New Mexico needed a get-right game. On Wednesday, it got right.
Far from flawless, the Lobos did enough to put the four straight Christmastime losses behind them and opened the Mountain West slate with a 88-76 victory over Nevada at WisePies Arena.
Where UNM (8-6, 1-0 MW) excelled was in a 25-2 first-half run that followed a slow start. Down 9-7 at the first media timeout, the Lobos stalled Nevada’s offense without a field goal for 11 minutes.
Though not completely displeased with his team’s energy last week in Hawaii, head coach Craig Neal said the team lost some energy in those Diamond Head Classic games. On Wednesday, he said he was happy with the energy level.
“I think they just got tired of the noise outside of our room and our locker room, and that's the most important thing,” Neal said. “They got tired of losing and they faced a little adversity and they came back together."
UNM put five players in double figure scoring, a first in nearly two years, and those five players accounted for all but four UNM scores.
Guard Elijah Brown led the way with 24 points, including a perfect 15 of 15 from the foul line. It was one free throw shy of a school record, and Brown has scored at least 20 points seven times this year.
Forward Tim Williams added 17, followed by a double-double from center Obij Aget (14 points, 11 rebounds). Guard Cullen Neal played the whole game after sitting for a half against Washington State last week, chipping in 14 points.
Guard Xavier Adams, meanwhile, set a new career high with 14 points off the bench.
The strong defense UNM exhibited prior to last week’s skid returned during the big first-half run. The Wolf Pack missed 13 free throw attempts. Its only points came from two trips to the line, going 1-2 both times.
Center Obij Aget got things rolling in the rally with a dunk, and the ever-consistent forward Tim Williams mustered six points over that span. Forward Xavier Adams chipped in as well with five straight free throws and a hustling presence on both ends.
UNM maintained its advantage after a dunk from Nevada forward Cameron Oliver ended the spurt, but UNM built another significant scoring stretch with a 9-2 run where all but 2 points from either side came from the foul line. Lobo guard Elijah Brown got that field goal dunking in transition.
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Yet it wasn’t a completely clean first half. UNM committed 10 turnovers through the first 20 minutes and played sloppy for a two-minute stretch that allowed Nevada to rattle off the last nine points in the half. For the game, UNM gave up 20 turnovers that led to 22 Nevada points.
The Wolf Pack also kept the game within eight to 12 points through the early portions of the second half until the game evolved into a foul shooting contest. The teams combined for 27 fouls and 33 free throw attempts in the second half. Over a three-minute span all points came on foul shots.
Three Nevada players – forward Cameron Oliver, guard Tyron Criswell and guard Drew Lindsey – fouled out. UNM finished shooting 27 of 33 from the foul line (81.8 percent) while the Wolf Pack went 21 of 28 (75 percent).
UNM also won the field goal shooting battle with a 25 of 57 effort (43.9 percent) to Nevada’s 21 of 52 performance (40.4 percent). UNM outrebounded Nevada 36-30.
“They finished the game,” Craig Neal said. “They stayed together. They just have to get tougher defensively when we have those little lulls when you're up 20.”
Scekic to transfer
Nikola Scekic, UNM’s 7-1 freshman center from Serbia, announced before the game he will no longer be a member of the Lobos. He averaged 7.5 minutes in 10 games with 1.7 points and 0.8 rebounds per game.
Scekic saw a limited role for the Lobos with Williams’ strong start and Aget’s abilities down low. Most of Scekic’s playing time came when UNM played other teams with size.
On Twitter Scekic wrote, “Long thinking and I decided to do whats [sic] best for me.I want to play more, have bigger role that's only way I can improve and show what I can.”
Neal said Scekic did not deliver the news, but his advisors did. Scekic is a great kid, Neal said, with the potential to develop into a good player. Scekic will be granted a release from his scholarship, Neal added.
“I think if he would have stayed with the program like what Alex Kirk did and what Drew Gordon did and A.J. Hardeman, then he would have been a terrific player,” Neal said. “He would have been a four-year player and looked at 13 (points) and 7 (rebounds), 15 and 7 a game, but that's his decision.”
J.R. Oppenheim is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men's basketball and women's soccer. Contact him at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JROppenheim.