New Mexico head coach Craig Neal said the San Diego State and Utah State home arenas may be the two toughest environments in the conference.
After the challenging back-to-back road slate, the Lobos will be back in their home venue tonight to face the Air Force Falcons.
Neal said that for one of the first times this season, senior guard Hugh Greenwood didn’t force anything, which led to his success at Utah State.
“It was really good to see Hugh play the way Hugh is capable of playing,” he said. “(He) let the game come to him.”
Greenwood’s first basket didn’t come until 5:41 was left in the first half, but he still finished with a team-high 22 points. Neal said his shot selection was better and he hopes that Greenwood keeps taking high-percentage shots.
“He’s more capable of making the shots he’s taking now than he was before,” Neal said.
Freshman guard Sam Logwood saw his first start against Utah State, a trend that will continue against AFA. He, along with the usual starters — Greenwood, senior guard Deshawn Delaney, redshirt sophomore forward Devon Williams and sophomore center Obij Aget — will start against the Falcons.
UNM (11-5, 3-1 MW) and AFA will play for the 75th time with the Lobos holding a 55-19 series lead and a 32-4 advantage when in The Pit. The teams split their season meetings last year when the Lobos and Falcons each won at their respective homes.
Air Force (8-7, 1-3MW) runs the Princeton offense, which consists of constant motion, back cuts, passing and on-ball screens. Only a few teams in the country run this offense, and tonight will be the first time the Lobos have faced it all season.
“It definitely is an advantage for them, the way they play,” Neal said. “There’s a handful of teams that do it, so you don’t see it a lot.”
Neal said his team won’t prepare for personnel so much as they will prepare for the offense as a whole.
“We’ll basically just focus on principles. The biggest thing is you just can’t let them back-cut you and get easy shots,” Neal said. “If you can make them take contested shots then you have a chance.”
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Air Force is led by senior guard Max Yon, who is averaging 15.3 points per game and 2.7 rebounds per game. He is currently tied for sixth in the conference in scoring and is ranked sixth in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage (42.0 percent).
He scored a career-high 25 points in the Falcons’ 92-87 loss to Colorado State on Saturday.
Kyle Tomasi is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @KyTo22.
Men’s basketball vs. Air Force
Wednesday
7p.m.
At WisePies Arena
TV: ROOT Sports
