WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team (5-2) gave a strong fight to the No. 11 Purdue Boilermakers (8-0), leading the undefeated team in the second half, but went down on the road Saturday, 70-58.
“They are a really good basketball team, I understand why they are ranked 11th in the country,” said head coach Craig Neal. “We were fortunate they didn’t make 3’s the way they have been making them. I thought our 3-point defense was pretty good, but we couldn’t score the ball late and we couldn’t get to the line. There are little things that we have to work on but all and all, I was happy with my team’s effort. We’ll learn from it, but we played a really good basketball team that Matt (Painter) has done a good job with.”
The Lobos were led by Elijah Brown, who scored a game-high 21 points on 6-for-12 shooting with four rebounds and three assists. Cullen Neal poured in 16 points and tallied a team-best five assists. Tim Williams pulled down seven rebounds to go with eight points and two blocks.
The Boilermakers entered the game leading the nation with a defensive field goal mark of 32.4 percent, but the Lobos matched their defensive intensity, holding the undefeated Boilermakers to 37.1 percent shooting (23-for-62). The Lobos were the first team this season to hold Purdue to under 40 percent.
The Lobos took an early 5-2 lead to start the game, thanks to a Neal 3-pointer and a lob pass to Obij Aget in the first two minutes. However, Purdue outscored the Lobos, 24-10, over the next ten minutes to establish an 11-point first half lead. With the game slipping away early, the Lobos’ defense stepped up, holding Purdue to 1-for-6 shooting over the final seven minutes of the period. New Mexico entered halftime down, 31-25.
The Lobos came out of halftime hot, tying the game at 31-31 in the first 2:30. The Lobos and Boilermakers traded blows for the next 12 minutes of the second half, with both teams taking leads but each by just four points.
The Lobos were within two points of the nation’s 11th ranked team with seven minutes remaining at 48-46. Purdue grabbed control of the game over the next four minutes with an 11-3 run, while forcing four fouls, all of which went to Lobos in foul trouble. Purdue led in the final moments of the game by as much as 13 points and eventually closed up 12.
“At one point it was a 59-53 game with a missed shot” said Coach Neal. “Hammons shoots a jump hook on the left block and gets his rebound on the right block. At 59-53, if you can get that stop, anything can happen, but it kind of went sideways for us after that.”
The Lobos shot below their average but six percentage points higher than Purdue’s season mark at 38.9 percent (21-for-54). The Lobos also made 5-of-13 3-pointers for a mark of 38.5 percent. Defensively, the Lobos kept Purdue from scoring on the perimeter, with the Boilermakers shooting 3-for-21 from distance. The Lobos also forced 19 Purdue turnovers.
“All and all, I’m happy with how hard they fought,” Neal stated. “I’m happy with how they competed. It was just unfortunate we got beat by a really good team.”
Aget finished the game with seven points on a perfect 3-for-3 shooting. Off the bench, Nikola Scekic scored four points while Joe Furstinger scored two.
The Lobos will return to WisePies Arena in one week to host Northern Iowa Saturday at 7 p.m.
(12/6/2015) Men’s Basketball at Purdue