UNM’s freshmen are starting to make a name for themselves.
Days after first-year guard Dane Kuiper set a career high in minutes and points, freshman Anthony Mathis did the same. His 16-point effort helped lift the Lobos to a convincing 84-55 home victory over Air Force.
It marks the second straight game where UNM (12-8, 5-2 MW) won by at least 19 points. In Saturday’s win over San Jose State, Kuiper scored 11 points in 28 minutes.
In 15 minutes versus the Falcons, Mathis nailed three 3-pointers on a 4 of 5 performance and drained all five free throw attempts. It bolstered a strong shooting performance where the Lobos nailed 29 of 46, or 63 percent, from the field.
All set career bests for the young guard.
“Had a hunch about Anthony Mathis, and sometimes those hunches don’t pay off. Sometimes those hunches do,” UNM head coach Craig Neal said. “Dane played so well at San Jose State, but I just had a hunch with Anthony Mathis against their zone.”
Some of the new players, Neal said, didn’t seem like they knew how difficult the transition to the college game would be. It’s not the AAU games they experienced before, he said, but he gave the young guys credit for figuring it out.
In Kuiper’s case, however, Neal said earlier this week that the game seemed to be slowing down for him. Mathis said he is experiencing the same.
“I feel like it’s just being out there playing on the court, then things become a lot easier to do,” Mathis said. “Just like Dane happened against San Jose State. He got to sweat.”
Elijah Brown, UNM’s leading scorer, missed his third consecutive start but entered the game after about four minutes. Upon his entry, he scored on a jumper in his first possession. He finished the game with 17 points.
Neal said Brown should return to the starting lineup in this Saturday’s game against second-place Boise State.
The UNM offense clamped down on Air Force’s Princeton offense, a scheme Neal earlier this week called the toughest his team prepares for. His squad limited the Falcons to only 16 of 58 on field goals (27.6 percent).
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For the third time in league play, UNM captured double-digit victories despite giving up 20 turnovers.
After a tight eight-minute stretch to start, UNM’s offense got rolling. Down 14-10, UNM’s 16-2 run built a 25-16 lead. The Lobos continued to put pressure on Air Force when, up 27-22, they took a double-digit lead behind three straight 3-pointers from guards Xavier Adams, Brown and Mathis.
New Mexico closed out the half to hold a 15-point edge, 45-30, and connected on 17 of its 23 attempts from the field with six baskets being triples. The defense clamped down on the Falcons in the half as well, limiting their scoring to 9 of 26 baskets.
The Lobos came out a little sluggish in the second half as Air Force chipped away at the lead to 11 points. From there, UNM regained control with a 13-0 run, largely from the free throw line. Half those points came on foul shots.
UNM pushed the game out of reach at 78-49 with an additional 9-0 run capped by a Mathis triple.
“We had breakdowns, but if you watch their games a lot of teams have breakdowns against that offense,” Neal said. “I thought we did a nice job mixing up zone. I thought we did a nice job mixing up 3/4-court pressure to take time off the clock, shrink the game.”
Ever-reliable forward Tim Williams matched Mathis’ 16 points, hitting every shot he tried in the first half, 3 of 3 from the field and 2 of 2 from the line. Williams was close to not playing to an illness, Neal said, but recovered enough to play.
Adams, who started in Brown’s place once again, added 14 points. Guard Cullen Neal made his return from the concussion protocol with nine points before fouling out. Craig Neal said he found out about 5:45 p.m. Wednesday his son/starting guard could play.
Air Force had two players reach double figures in guard Hayden Graham (14 points) and center Zach Moer (12 points).
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.
