Albuquerque, NM (Sports Network) - The New Mexico Lobos, the 20th-ranked team
in the land, get their first look at the Nevada Wolf Pack as competing members
in the Mountain West Conference when the two squads get together in The Pit on
Saturday.
The Lobos were somewhat exposed last weekend when they were throttled by San
Diego State on the road, 55-34, but the squad bounced back well with a 63-59
triumph over Wyoming earlier this week. With that victory, UNM has now won
five of the last six outings, all in conference which places the Lobos at the
top of the standings heading into the weekend.
As for Nevada, currently tied with Boise State for the sixth spot in the MWC
at 2-4, it bowed to in-state rival UNLV on Tuesday night, 66-54, at the Thomas
& Mack Center in Sin City. The Wolf Pack has now dropped two of the last three
contests, and all but two since just after Christmas.
Rather surprisingly, this meeting is the first ever between these two schools.
Nevada buried itself with 16 turnovers and just 6-of-24 shooting behind the 3-
point line on Tuesday night, bowing to UNLV in league play. Jerry Evans came
up a rebound shy of a double-double as he tallied 14 points, his scoring
output matched by Deonte Burton who accounted for seven assists and a pair of
blocked shots for the visitors. Malik Story contributed nine points, but shot
only 2-of-9 from the field. Story remains the second-leading scorer on the
team through 20 games with his 15.5 ppg, but at this stage his accuracy from
the floor has fallen to only 39.3 percent. Burton (16.5 ppg), who also paces
the group in assists with 64, has made better decisions from the field overall
(.469), but his 29.4 percent effort on the perimeter has dragged the entire
team down to only 29.1 percent.
Now 4-0 in conference games decided by five points or less this season, the
Lobos leaned heavily on Australians Cameron Bairstow and Hugh Greenwood, the
former scoring a team-best 17 points and the latter recording a double-double
with 13 and 10 rebounds in the close call against Wyoming on the road in
Laramie. Also scoring in double figures for UNM were Kendall Williams and Alex
Kirk with 12 and 10 points, respectively, with both performers coming up with
six rebounds as they shot 5-of-10 from the floor. The Lobos survived despite
shooting only 2-of-10 behind the 3-point line. Playing more than 35 minutes
per game, Williams not only paces the program with his 14.0 ppg, he is also
first in assists with 90. Tony Snell checks in with another 12.0 ppg and Kirk
11.3 ppg, to go along with a team-high 7.5 rpg.
The Sports Network