LOBOS FALL TO AGGIES 91-76, MWC TOURNEY RUN ENDS
It was fun while it lasted. Though plenty of Lobo fans made the trip to Vegas to turn the Thomas & Mack Center into Pit West, they could not provide their team with enough of a boost to overcome a surging Utah State squad, who knocked off UNM 91-76. As a result, New Mexico’s dream of winning 4 games in 4 days to capture an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament have gone down in flames. After such a dominating start to the season, it’s not the way Coach Pitino, his players, or the fans wanted it to end, but there should be more basketball to play this year, and, well Rome wasn’t built in a day.
As for Thursday night, it was all Aggies from the jump. And when I say it was all Aggies, I really mean it was all Taylor Funk. The 6’9” stretch forward scored the first 16 points for Utah State in a stunning display of shot making, leaving Pitino furious, and the Lobos in a quick 10 point hole. When Funk cooled off, 1st team All-Conference member Steven Ashworth took over, and with 6th man of the year Dan Akin cleaning up the interior, UNM could never chip away at the lead and went to the halftime break trailing by 11.
The effort was there all night, and certainly in the 2nd half, when Jaelen House tried to will his team back into the game, and the Lobos did cut it to 6 at one point. The problem is, when you dig yourself an early hole, you have no margin for error, and when your opponent is playing well, it makes it even tougher. The Aggies had an answer everytime UNM looked like they were about to creep back into it, and that’s what good teams do.
Though it was a disappointing loss, as mentioned earlier, there will likely be an NIT invite headed the Lobos way. In mid-January that was not on the radar, as they had spent time in the national polls, but considering where this program has been over the last handful of years, it should be viewed as a massive step in the right direction, and a building block for the future. There are countless examples of teams using deep NIT runs to lay the foundation for a great following year. That could absolutely be the case with this New Mexico team. There are even whispers they could have a home game at The Pit. With most first round NIT games taking place Tuesday or Wednesday before the Big Dance gets underway (excluding the First Four games of course) this gives the Lobos a chance to showcase their program, their venue, and their rabid fanbase in front of a national audience. That’s a big win.
OTHER DAY 2 ACTION
The other 3 games on day 2 were phenomenal, and in fact two of them went to overtime. The opener saw top seeded San Diego State struggle before finally eliminating Colorado State. Even then, an Isaiah Stevens heave from 70 feet at the buzzer hit the rim, and was about 6 inches from being one of the all-time best shots in college basketball history.
San Diego State will take on San Jose State, who upset Nevada in overtime. The combo of Tim Miles and Omari Moore showed why they won Coach and Player of the Year, respectively, in the conference. Moore was dominant, holding off a charge by Jarod Lucas to knock out the Wolf Pack and damage their at-large hopes.
The third game may have been the most wild, as Boise State scorched the nets to the tune of 50 first half points, against host UNLV. Their shooting regressed in the 2nd half though, the Rebels got hot, and eventually they tied the game on a loose ball scramble and miracle 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer by Shane Nowell. Overtime was all Broncos though, who probably locked up a tourney bid. They will play Utah State late Friday night, in a juicy semifinal.