Did you know that the Lobo men’s basketball team has had an issue with turnovers this season? If you’re reading this, my guess would be that you’re well aware, especially given how hot of a topic it seems to be right now, and have found yourself pulling your hair out several times this season because yet another Lobo dribbled into a trap/had a pass bounce off of his hands/threw a pass into the stands for what seems like the hundredth time in the game. And as much as I’d like to be the contrarian to provide evidence that it hasn’t been as bad as it seems or that it hasn’t really been affecting them much, I really can’t.
Category: Men’s Basketball
Men’s Basketball at Fresno State Recap
In a game that the Lobos entered with a few question marks (Can they win on the road? Are they recovered from last week? Can they get back to playing like they did when we thought they could win the conference?), they walked off the court having made a statement, winning at Fresno by a 77-62 final score. They’re now 2-0 in the conference, including a road win against another team thought to be in the upper-tiers of the conference, and should be back in the conversation as a title contender.
UNM at Fresno State Preview
The Lobos had a nice bounce-back game on Wednesday to start their conference season, beating Nevada 88-76 to snap their four-game losing streak. Things don’t get any easier though, as they travel to Fresno, CA to take on the Fresno State Bulldogs, another team with conference championship aspirations who just knocked off UNLV in Las Vegas. Although a loss likely won’t be devastating to their hopes of winning the conference, a win would give the Lobos a huge leg up on the competition and put the rest of the league on notice that they’re a team to be reckoned with.
Men’s Basketball vs. Nevada Recap
Conference play started Wednesday night for the Lobo Men’s Basketball team and they needed to get the bad taste out of their mouth from last week, when they went 0-4 with two very bad losses against Rice and Washington State. The game day didn’t get off to a good start, as freshman backup center Nikola Scekic announced that he was transferring an hour and a half before the game. With the departure of Scekic, the Lobos have only 3 true post players left on the roster with Obij Aget, Tim Williams and Joe Furstinger, which will force Coach Neal to use more four guard lineups than he has ever played. That might not be a bad thing, though, as parts of this game proved.
Men’s Basketball vs. Nevada Preview
A few years ago, I went to Hawaii for a friend’s wedding, expecting to spend time hiking, snorkeling, fishing, and otherwise enjoying all that the island had to offer. Instead, I stepped on a sea urchin my first day out there and was stuck on the couch for most of my trip. That still might have been a better Hawaii experience than what the Lobos just had. That holiday tournament ended their non-conference schedule with a thud, leaving them at 7-6 heading into conference play. They’ll look to regroup tonight against Nevada, hopefully righting the ship and getting the season back on track.
Men’s Basketball: Players of the Game Update
The Lobo men’s basketball team wrapped up its non-conference schedule last week (I guess that’s a nice way to describe last week), giving us a chance to take a step back and see how things have gone so far for the players by looking at our Players of the Game awards, which also gives us an idea of where the team stands. The team has mostly been carried on the backs of a couple of transfers, for good and bad, but there is still a lot of talent on the team that makes us think that this team can get back to being who we thought they were two weeks ago.
Mountain West Men’s Basketball Reset
After an up and down (mostly down) non-conference season for the Mountain West teams, it’s finally time for the teams to start playing each other. Conference play starts on Wednesday and this year seems even more up in the air now than it did before the season started. So with that, we thought that it would be worthwhile to check back in with the conference and reset our expectations for how the season will play out.
Men’s Basketball Stats Glossary
(This page is a summary and description of the statistics used in our men’s basketball posts.)
Men’s Basketball vs. BYU Recap
The Lobos lucked out when a couple of other favorites in the Diamond Head Classic lost their first round matchups as well, which meant that they potentially still had the opportunity to collect a couple of quality wins. They got their first shot against BYU on Wednesday morning. It did not go well.
Men’s Basketball vs. Auburn Recap and BYU Preview
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.