In a game that turned out to have very few implications for the MWC Tournament (aside from determining who the “home” team is the when these two face each other on Thursday), but did have a lot of implications for the Lobos’ morale, UNM came out with a much-needed win. They now turn their attention to the most important week of their season, and a chance to make it to the NCAA Tournament.

Game Recap

Both teams had major questions going into this matchup. For the Lobos, they were on a four-game losing streak and were looking for a way to pull together and end the season on a high note. For the Wolf Pack, they have been missing their senior star, Marqueze Coleman, to an ankle injury that might keep him out of the tournament, so they needed to figure out how they are going to adapt to his absence. The Lobos seemed to have found their answer, coming out with a 71-66 road win, but the Wolf Pack might have found theirs too, thanks to a late-game flourish.

The two teams started the game off with neither team being able to pull away, with both teams being able to score fairly easily. About halfway through the first half, the score was tied 19-19 and it looked like this game was probably going to go down to the wire. Then the floodgates opened. In a two minute span, the Lobos went on a 10-0 run, bookended by Cullen Neal three-pointers. After Nevada was able to stop the bleeding with a three-point play, the Lobos then ripped off a 7-0 run, led by some great play by Obij Ajet, to go up by 14. This stretch of great play was a great example of how good this team can be when they play solid defense, as not only do they shut the other team down, their offense kicks into high gear. When the dust settled, they had gone on a 22-9 run to go into the half up 41-28.

The second half saw the Lobos keep the ball rolling. Thanks to some more good defense, they held the Wolf Pack to just 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the half, which allowed them to grow their lead to 20 points. It seemed as though they were going to be able to cruise to an easy victory, especially when they were still up by 17 with five minutes left, but then the Wolf Pack started to claw their way back into the game. This was thanks to a combination of some Lobo turnovers, some good Nevada shooting, and some silly Lobo fouls, including a flagrant and a technical. With 1:18 left in the game, Nevada made a three to cut the lead to 7 and to give them all of the momentum. Thankfully, the Lobos were able to buckle down to stop Nevada in time to still come out with the victory.

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. Obij Ajet (15 points on the season): Big O had a monster game, ending up with 12 points, 14 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 0 fouls for probably his best performance of the season. With teams selling out against Tim Williams, he should have some opportunities for easy buckets, and he took advantage of those opportunities in this one. A big factor behind his success was him staying out of foul trouble, which has been an issue with him for much of the season. When he gets a couple of early fouls on him, I think that he becomes tentative, which simply doesn’t work. If he can keep from picking up fouls at the beginning of the game and then play like this over the course of the tournament, it gives the Lobos a much better chance of coming out with three wins.
2. Cullen Neal (21 points on the season): Cullen’s streak of solid play continues, and not a moment too soon. His confidence level seems to be back up, his shot is returning, and his 16 points and 6 assists are as many as he’s had of each in almost two months. When both he and O are being productive on offense, opponents have a hard time slowing the Lobos down, as they no longer can focus on just Tim and EB, and the team as a whole starts looking like the one earlier this season that we thought could beat anyone in the conference.
3. Elijah Brown (61 points on the season): Somewhat of a down game by Elijah’s standards, but he still ended up with a very good 17 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals line. That was marred somewhat by his 6 turnovers, 5 of which came in the second half, and his flagrant foul that helped sparked Nevada’s near-comeback, but all-in-all another very good performance. If he can play like he did in the first half, where he was doing a good job distributing and taking care of the ball, he could lead the team to multiple wins this week.

Scattered Thoughts

• Sometimes, figuring out the players of the game can be a little difficult because only one or two guys had good games. This game had the opposite problem. All eight guys who played gave quality minutes, which feels like a really good sign heading into this week. I do have trust in the other three guys, and I do think that if the Lobos win the tournament, it will be because they get contributions from everyone on the team. Let’s hope we get to see that happen.
• I know how good I feel to see the Lobos pick up a win again; I can’t imagine how the team must feel. This game felt particularly important, not because it means that they get to either wear white or silver on Thursday, but because they really needed to get this burden of the losing streak off their backs. As a team, it looked like their confidence was shot and their frustration was boiling over, so the last thing they needed was for their skid to keep going. Now, they can put that behind them and focus on the task at hand: beating Nevada again.

Up Next

It’s MWC Tournament time! The Lobos will head to Las Vegas to take on… Nevada, again. It’s difficult to beat the same team three times in one season, so the Lobos will have their work cut out for them. Still, it’s a new season and a new chance to make the NCAA Tournament. It will all have to start with a win on Thursday.