Stevens: Neal’s Lobos in Vegas To Face UNLV Rebels

January 20, 2015

New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball – On The Mountain West Road

Who/When: 9 p.m., Wednesday – New Mexico Lobos (12-6, 4-2 MW) at UNLV (10-8, 1-4 MW)

On TV: CBS Sports (Comcast 274, 838, DISH 158, DirecTV 221)

On The Radio: 770-AM KKOB/Lobo Radio Network with Robert Portnoy and Hunter Greene

GoLobos.com: Game Story, Complete Stats (Live Stats at www.LoboStats.com)

By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com

As the Mountain West teams head down the back stretch of their 18-game race, the Lobos position roughly is on the outside needing to make a charge.

The Lobos aren’t exactly boxed in and there is time to make a move. However, there was a stumble in WisePies Arena when Craig Neal’s Lobos lost 69-59 to Boise State on Sunday.

That put part of the simplified formula for winning the MW title in jeopardy. You aren’t supposed to lose at home.

What the Lobos have this week is a chance to pick up a road win at UNLV on Wednesday or at Wyoming on Saturday. These are not easy gyms to win in and not easy teams to beat.

“These are very tough places to play,” said Lobo Coach Craig Neal. “Our guys need to be ready and I expect that they will be.”

Still, the Rebels and the Cowboys will not go down easy. Wyoming tops the MW heading into this week with a 5-1 mark. San Diego State is a win behind the Cowboys at 4-1 and then UNM, Colorado State and Fresno State are at 4-2.

The Rebels have struggled a bit in league play and sit 1-4 – just ahead of 1-5 Air Force and 0-6 San Jose State. But UNLV has won ten games this season and they are 8-1 in the Thomas & Mack. They also have the type of team that matches up well against the Lobos.

There are a lot of similarities between Lobos and Rebels. They are long, lean, quick, athletic – and young. A good example of UNLV’s athleticism can be found in the NCAA national stats. The Rebels are No. 2 in the nation in blocks (132) and No. 3 in blocks per game (7.3). The Rebels protect their rim and obviously the inside game is key for the Lobos.

The paint in the Thomas & Mack on Wednesday night will be no place for the meek.

UNLV’s 6-11 sophomore Christian Wood has 53 blocks and 6-10 freshman Goodluck Okonoboh has 50 blocks. To put this shot-blocking intimidation into perspective: UNM is led by 7-1 Obij Aget with 22 blocked shots.

The Rebels are in a position similar to UNM. They have losses at Wyoming, at Boise State (OT) and at San Diego State and those are not bad losses. But the Rebels gave up the Thomas & Mack 64-62 to Nevada and that one hurts. UNLV needs to protect its turf against the invading Lobos and try to claw its way back up the MW ladder.

This Rebel team can be very good. They beat No. 3 Arizona in the Mack 71-67. Wood had 24 points and 10 boards in that win. They lost by five points at Kansas. They were tied 45-45 with 4:51 to go at San Diego State before losing 53-47.

The 6-foot-11 Woods can be tough and he brings a nice 14.1 scoring average at the Lobos. However, 6-foot-6 freshman Rashad Vaughn makes this team go on the perimeter. The flashy guard averages 17.5 points. He has made 35 treys this season shooting 36 percent from long range. The Rebels also are getting improved play from 6-6 freshman wing Patrick McCaw, who is averaging 10.4 points in league play.

The Rebels lean on eight players and need to stay out of foul trouble against a UNM team good at attacking the basket. A couple of keys for UNLV are rebounding and taking care of the basketball. Ditto for the Lobos.

“We have to keep them off the glass,” said Neal.

The Lobos also need to make this a low-scoring game. The Lobos have yet to give up more than 70 points in a game and that is critical for a UNM team that sometimes struggles to score points. Deshawn Delaney tops the UNM scoring charts with a 12.8 average followed by Hugh Greenwood at 10.7. Jordan Goodman comes off the bench with a 7.3 average.

The Lobos have won five of the past seven games with UNLV and UNM has won 10 of 12 games inside the Thomas & Mack – including Mountain West Tournament games with other teams.

The Lobos are shooting 29.5 percent (82 of 278) from 3-point range which is 307^th in the nation. UNM is shooting 50.7 percent inside the arc. That translates into a UNM need: attack the basket.

Which should bring about one of those immovable-objects-meets-an-unstoppable-force scenarios: Here comes Deshawn Delaney; the 6-11 Wood and 6-10 Okonoboh will be waiting.

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.

New Mexico Lobos 2014-15 Roster

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