The Lobos’ first round game of the Diamond Head Classic against Auburn was a game of runs. This was due in large part to the sheer number of turnovers in the game, 39 total, and the three point shooting by both teams, 20 made threes. Combined, this meant that there would be multiple runs of 6 or more point swings. There were many times it looked like one of the teams would run away with the game, only to have the other team make a similar run and take the lead back. In the end for the Lobos, there were too many turnovers and too much Canty, ultimately falling to Auburn 82-78. This sends the Lobos to the loser’s bracket to face BYU tomorrow at 12:30 MT.
Game Recap
First Half:
For the Lobos, the first half was all about the starting backcourt. Elijah Brown and Cullen Neal combined for 34 of the team’s 36 first half points. The only two points scored by another Lobo was when Obij Aget hit two free throws after Tim Williams took a hard fall on a dunk attempt and was unable to take the free throws himself. Cullen was on fire at the beginning of the game, scoring 11 quick points, including hitting his first 3 three-point attempts. Neal looked like he got a little tired at the end of the half, probably from having to carry the load with Brown. The last 15 minutes of the first half was all about Brown, as he played well enough to allow the Lobos to stay in the game. His three at the buzzer was a thing of beauty and it cut into Auburn’s lead, sending the Lobos to the locker room down 41-36.
Second Half:
The Lobos came out of halftime with a lot more energy than Auburn and it appeared that the Lobos were going to be able to get some separation from the Tigers. However, every attempt to get the lead into double digits was responded by an Auburn run to tighten the game back up. One thing that was nice to see after getting no contributions from the non-back court players in the first half was that the other players, namely Tim W., Sam, and Obij, scored 22 points in the second half. If the Lobos are able to get that kind of production in each half from those guys then we have a chance to be a very good team. It was apparent that the Lobos were running out of steam in the last 10 minutes of the game, as they were short on many jumpers and were forced into many sloppy turnovers. I would venture to guess that we will see more bench play in the game Wednesday after four starters played all 20 minutes of the second half and Brown played 17 minutes. The dagger in the game was when Canty hit a contested shot with the shot clock running down that gave Auburn a 6-point lead with very little time left for the Lobos to come back.
Players of the Game
For each game, we’re choosing our 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.
- Elijah Brown (25 points on the season): Brown was extremely good in this game, which is starting to become the norm. He kept the Lobos in this game in the first half and was a key part in getting the Lobos the lead in the second half. It was apparent that Brown got tired at the end of the game, but he did end up with 33 points (on 10-17 shooting for the floor, 6-9 from three, and 7-9 from the FT line), and six rebounds.
- Cullen Neal (11 points on the season): Neal had an interesting game, as in the first 5 minutes was some of the best basketball we will see from Neal as he scored 11 quick points but he tired out and got a little sloppy later in the game. Neal finished the game with 21 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.
- Obij Aget (5 points on the season): After scoring 2 points in the first half, Aget was able to get two dunks for his only two field goal attempts and was 3-4 from the foul line to finish the game with 7 points. Aget was able to use his size once again, grabbing 9 rebounds and collecting two blocks.
BYU Game Preview
Oh hey, it’s these guys! Former conference rivals, and newly minted “dirtiest school in college sports”, BYU are coming off of an 85-82 overtime loss to Harvard that sent them to the loser’s bracket. The Cougars are still coached by Dave Rose, who is now in his 11th season at BYU, where he has never lost fewer than 20 games. His team is good offensively, above average defensively, and they play at one of the fastest paces in the nation. I’d expect there to be a lot of points scored tomorrow between these two teams. They’re 7-4 on the season, with most of their wins being against somewhat unimpressive opponents and their losses against fairly good teams (namely Utah and Colorado). They, just like UNM, were hoping to pick up some quality wins in this tournament and will probably view UNM as their best remaining chance for one.
Amazingly enough, Tyler Haws has now used up all of his eligibility, which means that Kyle Collinsworth is the only Cougar who was on the team when BYU was in the MWC. Now a senior, the 6’6” guard is the focal point of the offense. He’s currently averaging 14.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game, making him one of the more complete players around. He tends to spend most of his time on offense attacking the basket, only taking 1.4 threes per game (which he only makes 21.4% of).
He’s joined in the starting lineup by Chase Fischer, Nick Emery, Kyle Davis, and Corbin Kaufusi. Fischer and Emery, both guards, are the team’s leading scorers, averaging 15.5 and 15.6 points per game respectively, and they mostly do that by shooting a bunch of threes. Fischer is even shooting a fairly low 32.1% from deep, but that doesn’t stop him from shooting 8.4 threes per game. Emery’s name might sound familiar and that’s because he has an older brother, Jackson, who played at BYU back when they were in the MWC. Oh, and he punched a guy in the face earlier this year as well.
In the frontcourt, Davis is a 6’8” transfer from Utah State, where he was a double-double machine. This year, he’s actually averaging a double-double, averaging 13.2 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. He’s joined by Kaufusi, a big, 6’10” sophomore, who averages 8.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. He plays about half the game and is primarily backed up by 6’11” senior Nate Austin, who sat out most of last season with a hamstring injury, which allowed him to get a medical redshirt for a second senior season. He’s been a decent rebounder, grabbing 4.3 boards per game, but hasn’t been a huge scoring threat.
Davis, Collinsworth, Fischer, and Emery all play about 30 minutes per game, but Collinsworth and Davis both topped 41 minutes in their game against Harvard. They, like UNM, will probably have some guys with tired legs in this game, so it will be interesting to see which team deals with that best.
Things to watch
- Will the Lobos be able to get some rest for their starters? Some of them started to look like they were running on fumes by the end of their game against Auburn.
- Can we handle pressure defense? Once again, the Lobos struggled at time breaking the press, which means that they will keep seeing it until they prove that they can handle it.
- Can we hit our free throws? The Lobos missed 10 free throws against Rice and 9 against Auburn. Obviously, a better performance at the line in both of those games could have us all feeling much better about this season.
Game Info
Who: UNM Lobos (7-4) vs. BYU Cougars (7-4)
Where: Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, HI
When: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 at 12:30pm
Radio: 770 KKOB
TV: ESPNU