SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
What began with a number of lead changes and a tight opening half ended with the age-old, what goes around comes around.
And that’s just what head coach Steve Alford had in store for his Nevada men’s basketball team when familiar University of New Mexico, whom he coached before filing the same role at UCLA, paid a visit to Reno in Saturday night‘s non conference pairing.
This is the initial campaign for Alford and assistant coach Craig Neal at Nevada, which brought an unblemished record to Albuquerque last year and left after losing big time.
This time it was different. After the Lobos coached by Paul Weir went up 3-0 on a 3 from Zane Martin, there were six lead changes, the last at 8 -7 giving New Mexico its last lead, for from there it grew into a 96-74 rout that dropped the Lobos to 16-6 overall and advanced the Wolf Pack to 13-8.
“My guys just picked it up,” Alford said, “first trading baskets with them and then just taking charge. It was quite a sight for Craig, who also coached the UNM men, and myself to face the Lobos, whom I’m sure would like a different result when we visit them on Feb. 18.“
Well, they sure will remember this shellacking. From a rather tight early first half, with UNM leading for about four minutes, Nevada went on an 11-0 run to grab a 17-7 lead and just kept adding to it. It controlled the rebounding, picked up its defense, worked the ball inside and out, and by halftime upped the advantage to 49-29.
From there, the Wolf Pack enjoyed what it was doing and the lead ballooned to 54-29, 64-41, 71-46, and 82-54 with Alford clearing his bench early,
As for Weir, he had nothing pleasant to say.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “like I told the guys afterward, we have to play the perfect game that included defensive rebounds, but none of this was there. They just ran all over us, sent us away with a dismal defeat.”
It could get worse when unbeaten 4th ranked San Diego State plays at Dreamstyle Arena Wednesday.
Hopefully, Weir might be able to get injured starters JaQuan Lyle and Vince Jackson back to this Mountain West Conference test, but he’s not certain at this time.
Said Weir: We must score points, need to make shots for our offense to get any kind of rhythm to it, and we must defend better, especially on those 3s.”
The former New Mexico State head coach is right, for his Lobos have given up an average of 100 points in their last three starts, and have allowed at least 84 points in five of six losses this season, and 3s keep falling in.
They were outboarded 50-26, they tossed in 10-of-24 3s but Nevada made a whooping 17-of-35 (48.6 percent), and converted 12-of-19 free throws to 9-for-11 made by the Wolf Pack. Assists? That was also Nevada, with a 23-12 margin. From the floor, it was the home team making good on 35-of-71 tries against UNM’s 26-for-61.
Martin was the Lobos’ leading scorer with 23 points and Vince Hendrix had a career-high 19 points. Then there was Corey Manigault with 13 and reserve Keith McGee with 11, but Nevada’s bench contributed 40 points. The Wolf Pack had seven players in double figures, with Nisre Zouzoua leading the way with 20 points that included four 3s.
Then there was Jalen Harris with 19 points to go with seven assists. Zane Meeks added 13, and Jazz Johnson tossed in a dozen. JohnCarlos Reyes added 10 points, 11 rebounds, a pair of blocks, and a pair of 3s.
“We just turned it up when it was still a game,” said Neal, “and had a super first half once we were in gear. Nice to see UNM again and nicer to win this game.”
