Late Offensive Drought Dooms Lobos in 76–68 Loss to the Aggies
Photo of Lobo forward Antonio Chol and guard Jake Hall during warmups before Saturday’s game in Las Curces. Photo courtesy of The Pit Press/Nick Nunez
LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO— In a tense back-and-forth rivalry game with 12 ties and 6 lead changes, the UNM men’s basketball team fell 76-68 to New Mexico State in the Pan American Center on Saturday.
NMSU’s athleticism and aggressive defense prevented UNM from getting easy baskets.
“They kept us from generating the kind of shots we wanted on offense,” UNM head coach Eric Olen said after the game. “I thought their pressure affected us a little bit. I thought we missed some guys because we were sped up at different times of the game.”
UNM turned the ball over 10 times and put up a number of shots deep into the shot clock throughout the first half. The Lobos were shooting 9-24 (37%) at the break.
In the second half, UNM turned to senior guard Deyton Albury and freshman Uriah Tenette to generate consistent ball penetration and playmaking to counter NMSU’s ball pressure.
“Deyton and Uriah were aggressive verse pressure, we always want to do that,” Olen sad. “…coming off some days off, we were trying to manage their minutes a little bit. With (NMSU’s) pressure, we went with both those guys late in the game to help us generate some offense.”
Albury (18 pts) and Tenette (13 pts) were UNM’s leading scorers. They put in 17 of UNM’s final 19 points.
“Coming off the bench, being aggressive is what they want me to do,” Tenette said. “I missed a big 3 down the stretch, definitely want to have that back.”
UNM’s offense struggled to get a basket late. After Albury fouled out at the 1:04 mark with UNM trailing 70-68, UNM did not score the rest of the game and was 0-4 from the field to go along with a critical turnover.
A Tale of Two Halves
UNM held the Aggies to 9-27 (33%) from the field and 3-18 (16%) in the first half.
After NMSU started 8-14 from the field in the first 9 minutes of he game, the Aggies took the 3-point bait that UNM offered, and shot the rest of the first half 0-10 from the 3-point line.
“Coming into the game, it was playing a lot of gap help, force them to shoot a lot of 3’s,” Albury said. “They weren’t shooting it as great as they did tonight… Big game, big crowd, they were feeling it a little bit...”
NMSU shot 7-14 from beyond the arc in the second half. Junior guard Jemel Jones scored 15 second half points after being held scoreless in the first half, and scored eight straight for the Aggies.
Aggie forward Anthony Wrzeszc led all scorers for NMSU with 16. He scored 13 in the second half and hit three second half 3-point shots.
“We lost (Wrzeszcz) a couple times on some rotation mistakes,” Olen said. “I thought we closed Jones short a time or two, where he got his first couple baskets. He’s a really tough shot maker, so once he saw it go through you could feel his aggression pick up.”
NMSU outscored UNM 9-2 in the final 3-minutes. The Aggies were 14-18 from the free throw line in the second half and 20-26 for the game.
“I felt like they made the plays down the stretch,” Olen said. “They hit some big shots. We made some mistakes defensively they made us pay for. Credit to them for playing well down the stretch.”
Hostile Environment
The announced attendance for the game was 8,106.
While there were pockets of UNM fans sprinkled throughut the Pan Am Center, the crowd was overwhelmingly in favor of NMSU and at times, hostile towards UNM during the game.
“We did get off to a slow start,” Olen said. “It’s certainly possible that the environment affected us a little bit. We were really shaky with the ball, had some turnovers and had some plays we’d like to have back.”
The atmosphere was a good test for UNM will see in conference play.
“It was a decent crowd,” Albury said. I wouldn’t say it had too much of an affect on me. I did not see too (many) of my teammates being rattled. These types of games prepares us for what’s coming up next and we’ll be ready for it.”
UNM will play Nebraska on Nov. 20 in the first game of the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City. Missouri.
NEXT UP FOR THE LOBOS:
Who: New Mexico vs. Nebraska
When: Nov. 20th @ 5 p.m. MT
Where: Kansas City, MO (Neutral site)
How to watch: Peacock
