Lobos Flip the Script: UNM’s Physicality, Pressure Defense Crumbles Santa Clara in 98–71 Beatdown
New Mexico’s Deyton Albury (1) drives to the basket against Santa Clara on Saturday, Dec. 6th at The Pit in Albuquerque, NM. Photo: Erik Moulton/The Pit Press
Santa Clara came into The Pit labeled as the bigger, more physical team.
As it turned out, the Lobos delivered a different kind of physicality, overwhelming the Broncos in a 98–71 rout before an announced crowd of 13,614.
The Lobos’ defense applied aggressive ball pressure that generated 19 points off 15 Santa Clara turnovers, proving to be too much for the Broncos to overcome over the course of the game.
Deyton Albury guards Santa Clara forward Elijah Maji who is listed at 6’7 and 220 pounds. Albury showed the ability to guard multiple positions 94 feet away from the basket. Photo courtesy of Erik Moulton/The Pit Press
“We knew they were a very physical team coming into this game,” said Lobo guard Deyton Albury, who had a team high 22 points. “Just preaching to the guys that we cannot let them throw the first punch, we gotta deliver the first punch. My mindset was just being a defensive menace, picking up the ball full court, get some deflections and have some good energy plays and it turned out well.”
The Broncos really never got comfortable on offense outside of guard Christian Hammond’s 22 points. As a team, Santa Clara shot poorly. The Broncos were 26-of-69 (38%) from the field and 10-of-44 (22%) from the 3-point line. While the Broncos did get 20 points on 18 offensive rebounds, Santa Clara missed so many shots that it opened up UNM’s transition offense.
The Lobos finished the game with 12 steals which turned into a large part of their 29 fast break points. The Lobos had several transition runouts, including this layup for Albury to cap off a 9-0 second half run after Santa Clara had cut what was once an 18-point first-half UNM lead to 47-46 with 16:41 left in the game.
These weren’t necessarily “from leaking out”, where a team sends a player out in transition early before grabbing a rebound. Many of the 29 points were from transition layups after UNM had secured the possession and just ran the floor well.
“We talked about when the ball changes hands in either direction, it’s a race. Everybody's on the glass and now it’s a race and let’s win the race,” coach Eric Olen said when addressing UNM’s transition offense. “I thought we threw it ahead a few times we were able to get it off the dribble (at) times… I thought our guys did a great job...”
Albury was very efficient from the field with 9-of-12 shooting and had several shots at the rim. UNM used Santa Clara’s defensive aggression to its advantage. All night long, Albury would beat his man off the dribble and attack the paint or kick it to open shot on the permitter.
“(Santa Clara) puts a lot of pressure on the basketball,” Olen said. “Our approach to that is to be aggressive. We felt like Deyton and Uriah specifically, but even Luke and Chris are hard to guard 80 plus feet away from the basket. We wanted to put pressure on the rim right away and not sit back and allow them to disrupt and pressure us.”
Tomislav Buljan showed no limitations from the ankle injury he suffered against Alabama State. He finished with another double-double (16 points and 10 rebounds).
While Buljan drew plenty of fouls, he also displayed his ability to take Santa Clara’s 7-1 Bukky Oboye off the dribble and get to the rim.
“…I see myself as a forward, not a center,” said Buljan. “I’m getting more comfortable paying college basketball too, and it also helps me play better every game.”
The Lobos continued to shoot well from the 3-point line as a team. For the third-game in a row, UNM shot over 35% from deep going 9-of-23 (39%).
After Jake Hall shot 12-of-20 (60%) in his last two games in the Pit, Hall did not have it tonight and went 0-for-4 from the 3-point line tonight.
But, the Lobos got good 3-point production from Antonio Chol (3-of-5), Uriah Tenette (3-of-5), and Chris Howell (2-of-3).
“Uriah hit some big shots,” Olen said. “Chol made a couple timely ones in response to some shot making from them.”
The New Mexico student section (Howl Raisers) hold up newspapers during the Santa Clara introductions on Saturday night at The Pit in Albuquerque, NM. Photo: Erik Moulton/ThePitPress
The Pit
UNM enjoyed its largest crowd of the season. The Pit crowd fed off UNM’s pressure defense and transition baskets, and created a hostile environment for a big-road opponent.
When UNM answered Santa Clara’s 10-2 run earlly in the second half, Albury credited The Pit crowd for fueling UNM’s energy.
“I wanna give most of that credit to The Pit, to be honest,” he said. “They filled us with so much energy and made us want to make plays just so we could hear the fans go crazy…”
The “lights up, light’s down” show looked pretty cool with 13,000+ in attendance.
UNM will take on VCU on Wednesday Dec. 10 on the road.
