New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball – In WisePies Arena
Who/When: 7 p.m., (MT), Wednesday – Air Force (8-7, 1-3 MW at New Mexico (11-5, 3-1 MW)
On The Air: ROOT Sports (Comcast 261/814, Dish 414, DirecTV 683); 770-AM KKOB/Lobo Radio Network
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By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
There are a few things the Air Force Falcons loves to see when they throw their Princeton offense at a team and New Mexico has one of them: Youth.
Another thing the Princeton tries to exploit is a lack of defensive discipline and the Falcons will be trying to draw that out of the Lobos, too.
Lobo Coach Craig Neal has other plans.
However, Neal knows there might be times when his young Lobos make mistakes against an offense that works to confuse a team while testing that team’s patience. This isn’t really a lack of discipline thing. It’s trying to defend something you probably have never seen before.
“They can make you look foolish,” said Neal of the Falcons’ movement, misdirection and screens that look to create open shots and back cuts to wide-open rims.
“It’s a different way to play and a different way to prepare. We have two days (of prep time).”
The Lobos have obvious advantages in Wednesday’s 7 p.m., tip with the Falcons. The Lobos are in WisePies Arena. The Lobos will bring tremendous length and athleticism into The Pit.
The Falcons will try to get that quickness going in the wrong direction.
“It’s totally different than what you do (defend) during the year,” said Neal. “Their offense is difficult to guard. You have to go into it with a game plan. They have a good system. They do a good job with it.
“It’s difficult to prepare for and that’s why they are hard to play.”
The Falcons force a defense to go to a different level of concentration because of what the Falcons do with their movement. This Princeton thing is as much a test of patience as it is a test of toughness.
The Falcons throw out this spider web of movement and misdirection and they do it over and over and over again hoping you make a mistake. They want a defender to go in one direction while they to the other way. Or – they want you to get confused on all the screening, maybe worry too much about the back-door cut, and leave a Falcon open for a jumper.
It’s important for the Falcons to shoot well – and hit a few treys.
It’s easier for a player who has played against the Falcons a few times to handle all this deception. Senior Hugh Greenwood knows exactly what the Falcons do on offense. He needs to be particularly vocal on the Lobos’ defensive end.
The Princeton offense is complicated. That is why it works. It takes a disciplined team to run it. That is why the Falcons of Air Force do it so well. The Princeton is a maze of deceit, execution, precise passing and screening that produces layups, dribble drives, jump shots off screens and pop-outs that produce long bombs.
“We won’t focus on personnel. We’ll focus on principles. They do this,” said Neal. “If you can make them take contested shots, you have a good chance.”
If the Falcons can mix good shooting into this mix, they can be tough to beat. They also have to figure a way to stop Neal’s athletic Lobos from dominating on the Lobos’ offensive end.
Neal often has wondered why more teams don’t use a zone against his Lobos. His Lobos should see a lot of the Falcons’ zone Wednesday in The Pit. The Falcons work on a team’s defensive patience, but their matchup zone also can test a team’s offensive patience. A team often has to work hard — and deep into the shot clock – to find a good shot.
The Falcons like to keep the score down.
The Lobos are in good shape in the Mountain West race with a 3-1 mark and need to protect their home turf Wednesday vs. Air Force and Sunday vs. Boise State. The Lobos hold a 55-19 edge in the series vs. Air Force and UNM is 32-2 in The Pit. UNM has won 14 of the past 15 meetings between the two programs.
The Lobos are led in scoring by Deshawn Delaney with a 13.1 scoring average followed by Greenwood at 11 points per game.
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.