Consistency has been the Achilles’ heel for New Mexico this season, and the Lobos have yet to find their “go-to” guy after sophomore guard Cullen Neal went down with an ankle injury Nov. 20.
Seniors Deshawn Delaney and Hugh Greenwood have been looked to for leadership throughout the season but have struggled at times during the season. The two are combining for 23.5 points per game.
Delaney has showed spots of brilliance for the Lobos this year as he has scored 10 or more points in 13 games this season but he’s struggled when zone defenses are thrown at him.
Greenwood, meanwhile, is shooting a team-low 30 percent from the floor through 18 games this season. He is also connecting on only 28.8 percent of his 3-point attempts. In his last two games Greenwood has hit 11 of 35 shot attempts (31.4 percent).
“You can’t be really, really good one game and be really, really bad the next game,” head coach Craig Neal said. “You can’t be a frontrunner; that’s not what our program is about. We have some guys that play really, really good and then disappear and then they try and do things they can’t do and it finds out that they play bad.”
Neal has made multiple remarks this season regarding his young team and the need to grow up at a rapid rate and be consistent on both sides of the ball.
“We’ve got a lot of growing up to do,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that have to grow up fast and a lot of guys that got to understand what it is to be a part of this program and how to win basketball games.”
The Lobos (12-6, 4-2 Mountain West) have a unique situation this year in that they play an 11-man rotation, which can make it difficult to find a rhythm with a certain group of five guys. Many of the top programs in the country play a seven- to eight-man rotation.
“That’s what’s hard about playing 11 guys; you don’t know what you’re going to get every night. You don’t know who’s going to come play,” Neal said.
Neal said finding a proper rotation and a “go-to” guy has proven difficult this season but it’s all a part of the job.
“I try to do the best I can. I try to get them motivated,” he said. “I try to get them to perform at a high level.”
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The Lobos hit the road to play the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels tonight after suffering their first home loss of the conference season. UNM has won 10 of its last 12 meetings inside the Thomas and Mack Center.
UNLV (10-8, 1-4 MW) is led by its freshman guard Rashad Vaughn, who is having a breakout season. He is averaging 17.5 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game.
The Rebels are currently in ninth place in the Mountain West Conference. They are one of two teams with one win, the other being Air Force. The only team to be seeded lower in the conference right now is San Jose State (2-16, 0-6 Mountain West) who has yet to win a conference game.
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 at UNLV
Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Wednesday
9 p.m.
TV: CBS Sports Network
