New Mexico PK -110
- Thread starter IE
- Start date
Caution
Caution
Respect your opinion but this team stinks on the road. I realize spain hurt for SDS, but this is togh spot for NMex.
Thanks for your contributions to the board.
Good luck I'm rooting for you.
Caution
Respect your opinion but this team stinks on the road. I realize spain hurt for SDS, but this is togh spot for NMex.
Thanks for your contributions to the board.
Good luck I'm rooting for you.
yup...your right ...hopefully they get tweaked in the right direction tonight.
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Will Lobos' tweaks work on road?
A good start would be a good thing for the Lobos. Another good tweak might help, too.
And a Lobos' rim that looks as wide as the nearby Pacific Ocean would be extremely helpful, too.
As much as anything, the Lobos road collapses at Brigham Young and UNLV were caused by the University of New Mexico falling into huge holes early.
And staying buried.
"The last two road trips - BYU and UNLV - by the 10-minute mark, we're down double-figure points, and now our guys are in a whole different mind-set," Steve Alford, the UNM men's basketball head coach, said.
Alford said he tried to tweak things for Pit games against Colorado State and Wyoming by putting freshman Jonathan Wills into the starting lineup and moving junior Chad Toppert to the bench.
UNM won those games by an average of 42.5 points.
So, did the tweaking help? Or was it playing in The Pit against the two dogs of the Mountain West Conference?
"Sometimes you do crazy things and that is what we told Top," Alford said of Toppert. "It wasn't a punishment for Top. We needed to try something different, a different rotation, do something different with our bench.
"Right now, that rotation is looking pretty good, but now we have to see how things look on the road."
Against a MWC team not considered a 2008 doormat.
Against a San Diego State team that beat UNM 72-67 in The Pit on Jan. 12.
The dynamics of the Lobos burials in Provo, Utah, and Las Vegas and the Lobos resurrections in The Pit probably come down to offense and defense more than Wills for Toppert.
UNM shot 34.4 percent at BYU and 39.2 percent at UNLV. BYU shot 50.9 percent. UNLV shot 49.1 percent, while creating 22 Lobos' turnovers.
In The Pit, UNM shot 54.2 percent against CSU and 59.7 percent against Wyoming. CSU shot 34 percent; Wyoming shot 38 percent.
Offense and defense. Lobos' rims that looked huge.
But the Wills for Toppert thing provides some nice numbers.
Wills has 11 points, 11 assists, two steals and no turnovers in his two starts. Toppert has 40 points, five assists and no turnovers coming off the bench.
Toppert has four games of 20 points or more this season, and he was a sub in all four of those games. His 11.5 scoring average gives UNM some punch off the bench. Wills scores at a 3.3 clip.
Wills, who is averaging 11.5 minutes a game, has averaged 19 minutes in the past four MWC games. He averaged 4.6 minutes in the previous 11 games.
For a while, it looked as if Wills had become a cast member of the TV show "Lost."
"I see where coach Alford and the staff are going," Wills said. "It's not like I'm not playing and I should be.
"They are good at telling me the things they want to see, so I never got too down."
Wills' playing time probably hinges on defense and taking care of the basketball.
Those Lobos' things will be huge at SDSU along with rebounding, shooting well - and mental toughness.
Alford said at UNLV and BYU his Lobos "got rocked early and didn't handle things very well."
SDSU is 6-3 in the MWC and sits above the 5-4 Lobos in the standings, along with 7-2 UNLV and 7-1 BYU.
It would be good for UNM's confidence if the Lobos could get even with these teams before the MWC tourney in Vegas.
"We have to try and gain a split with teams that have already beaten us," Alford said.
Which means another tweak is in order - on the scoreboard.
======================
Will Lobos' tweaks work on road?
A good start would be a good thing for the Lobos. Another good tweak might help, too.
And a Lobos' rim that looks as wide as the nearby Pacific Ocean would be extremely helpful, too.
As much as anything, the Lobos road collapses at Brigham Young and UNLV were caused by the University of New Mexico falling into huge holes early.
And staying buried.
"The last two road trips - BYU and UNLV - by the 10-minute mark, we're down double-figure points, and now our guys are in a whole different mind-set," Steve Alford, the UNM men's basketball head coach, said.
Alford said he tried to tweak things for Pit games against Colorado State and Wyoming by putting freshman Jonathan Wills into the starting lineup and moving junior Chad Toppert to the bench.
UNM won those games by an average of 42.5 points.
So, did the tweaking help? Or was it playing in The Pit against the two dogs of the Mountain West Conference?
"Sometimes you do crazy things and that is what we told Top," Alford said of Toppert. "It wasn't a punishment for Top. We needed to try something different, a different rotation, do something different with our bench.
"Right now, that rotation is looking pretty good, but now we have to see how things look on the road."
Against a MWC team not considered a 2008 doormat.
Against a San Diego State team that beat UNM 72-67 in The Pit on Jan. 12.
The dynamics of the Lobos burials in Provo, Utah, and Las Vegas and the Lobos resurrections in The Pit probably come down to offense and defense more than Wills for Toppert.
UNM shot 34.4 percent at BYU and 39.2 percent at UNLV. BYU shot 50.9 percent. UNLV shot 49.1 percent, while creating 22 Lobos' turnovers.
In The Pit, UNM shot 54.2 percent against CSU and 59.7 percent against Wyoming. CSU shot 34 percent; Wyoming shot 38 percent.
Offense and defense. Lobos' rims that looked huge.
But the Wills for Toppert thing provides some nice numbers.
Wills has 11 points, 11 assists, two steals and no turnovers in his two starts. Toppert has 40 points, five assists and no turnovers coming off the bench.
Toppert has four games of 20 points or more this season, and he was a sub in all four of those games. His 11.5 scoring average gives UNM some punch off the bench. Wills scores at a 3.3 clip.
Wills, who is averaging 11.5 minutes a game, has averaged 19 minutes in the past four MWC games. He averaged 4.6 minutes in the previous 11 games.
For a while, it looked as if Wills had become a cast member of the TV show "Lost."
"I see where coach Alford and the staff are going," Wills said. "It's not like I'm not playing and I should be.
"They are good at telling me the things they want to see, so I never got too down."
Wills' playing time probably hinges on defense and taking care of the basketball.
Those Lobos' things will be huge at SDSU along with rebounding, shooting well - and mental toughness.
Alford said at UNLV and BYU his Lobos "got rocked early and didn't handle things very well."
SDSU is 6-3 in the MWC and sits above the 5-4 Lobos in the standings, along with 7-2 UNLV and 7-1 BYU.
It would be good for UNM's confidence if the Lobos could get even with these teams before the MWC tourney in Vegas.
"We have to try and gain a split with teams that have already beaten us," Alford said.
Which means another tweak is in order - on the scoreboard.
