Fresh off a big win in Boise, the Lobos had a fairly quick turnaround before they had to play host to the UNLV Rebels. The Rebels are one of the two teams who have handed the Lobos a loss in conference play, so it was clear that the Lobos would be looking for revenge. In a game that ended up being a shootout, they did just that, coming out with an 87-83 win to keep them in second place in the conference with a 7-2 record.

Game Recap

In a game that both teams felt like they needed to win, it wasn’t much of a surprise to see them both come out of the gate with a lot of intensity. The Lobos started things off by pounding the ball inside and the Rebels did the same, both with a similar level of success. The Rebels, in particular, seemed focused on getting Steven Zimmerman, a potential lottery pick, plenty of chances to shine in front of the NBA scouts who showed up to watch him play. He put on a show early, hitting his first five shots to get into double digits before we even got 10 minutes into the game. He cooled down a little bit after that, but still ended up with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 blocks in the half, making it seem like the Rebels might still be okay down low, despite the loss of Ben Carter. The Lobos didn’t have much of an answer for him and it looked like this could become a defining game for the young center.

However, the Lobos had two big things going for them in the first half. First, they were able to take advantage of UNLV’s foul tendencies, drawing 15 fouls in the half and leaving two Rebels with 3 fouls and four more with 2 apiece. That forced a fairly thin Rebel team to stretch out its bench more than it would have liked. The second thing was Elijah Brown. EB managed to put 17 points on the board in the first half with a variety of jump shots, floaters, and free throws. Just as the Lobos didn’t have an answer for Zimmerman, the Rebels didn’t have one for EB. At the half, the Lobos were able to hold onto a slim four point lead.

The second half went from being the Brown-Zimmerman show to being the Williams-Cornish extravaganza. Tim was unstoppable in the second half, taking advantage of a winded Rebel team that was a little tentative because of their foul trouble to put up 17 points in the second half, which gave him a grand total of 29 for the game. Cornish, on the other hand, seemed to have an answer for the Rebels every single time that it looked like the Lobos were about to be able to pull away or just pick up some momentum. The answer was always the same: a three-pointer. Cornish made five three-pointers in a row, some wide open and some with a hand in his face, to keep the Rebels in the game and to completely frustrate the Lobo faithful. The score went back and forth the whole half, with 10 lead changes and neither team pulling ahead by more than three until there was just 14 seconds remaining in the game. For the second game in a row, the Lobos were able to hang on to their lead at the end of the game thanks to some clutch free throw shooting, as they went 6-8 in the last minute. When the final buzzer sounded, the Lobos were able to walk off the court with a solid 87-83 win.

Players of the Game

1. Tim Williams (43 points on the season): Tim was an absolute beast in this game, picking up 29 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, an assist, and a steal. In the postgame presser, someone pointed out how in some games, he quietly puts up a huge line that seems surprising when you look at the box afterwards, but tonight he had a very loud 29 points. He dominated the Rebels down low, even scoring 12 straight Lobo points during one stretch of the game by basically just blowing past the UNLV posts and getting to the rim. I know the competition is pretty stiff for the all-conference first team, but I think that Tim has put himself in the conversation for the honor.
2. Elijah Brown (42 points on the season): Elijah torched the Rebels in the first half, scoring 17 points on 4-7 shooting (8-8 from the free throw line), which meant that UNLV had to completely revamp their defense in hopes of shutting him down. They did a pretty good job of it in the second half, but that’s because they tried to double-team him every time he touched the ball. He still hit an absolute dagger of a three and went 4-4 from the free throw line to help the Lobos down the stretch. Oh, and he did it while nursing a hamstring injury. The dude’s a warrior.
3. Xavier Adams (5 points on the season): There were a few guys who could have taken this spot, but I had to go with X for the energy he brought to the game and the way he helped close the game out. His stat line wasn’t all that impressive on its own, with 6 points, 4 rebounds, an assist and a steal, but that all just downplays his contribution. He was active in his 15 minutes of play, even garnering attention from the announcers for how much energy he brought, and had two stretches that were crucial to the victory. The first was the crazy stretch where he stole the ball from Dwayne Morgan right after Morgan grabbed a defensive rebound, then he set Elijah up for a three pointer, then he drew a technical foul from Morgan while the shot was in the air, and then he capped all that off by grabbing an offensive board and making a layup on the ensuing possession. That means that he had a hand in every point that the Lobos scored on their single-possession seven-point run that turned a five-point deficit into a two-point lead. The second stretch was at the end of the game, when the Lobos were up by two. He grabbed a board off of a UNLV miss and was immediately fouled, which sent him to the line where he both of his free throws to put the team up by four with 14 seconds remaining. He then blocked Jordan Cornish’s three point attempt on the next possession to seal the game, which seemed especially significant given that Cornish had made five straight threes before that. His emergence recently has given the Lobos much-needed quality minutes off the bench and if he can keep that up, it will give the Lobos a considerably better chance at reaching all of their season’s goals.

Scattered Game Thoughts

• One thing worth keeping an eye on is how much the starters played in this game. Big O played the least of the five and he still ended up with 29 minutes. Elijah, bad hamstring and all, was out there for 39 minutes. This is nothing new, of course, as the Lobos are currently 298^th in the country for bench minutes played, which doesn’t seem like a particularly good thing. In fairness, Noodles has been playing his bench more, including making sure that Jordan sees some minutes in each half, like he did this one, and there is an extra day of rest before the next game. But, we’ve seen Lobo teams in the past start to fade towards the end of the season when the starters get ridden hard, so I just hope that this isn’t one of those years.
• UNLV interim head coach Todd Simon has been getting some grief today for his comments about the foul discrepancy and, well, he kind of deserves it. For one, UNM is ranked 48^th in free throw attempts/field goal attempts on offense, while UNLV is ranked 277^th in that stat on defense. That means the Lobos are really good at getting to the line and the Rebels are really good at sending their opponents there. Also, Derrick Jones averages 6.2 fouls per 40 minutes and Dwayne Morgan averages 7.2 fouls per 40 minutes. I’m not sure it’s a surprise that they’re giving up a bunch of fouls, especially now that they’re having to play more with Ben Carter out. In reality, although those are the worst offenders, they are pretty foul-happy as a team. On top of that, UNLV also seemed resigned to shooting a lot of jump shots in this game, which doesn’t usually lead to many fouls or free throws, while UNM kept attacking the basket and taking advantage of the Rebel’s foul tendencies. Were there some hometown whistles? Sure, there always are. But not enough to explain a 28-15 foul differential.

Up Next

This Saturday is a big one, as the Lobos are heading to San Diego to take on the Aztecs, who are undefeated in conference play. They’re not invincible, though, and have had several close calls already. If the Lobos play to their potential, they could be the ones to finally knock them off.