On Saturday night, the Lobos hosted a very good Northern Iowa Panthers team in what felt like the sort of game that could decide which team ends up on which side of the bubble come tournament time. Well, if that ends up being the case, the Lobos made a statement as to which side they think they should be on by winning 76-57.

Game Recap

After another uninspired start to the game, in which they scored all of one point in the first five and a half minutes of the game, the Lobos found themselves in an early 7-1 hole. They then went on an 8-0 run to take a 9-8 lead, which started a stretch of ties and lead changes that lasted most of the rest of the half. In fact, from when Tim Williams hit a free throw with 13:36 left in the half to make it 7-4, neither team held more than a three point advantage until Elijah Brown made a three pointer with 47 seconds left in the half to put the Lobos up by 6. That three was part of a quick 8-0 run that the Lobos made at the end of the first half that ended the back-and-forth between the two teams and set the tone for the second half.

The Panthers wouldn’t go away quietly though, as they clawed their way back into making it a three point game after just a couple of minutes in the second half. However, as they have been showing the ability to do, the Lobos clamped down on defense to go on a 14-4 run over the next seven minutes. This built a 13 point lead with about 10 minutes to go and from that point on, the Lobos had complete control over the game, never letting their lead slip below 9 points. The Lobos ended the game with another 8-0 run (which was apparently the theme of the game) to push their final lead up to 19.

Players of the Game

For each game, I’m choosing my top three players of the game and giving them points (3 for first, 2 for second, and 1 for third). We’ll keep track of the points all season.

1. Elijah Brown (17 points on the season): Elijah picked up his second Mountain West Player of the Week award for his performance in this game, which speaks to how good he was to win the award off of just one game. He ended up with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists and, again, just looked like the best player on the court. One of the most impressive things to me about this game is that he shot 7-9 in his two-point attempts, and only one of those shots was a layup. His midrange game has been consistently very good this season, which has made him really tough to guard. I’m okay with that.
2. Tim Williams (14 points on the season): Once again, Tim was consistently good throughout the game, scoring 9 points in the first half and 10 points in the second. He also ended up with 6 rebounds and 2 assists for good measure. Tim’s kind of an interesting player to me, as he is one of the least flashy, but still dominant players that I can remember. At some point I’m pretty sure that he’s going to score 30 points in a game of off a potent mixture of layups and free throws.
3. Jordan Hunter (1 point on the season): Welcome to the Players of the Game section, Mr. Hunter! Jordan had what is hopefully his breakout game, playing 15 minutes, scoring 6 points off of a couple of threes, grabbing a couple of rebounds, and soaring for a block that was so surprising, they attributed it to Nikola Scekic, who didn’t play at all. I mentioned after last game that he’s starting to look more comfortable each time out and this game was no exception. If he keeps this up, he won’t be getting minutes because someone has to give Cullen a break, he’ll be getting them because Coach Neal can’t keep him off the floor.

Scattered Thoughts

• Sam Logwood just missed out on being one of the players of the game, but I felt that it’s worth mentioning the energy that he’s been bringing to the team recently. I don’t know if it’s because his foot has healed from his offseason surgery, but as of late he’s been really active on the boards, picking up 7 more rebounds against UNI, and has started to look the part of a lockdown perimeter defender. On top of that, he keeps looking for opportunities to defend the rim, particularly when Obij is on the bench. He hasn’t scored in double-digits in almost a month, but he’s proving himself to be valuable on the court.
• This team is now going past the “might be good on defense” stage to the “might be great on defense” stage. They’re currently ranked 31^st in defensive efficiency by KenPom.com, which is mainly driven by their excellent defense against three pointers. Teams are only shooting 28% from beyond the arc against them, which is the 19^th lowest percentage that any team in the country is allowing (Still, only USC has shot greater than 30% from three against them this season). With such an emphasis on that shot in today’s game, being able to stop it gives you a major leg up on defense. What’s even more amazing is how well they are defending the three with their zone defense. They are long, quick, and athletic, so they have been disruptive to shooters even when they have to recover to close out. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see them play more and more zone as the season goes on, especially if they have to resort to four-guard offenses regularly.
• Speaking of four-guard offenses, once Obij picked up his fourth foul with about 8 minutes to go, Coach Neal decided to run with only one big out there for the rest of the game. With a somewhat thin bench and so many strong perimeter players, it seems likely that we’ll see this look a lot, especially if Big O gets into foul trouble. If Jordan’s as ready as he’s starting to look, a lineup of Jordan, Cullen, Elijah, Sam, and Tim Williams could be dangerous, with four guys who can shoot threes around the perimeter and a potent interior scorer taking advantage of any space that gives him.

Up Next

The Lobos stay home to play the Aggies for the second time this season. A month ago, the Lobos came out of their game down south with an 84-73 win, which I’m sure they wouldn’t mind replicating.