Frostbite in Boise: Icy Shooting Hands UNM Men’s Basketball First MW Conference Loss
Boise State’s Pearson Carmichael (6) finishes a layup against New Mexico on Tuesday night, Dec. 30th in Boise, Idaho. Photo: Kenna Harbison/Boise State Athletics
A hot start in each half wasn’t nearly enough to make up for a ridiculously cold 3-point performance, and the University of New Mexico men’s basketball team lost 62-53 at Boise State on Tuesday night.
The Lobos scored the game’s first eight points and had the first 13 of the second half to cap a 15-0 run, but the bricks from the outside just never ceased.
“I thought in the first half we were rushing a little bit, but we had some clean looks,” UNM coach Eric Olen said during his postgame radio interview when asked about his team’s 3-of-25 3-point showing. “I thought we had some pretty good looks. I’ll have to go back and look at (at the game films).”
“We had some shots we normally make but didn’t.”
Boise State, which was nearly as frigid throughout the sluggish Mountain West game, trailed by as many as 11 points twice in the second half but was able to knock down enough shots to even its league record at 1-1 and move to 9-4 overall.
The Lobos, who finished with their worst 3-point shooting game in history when taking at least 20 shots from beyond the arc – 12% – are 10-3, 1-1.
Usual UNM freshman sharpshooter Jake Hall was 0-of-7 from 3-point land.
The Lobos’ aforementioned 15-0 run began when freshman Uriah Tenette scored on a coast-to-coast layup at the first half buzzer to trim BSU’s lead to 21-19.
Yes, a combined 40 points the entire first half.
New Mexico looked like it had straightened itself out when it opened the second half with a dominating three minutes to grab a 32-21 lead.
But the Broncos started to take control in the paint and added a pair of 3s from freshman reserve Spencer Ahrens to work their way back into the contest.
“Their ability to finish around the rim was a little better,” Olen said. “They weren’t great but are super physical and do a good job around the rim. I thought their physicality affected us around the basket.”
The Lobos were outrebounded 44-36 but actually outscored the Broncos 30-22 in the paint.
Down 38-33, Boise State scored six straight to grab its first lead of the half.
UNM then got a 3-point play from Deyton Albury with 9:50 left to lead 41-40, but that was its last advantage of the night.
BSU went on a 10-0 run during the next two minutes and eventually got its own 11-point cushion before both teams took turns shooting more bricks – this time from their respective free throw lines.
“They’re not just big but are a well-coached, good defensive team,” Olen said. “They don’t break down. They are always in good position. We couldn’t get good, clean looks around the basket.”
But even clean looks didn’t matter much – whether from the 3-point line or the foul line.
The Lobos were 10-of-16 (62.5%) shooting free throws but had five straight trips to the stripe when the game was still in doubt and hit just 1-of-2 each time.
Boise State, which went 3-of-6 from the foul line in that same late-game stretch, finished 16-of-25 (64.0%) on free throws.
UNM was 20-of-65 (30.8%) overall from the field while Boise State was 20-of-56 (35.7%) and 6-of-30 (20%) shooting 3s. The latter was dismal but not compared to the opposition on Tuesday night.
Tomislav Buljan led UNM with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Albury had 12 points and six rebounds.
Ahrens had 12 points and eight rebounds to pace Boise State while Drew Fielder and Pearson Carmichael each scored 11.
