After picking up a win against Idaho State on Friday, the Lobos will look to stay undefeated on the season tonight, when they take on Houston Baptist. This should be a game where the Lobos are able to build a big enough lead to get some of the younger players solid game experience, but they’ll still need to execute if they’re going to get a comfortable win.
A Little About Houston Baptist
What they’ve done so far:
In their one game, the Huskies were blasted by Texas Tech in Lubbock, 93-67. Atif Russell was the leading scorer, with 16 points, while Josh Ibarra and Jalon Gates both chipped in 9 apiece. HBU didn’t shoot well in that game (37.9% FG, 30.4% 3PT, 66.7% FT), while Tech basically made everything that they shot (61.1% FG, 58.8% 3PT, 68.0% FT). The offensive production is probably lower than what we might expect to see, but based on the past few years, the defensive struggles are real. Their best year on defense, according to kenpom.com’s defensive efficiency, was 2012-13, where they had the 234th ranked defense. Every other year since 2008-9 has seen them ranked higher than 300th.
Coach:
Ron Cottrell has been the head coach at HBU since 1990, back when the Huskies were an NAIA school. They made the jump back to D1 in 2008 and, as expected, have had a little difficulty competing at this level. Last season saw Coach Cottrell’s first non-losing record in D1 play, when HBU went 17-17 on the season. They did see a ton of success at the NAIA level under Cottrell, so as of now, the program is hoping that he has the potential to build a successful program at HBU.
Probable Starters:
#15 Reveal Chukwujekwu (6’3” Guard, Senior): Chukwujekwu has spent most of the past two years as a starter for the Huskies and looks to do the same this year. He doesn’t shoot a ton of threes, but has shown the ability to make them occasionally, so he’s scored most of his points from two-point range. He’s a pretty effective rebounder for his position, particularly on the offensive end, so the Lobos will need to box him out well to avoid giving HBU extra possessions.
#30 Braxton Bonds (6’2” Guard, Sophomore): Bonds is a junior college transfer who originally spent his freshman season redshirting at Tennessee. He put up a great stat line last season at Columbia State, with 14.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 4.1 steals per game, so the Huskies are hoping that at least some of that translates over to D1.
#5 Colter Lasher (6’7” Forward, Senior): A four-year starter from Alaska, Lasher averaged 10.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game last season. He has been most effective from two-point range, but will shoot a few threes each game as well. His range might give Tim a little difficulty on defense, but I have a feeling that Tim will have his way on offense.
#11 Atif Russell (6’5” Forward, Senior): A grad transfer from Pepperdine, Russell came into HBU and, at least for the first game, immediately became their best player. He’ll shoot the occasional three, although he is below-average from there, but his main focus seems to be within the arc. He’s never really been the go-to guy on his team before, so it will be interesting to see if he can adjust to that role.
#44 Josh Ibarra (6’11” Center, Junior): Ibarra is a big dude who is pretty efficient in the post. For his career, he’s shot 62.8% from the field, all two pointers, while being effective on the glass. He missed most of conference play last season with an injury, but he was the regular starter before that.
Some Relevant Stats
As it’s so early in the season, there’s not a lot we can make out of the stats so far (for example, I don’t think we can read too much into the 58.8% three-point shooting percentage that the Huskies have allowed this year). However, we can maybe get a sense of who they are based on last year’s stats. The Huskies were decent behind the arc, but they were much more focused on scoring closer to the rim, as they shot three pointers with the 290th highest regularity. They got a huge chunk of their points from the free throw line, but that was because of senior Anthony Odunsi, who was one of the best in the country at getting to the line. It doesn’t seem like any of the players on the roster this year will replicate that performance.
They do play fairly fast, although, interestingly enough, that seemed to have been driven by their opponents getting quick looks more than the Huskies shooting quick in the clock. That’s been the general trend for several years now, so my guess is that will continue this year as well. That should mean that the Lobos will probably get some good opportunities early in the possessions, so they’ll need to be ready to take advantage of them.
Scattered Thoughts
- We’ll talk more about this in a later recap post, but Sam Logwood was the man on Friday. He was aggressive on offense, played good defense, and generally looked like the sort of player that we keep wanting him to become. The trigger seemed to be when he was fouled hard in the first half, which not only set off one of the longer official replays I can remember, it turned him into a one-man Bengal-wrecking machine. It was a blast to watch and if he can keep playing with that same level of aggressiveness, he could become a double-digit scorer this season.
- Against Idaho State, Jordan Hunter left no question as to who is the starting point guard right now. He played solid defense against Ethan Telfair, who is one of the best point guards in the country, while running the offense well, picking up 8 assists and 6 boards to only 2 turnovers. He didn’t shoot particularly well, but that will come around.
- It’s N7 night, which means that we’ll get to see the Lobos rock some turquoise uniforms tonight. It would be nice to see them incorporate that color into the regular rotation, but I’m okay if the uniqueness of the night helps to raise money for a good cause.
Prediction
The Lobos should win this game and win it big. I think that they’ll win something like 90-72, with lots of bench players seeing decent time on the court.
Game Info
Who: New Mexico Lobos (1-0) vs. Houston Baptist (0-1)
When: Monday, November 14, 2016 at 7pm MT
Where: Albuquerque, NM
Watch: Root Sports
Listen: 770 KKOB