Hot Start, Cold Finish: Lobos Show Flashes but Fade Out in Exhibition Win Over NAU
UNM men’s basketball coach Eric Olen talks to his team during a timeout of UNM’s 64-54 exhibition win over Northern Arizona in The Pit on Thursday. Photo courtesy of UNM Athletics
It’s not how you start, its how you finish.
In Thursday’s pre-season exhibition game against Northern Arizona University, the Lobo men’s basketball team started with a 16-2 lead over the Lumberjacks.
During the first six and a half minutes of the game, the Lobos shot 5-8 from the field and 3-4 from the 3-point line. Antonio Chol and Jake Hall had 14 of UNM’s 16 points. The Lobos shared the ball and had four assists. UNM’s smothering ball pressure on defense forced 7 NAU turnovers.
Everything was looking good after this made 3-pointer from Hall.
After that, UNM cooled off offensively and finished the game with another cold shooting night, going 36% overall and 31% from three-point range. Chol (20 pts) and Hall (12 pts) were UNM’s only double-figure scorers.
“I thought we really struggled,” Eric Olen said after the game. “I thought our shot selection, we regressed. I was hoping we would take a step. I thought we regressed in that area. We (have) a new group. Everybody is trying to play well and be aggressive. We just (have) to continue to work at understanding what shots we’re looking for, which ones we want from each person, and how to create them for ourselves.”
Outside of Chol and Hall who shot a combined 9-18 (50%), the rest of the team shot 8 for 29 (28%) from the field. The team also missed 9 free throws.
Poor decision making also caused some of UNM’s offensive woes.
“…I think it comes with end of drive decisions,” said Chris Howell who finished with 8 points, 5 assists and a +/- of +15. “Not the greatest night of taking care of the ball as a team. I know I had two (turnovers) myself. Simple things like that. Controllable turnovers, we can eliminate those easily…”
UNM finished the game with 13 turnovers, negating some of the 16 that they forced NAU to commit.
Second Half Defense
UNM struggled at times on defense in the second half. NAU shot 13-29 (45%) from the field and 4-10 (40%) from the three-point line after the Lobo defense held NAU to 6-29 (20%) and 2-14 (14%) from deep in the first half.
“On the other end, we try to turn people over. We saw early on, right off the bat, guys set the momentum pretty early. It kind of died out in the second half as far as ball pressure...”
NAU seemed to settle in against UNM’s defense and found ways to get the ball into the paint. The Lumberjacks were able to get some easy passes over the top when UNM guards would switch onto NAU post-players. Forwards Zack Davidson (6’9) and Karl Poom (6’8) combined for 13 second half points.
“We were fine on the hi-low for the most part,” Olen said. “They got a couple over the top. When you switch a lot, that’s a play that teams will make or try. That’s sort of like a counter. I thought we won our share of those reps.”
NAU also outrebounded UNM 41-34. The Lumberbacks pulled down 13 offensive rebounds and scored 11 second-chance points.
A Work-In-Progress
Olen and his staff are still evaluating lineup combinations to iron out a final rotation.
“With where we are, number of new players, I think theres still some looks that we need to get on the floor, Olen said to the media on Wednesday before the game. "(There’s) some groups we need to see play together. There’s still an evaluation phase and honestly, that might not end on Thursday.”
UNM experimented with three new players in the staring lineup on Thursday.
Haupt had a solid floor game with four assists, 3 rebounds and two points. Uriah Tenette struggled from the field going 1-5 but grabbed five rebounds and had the highest +/- on the team with a +19.
Chol, Deyton Albury and Tomislav Buljan have been the three common denominators in the starting lineup across the two exhibition games. Albury again struggled from the floor going 0-5, but had 4 steals and was 6-8 from the free throw line.
“I thought Deyton took a step with some of the decision making,” Olen said. He had some really good plays where he drew multiple bodies in the paint with his rim pressure and he was able to throw it out. We didn’t always capitalize on those. I thought for Deyton specifically, he made more of the plays that we want him make. He had a couple around the rim that he’ll make pretty often.”
Buljan led the team in rebounds but shot 2-7 from the field with two bad looking missed 3-point shots, and was 1-4 from the free throw line.
Chol continues to shine for UNM. He was 5-11 from the 3-point line and grabbed 4 rebounds. Chol is admittedly not shy about his confidence.
“When you put in X amount of hours or you’ve been playing for this long, (sic), you don’t stutter or hesitate,” Chol said. “I put in all that work, why would I not have that much confidence.”
The Lobo’s finished the game with a win 64-54 win, and acknowledgement from Coach Olen that his team is a work-in-progress.
…”I’d love for us to just hit the ground running and be sharp in our execution. Unfortunately, we’re not quite there yet and we got some work to do.”
UNM opens the regular season on Nov. 5 at 7:00 pm in the Pit vs. East Texas A&M.
