in the second half vs. SEU.
The problem for the Antelopes Tuesday night in GCU Arena is there is a good chance (great, actually) that the Lobos have a whole lot more talent, length and quickness than St. Edward’s.
For sure, the Antelopes will have to shoot lights out to beat the Lobos. The Lobos like to shoot the ball well, too, but they have discovered a valuable lesson about winning basketball: If you play mean, mother bear defense, you don’t always have to be quite as good on the offensive end.
“We’ve talked about our length and athletic ability and I think our length does bother people,” said Neal. “I think we’re quicker to the ball.
“We don’t have a lot of room for error and if we don’t play hard all of the time and play hard every possession, we’re going to struggle”
The Lobos have struggled at times this season – at both ends. But the Lobos also have given honest effort at both ends which often makes up for mental or physical mistakes. The Lobos play hard and they need that effort because the offense has seen its share of ups and downs.
The Lobos have only one scorer in double figures: Deshawn Delaney with a 14.7 average. Hugh Greenwood is close to double digits with a 9.9 average and the 6-9 Jordan Goodman has the potential to get there once he gets a few more games under his belt.
Delaney should be a consistent scorer all year simply because of his athleticism and his hunger for balls coming off the rim. Greenwood often is looking at the opponent’s best perimeter defender – something that didn’t happen last year with Kendall Williams on the floor.
Grand Canyon isn’t exactly a marquee name when it comes to college basketball, but it does have a local icon coaching the Antelopes in Dan Majerle. The Antelopes made the jump last year from Division II ball to Division I ball and made a popular choice with Majerle. The sharpshooting guard played for the Phoenix Suns, was a Suns assistant from 2008 to 2013, and played on the U.S. Olympic team in 1988.
Majerle is trying to move Grand Canyon up the D-I ladder by doing the obvious: bringing better talent to the Antelope roster. His rebuilding chore has a roster featuring nine freshmen.
The Antelopes are led in scoring by DeWayne Russell at 16.0 followed by Royce Woolridge at 11.2, Jerome Garrison at 10.5 and Joshua Braun with a 9.2 scoring average.
A key concern for Grand Canyon has been rebounding where they average 33.6 boards per game to 37.7 for the enemy. It will be difficult for the Antelopes to beat New Mexico, if the Lobos dominate the glass and get a lot of second chances.
The Antelopes have been shooting well at .437 percent and three players – Garrison, Braun and Ryan Majerle – have taken the most shots from 3-point range. Grand Canyon averages .304 percent from behind the line and UNM is holding opponents to 27.7 percent shooting from long range.
“Our length gets us to close out a little quicker,” said Neal.
Neal will be looking for a good start at Grand Canyon. UNM has trailed at the first media timeout in six of their last eight games. However, UNM will ride a five-game win streak into Grand Canyon University Arena (7,000).
“They’re trying. We’re just getting off to slow starts,” said Neal. “Our seniors have to show more leadership to come out with a better start.”
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.