With autumn in the air, there is one big thing that comes into the minds of New Mexico sports fans: college basketball.
The UNM men’s basketball team stepped back on the court on Friday afternoon for its first official practice.
The Lobos finished the 2015-2016 season with a 17-15 overall record and went 10-8 in the Mountain West Conference, good for a fourth place finish.
New Mexico’s strength was at home, as the team finished with a 12-4 record at WisePies Arena aka the Pit. The first five games this season will all be at home, which might serve as a confidence builder.
First up will be two exhibition matches. On Nov. 2 the Lobos will take on Western New Mexico, followed by Eastern New Mexico two days later.
The season opener against Idaho State is scheduled for Nov. 11. The next two games will then pit them against Houston Baptist on Nov. 14, and Nov. 18 against New Mexico State.
“I think it’s a good schedule. It will test us early,” said head coach Craig Neal.
The Lobos were the youngest team in the Mountain West, and one of the youngest in the NCAA, last season. Neal constantly made mention of the team’s inexperience.
The team’s 17-15 record was not exactly superb, but the Lobos did have some moments that showed promise.
On a match back in February, the Lobos found themselves down by 15 points to Boise State. With six minutes remaining on the clock, the team pulled off one of the biggest late-game comebacks in program history to defeat the Broncos 80-78.
Neal took note of positives like this from last season, and is now looking to make 2016-2017 a more successful season. He said there were a few things he wanted to work on, but that there was one thing in particular that he needed to fix: defense.
“During our last six games last year we gave up 77 points a game,” he said. “I think the biggest glaring thing is point differential. When we’ve won every championship, we’ve been seven or more. In the last two years, we’ve been two and three point difference between points scored and given up. I think that’s the most staggering stat that we have over the last three years.”
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This season, the Lobos are returning 10 players. Two of them — Elijah Brown and Tim Williams — are All-Mountain West players from last season. Neal said he expected his team to step up this year and make all the changes needed to get back on the winning track.
“The last two years didn’t meet our standards,” he said at Friday’s press conference.
Isabel Gonzalez is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. She mainly covers men’s soccer and basketball. She can be reached at sports @dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cisabelg.
