Lobos Route Spartans 67-41 As Delaney Chips In 15
New Mexico Lobos Basketball — in WisePies Arena/The Pit
Saturday: New Mexico 67, San Jose State 41.
Based on the final score, you might say this game was over early because the Lobos tossed San Jose State into a huge hole.
New Mexico scored the game’s first 12 points and continued to roll to the 67-41 final.
On the scoreboard, it was a convincing win.
“We knew it was a danger game,” said UNM’s Hugh Greenwood. “It was a chance for guys coming off the bench. and obviously DD (Delaney) as well, to get some confidence moving forward.
“The guys played well. We did some things we need to work on , but at the end of the day, winning by 20 points, we’ll take it.”
Lobo Coach Craig Neal always appreciates what the scoreboard says, but he still has other standards. He wasn’t completely happy with the Mountain West romp over a struggling San Jose State team.
“I thought that was a very average performance from my team,” said Neal. “I thought they came out in first four minutes and played really good. We still had a lot of mental breakdowns offensively. We still had a lot of mental errors defensively.
“I’m a little concerned about that and we have a lot to correct to get to where we want to get to. You can’t play to your opponent. You try to get better every game, but we didn’t do much to show that we got better today.”
The Lobos were led by Delaney, who finished with 15 points. The Lobos were helped out early by their usual tenacious defense and San Jose State simply not being able to knock down shots.
The Spartans, 2-19 overall and winless in the Mountain West at 0-9, missed their first nine shots before Darryl Gaynor II dropped a jumper 5:09 into the match. San Jose State shot 21.4 percent in the first half and 25 percent for the game.
“We’re doing some really, really good things,” said Greenwood. “We’re playing the whole bench. We have a tough first half of the conference out of the way. We are confident we can get a streak going.”
The Lobos used the talent of Delaney to run to that 21-4 lead. UNM, 14-7, 6-3 in the Mountain West, were never threatened the rest of the way in The Pit win. Still, Neal thought his hard-playing Lobos could have done a few things better.
“I thought it was an average performance and we need to continue trying to get better,” said Neal. “It shouldn’t be hard to stay focused.”
The Lobos started off both halves strong which is something Coach Neal preaches. UNM went up 21-4 and then opened the second half with an 11-3 run to take a commanding 42-18 lead. The Lobos obviously saw the victory waiting at the wire and didn’t exactly put the pedal to the metal.
“When you’re up 15, 16, 17 points, they need to remember to still hit singles, hit singles, hit singles,” said Neal. “It’s not homerun, homerun, homerun.”
The Lobos still haven’t allowed a team to break the 70 mark and the Spartans weren’t even close. The Lobos long, lean and pestering defense held the Spartans to 13-of-52 shooting from the field. Jaleel Williams had 14 points and 10 rebounds for San Jose State, while Rashad Muhammad added 15.
Sam Logwood added 10 for New Mexico. Reserve Tim Jacobs handed out six assists, but he was the only Lobo of the 11 who played to fail to score.
“It’s always good to play eleven guys,” said Neal. “I think it’s kind of unheard to play eleven guys like that. I don’t know if it will change really quick, but I don’t think we’re going to be able to play eleven guys going down the stretch.”
New Mexico dominated the undermanned Spartans in every phase of the game, holding a 44-24 rebounding edge. The Lobos bench outscored San Jose State 21-1 and New Mexico had a 26-8 scoring advantage in the paint.
Both teams struggled early before the Lobos’ Devon Williams threw down a dunk off a Logwood feed at the 2:11mark to open the scoring. Moments later Logwood hit a jumper and New Mexico added four from the foul line to ignite the rout.
San Jose State only had six first-half baskets and went 3-for-16 on 3-pointers before the break while never reaching the foul line. The Spartans also managed just three assists versus seven turnovers in the first half.
“This bunch plays hard. My guys play hard,” said Neal. “It’s just that I have bigger plans for them and sometimes I’m a little upset or I seem a little upset because I want them to be successful. I want them to win at a high, high level.
“It’s like I told them today, we’re 6-3 at the midpoint. If we could have done better or we could do better in the second half, then anything can happen.”