Stevens: UNM Lobos Open MW Tournament with SDSU

March 09, 2015

New Mexico Lobos Women – At The Mountain West Tournament

When/Who: 6 p.m. (PT), Tuesday – No. 2 New Mexico (18-11) vs. No. 7 San Diego State (12-18)

On The Air: 610-AM with Joe Behrend; www.themwc.com

GoLobos.com: Game Story, Complete Stats, LoboTV, Quotes

By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com

The Lobo Red Sea is on the way — North by Northwest — to help Yvonne Sanchez’s New Mexico Lobos push the San Diego State Aztecs back toward the Pacific.

And then that ocean of Lobos plans to help the Lobos conquer the Las Vegas Thomas & Mack, win the Mountain West title and go NCAA dancing?

And why not?

The New Mexico Lobos are the hottest team in the conference and the Lobo fans who make the trek from Albuquerque to Las Vegas are unquestionably some of the more loyal basketball fans in the nation.

These Lobo fanatics aren’t coming to Vegas with gambling as the No. 1 pasttime on their minds. They come hoping to make the Lobos No. 1 when it’s all over. They come seeking a dream Mountain West ending for a Lobo team that has made a dramatic charge through the Mountain West regular season.

“They make a huge, huge difference,” said Sanchez, the MW’s 2015 Coach of The Year. “We know they are there and our opponents know they are there.”

Tuesday’s Games:

Noon: No. 1 Colorado State vs. No. 8 San Jose State.

2:30 p.m.: No. 4 Boise State vs. No. 5 UNLV

6 p.m.: No. 2 New Mexico vs. No. 7 San Diego State

8:30 p.m.: No. 3 Fresno State vs. No. 6 Wyoming

The Lobos also know their Tuesday opponent and their opponent knows them.

The San Diego State Aztecs smashed Nevada Monday night 70-48 to earn a third shot this season at beating the Lobos. The Lobos swept the Aztecs during the regular season: 62-53 in Albuquerque and 63-47 in San Diego. UNM’s Antiesha Brown, an All-MW First-Team pick, scored 30 points in those two UNM wins.

There is the old saying about how difficult it is to beat a team three times, but the Lobos’ biggest concern might be the Aztecs aren’t the same team the Lobos twice beat. If Monday’s rout of Nevada was indicative of how the Aztecs are playing, then this might be a different team.

The Aztecs looked good. But then the Lobos are not Nevada.

The Aztecs – athletic and quick — were impressive Monday night in their 22-point roll past Nevada in the first round of the MW Tournament. They did what they have been doing all year — attack, attack — but maybe did it better than they have all year.

The Aztecs like to win with quickness, aggression and full-court pressure. They prefer up-tempo and broken courts. The Lobos do well in transition, but also have been effective in their half-court sets.

San Diego State had four players score 10 points Monday against Nevada. The Aztecs shot 49.7 percent and went 11-of-19 from the free-throw line. They went 3-of-6 from 3-point range and had 33 rebounds.

Nevada shot well – 48.6 percent – but went 1-of-9 from long range, had only 24 boards and turned the ball over 24 times.

It’s that turnover thing that will be heavy on the minds of Coach Sanchez and SDSU’s Terry. Sanchez doesn’t want to see many.

Terry wants to see a lot – from the Lobos. The Aztecs do not want the Lobos to smoothly run an offense around Brown and Khadijah Shumpert. The Aztecs need disruption and impatience.

The Lobos will do whatever they can on defense to have the Aztecs shoot from the outside and not dribble-drive. The Aztecs can get teams into foul trouble with those aggressive charges at the basket.

In New Mexico, the Aztecs will be facing the hottest team in the Mountain West conference. The Lobos roll into Vegas on a roll. That’s a good way to approach Sin City. The Lobos have won 11 of their past 12 games. They carry that momentum into the Thomas & Mack and they will get an addition push by having the most fans in the stands.

“Our fans mean so much to us,” said Brown. Bryce Owens

The push to the MW title is an important one. Every MW team will take to the Thomas & Mack floor with the desperation of a gambler looking at his last chip. You have to approach this tournament as do-or-die basketball.

“Everybody wants the championship,” Aztec guard McKynzie Fort said after SDSU’s win over Nevada.

And if any team wants to go NCAA dancing, they probably need the championship.

The Mountain West’s rating this year as a conference is low and it’s likely the only way into the NCAA Tournament for any MW team is to claim the automatic bid that goes to the sole survivor. UNM is rated No. 107 in the NCAA Women’s Basketball RPI. That is not an at-large bid waiting to happen.

The Lobos and the Aztecs have different ways to score points, but the two teams share a similar passion for in-your-face defense.

“This time of year, especially in March, you are going to win with your defense,” said SDSU Coach Stacie Terry.

The Aztecs typically will extend their defense with full-court pressure – and various half-court traps. The Lobos mix things up keeping teams off balance, but their forte appears to be in their half-court pressure.

The Lobos are not usually a 3-point shooting team, however, lately they have been nailing them. The Aztecs also don’t go long that often. They shot six bombs over Nevada. The Aztecs prefer to go right at a team. They are a difficult team to guard man-to-man and opposing teams don’t mind letting SDSU bomb over a zone defense.

We’ll see what the Lobos decide to do.

UNM is lead in scoring by Brown with a 14.6 average. Shumpert brings an 10.9 average to Vegas followed by Cherise Beynon at 8.7 and Bryce Owens at 8.4. The Lobos average 61.8 points a game on offense.

New Mexico Lobos 2014-15 Roster

No.