I'll Be a Son of a Shark

Nov 23: #13 UNM (2-0) @ #5 Notre Dame (2-0)

Postby CoachC » Wed Jan 15, 2014 1:53 pm

A difficult assignment, facing a zone for the first time this year and without Jon Angelli. The Irish are coming off of 5 straight NCAA appearances, losing in the first round last year. Their wins have come on the road at Wake Forest, and at home to Milwaukee. They are led by shooting guard Sam Johnson averaging 26.5 over 2 games.

With Angelli in street clothes, Houston will get the start tonight with Stetson moving to the 3.

A war in the first half, no more than a 3 pt spread throughout. We struggle against the zone, but do enough things right to trail by one at half time 30-29.

Our inability to solve the zone finally caught up to us in the 2nd half. Not having Angelli on the floor hurt us at both ends of the court, but shooting 32% on the road is not going to win many games. Our body language in the 2nd half was pretty bad, and we allowed them to own the boards as well.

Our only real offense in the game came from Matt Houston who was our only player in double figures with a career high 21. They were successful in pushing Ray out of the blocks and he went scoreless for the first and perhaps last time of his career on 0/10 shooting mostly on turn arounds and 10 ft jumpers. He did pull down 11 rebs, and blocked 4 shots, but with no second option on offense, we didn't have a chance. Jackson and Johnson both grabbed 6 rebounds, but that was pretty much the extent of anything good happening in this game, other than the play of Houston.

Final: UNM 52 Notre Dame 73
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Postby CoachC » Wed Jan 15, 2014 1:56 pm

Nov 24: Air Force picked up a terrific road win last night against UNC and look to be trouble in the conference again.
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Nov 26: Boston College(1-1) @ #13 UNM(2-1)

Postby CoachC » Fri Jan 17, 2014 2:22 am

After back to back games vs the Big East, we now switch to the ACC for 2 (all told we have 4 games scheduled vs the Big East, and 5 against the ACC!). The Eagles were 20-13 last year, and exited the tournament in the round of 32. Their loss this year came on a neutral court to Memphis in OT, and their win came at home against Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

The Eagles have a very balanced offensive attack. Once again Angelli will be in street clothes, as will Gene Frederick. Rocket Man will start again in place of Angelli.

We do not shoot well again (42.3%) in the first half, and both Ray and Tatum picked up two fouls to create further depth problems up front. But thanks to 14 first half turnovers by the Eagles, we manage to take a one point lead into intermission 31-30. We need to get Ray going in the 2nd half and establish our inside game. We've got to do a better job on the offensive boards as well.

While we continued to struggle from the perimeter in the 2nd half, our defense and rebounding were much better. With Ray avoiding further foul trouble he was eventually able to take control of the game in the low posts, giving room for Stetson and Houston to penetrate. We were able to turn them over 24 times on 11 steals as well. The last couple of games really highlighted for us how much we miss Angelli not being on the court, not only because of his ability to score in any number of ways, but especially because of his ability to make the extra pass and find the open man. With Ray's dominance though, we are able to pull away and put them down in the 2nd half.

Ray led us with 20 pts, 7 rebs, 3 asts, 2 blocks doing most of his damage in the 2nd half.

Houston couldn't get his outside shot going in this one but winds up with 11 pts, mostly on dribble drives in the 2nd half as they collapsed on Martin. He also had 3 rebs, 4 assists, and a steal.

Conley had 10 pts, 4 asts and a steal.

Johnson played a fine overall game with 13 pts, 7 rebs, 2 stls, and 3 blocks and was largely responsible for keeping us in the game in the first half.

Stetson couldn't find his shot, but gave us 4 steals on the defensive end, Petion, likewise struggling with his shot, still gave us good overall play with 6 pts, 3 asts, 3 rebs, 2 stls off the bench. Jackson, Thompson, and Tatum all gave us decent minutes off the bench as well.

Final: UNM 72 BC 55
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Postby CoachC » Fri Jan 17, 2014 2:29 am

Nov 27: We are back to #16 in the polls (#17 in the coaches poll) this week after the loss to the Irish. Matt Houston is freshman of the week for 2nd week in a row.
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Nov 30: Duke (1-2) @ #16 UNM(3-1)

Postby CoachC » Fri Jan 17, 2014 3:58 am

A return game with the Blue Devils and a chance to avenge our loss last year in Durham. Finally eligible to return to post-season for the first time in 4 years, Duke was 18-14 last year and ranked most of the season. Their losses were a 3 point decision to Minnesota on a neutral court in the preseason NIT, and a 17 point road loss to top ranked Florida. In their most recent game they defeated Tulane at home by 12.

Both Angelli and Fredericks have returned to light practice this week and are dressed but questionable for anything more than a few minutes. It'll be nice to have them back at full strength. Fredericks is a horse and gives us great practice minutes on the red team, and Angelli's presence on the floor just makes us a better team, period.

We'll start the same 5 tonight and hope for better shooting tonight. It'll be SRO in the Pit tonight as the game has been sold out for weeks.

We shoot marginally better in the first half, but commit too many silly unforced turnovers. Our point guards need to answer the bell. We lead at the half, however, 35-31.

Other than the occasional baseline jumper by Houston, our perimeter game is still lacking, and with them successfully keeping Ray out of the low post all game, most of our points came on dribble drive penetration and put-backs. Still that and 18 points in transition was enough for us to shoot a surprising 47.2% from the field. Throw in outstanding 2nd half defense and some strong rebounding and we are able to steadily pull away in the 2nd half for an relatively easy win. If not for all the unforced turnovers, it may have turned into a blowout.

Ray led us with 14 points, largely on putbacks and 7 ft turnourands, but I have to give the big guy credit.. he takes what the defense allows him and doesn't try to force his game. He also had 5 rebs, 1 stl, and a block.

Houston was our only other double digit scorer with 13, mostly on intermediate jumpers although he did hit his only 3 pt shot attempt in the game.

Johnson had another strong performance with 8 pts, all on putbacks, and 11 rebs, 1 stl, 1 block.

Thompson had a decent game at point off the bench with 8 pts, 4 asts, 3 rebs and probably will start the next as Conley is a bit off his game at the moment.

Petion did a lot of positive things off the bench with 6 points, 3 asts, 4 rebs and a steal, but needs to shoot a bit more, as he is probably our best pure shooter at the moment and can hit the 3 when he's in rhythm.

Jackson and Tatum both provided postive minutes off the bench as well.

Angelli managed to get on the floor for 11 minutes and did some positive things although still hobbled by the knee injury. Hopefully he'll be ready to go in the next one, because he does so much to disrupt the opposition's defense even when he's not scoring.

Final: UNM 65 Duke 50
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Postby CoachC » Fri Jan 17, 2014 4:06 am

Dec 2: Inyo and Stetson have been squabbling quite a bit in practice ever since the NCAA tournament last spring. I'm not sure what has created the animosity between the two of them, but enough is enough. I sat them down and lectured to them about their responsibilities as Senior co-captains. They are certainly setting the wrong example off the court right now for our youngsters. To their credit both listened, and I hope they take our talk to heart.
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Dec 3: #14 Marquette(4-1) @ #16 UNM (4-1)

Postby CoachC » Fri Jan 17, 2014 5:31 am

We return to the Big East portion of the schedule tonight, and Angelli is finally at full strength fortunately, because we are going to need him. Fredericks is also at amost 100% now and will be available if needed. Angelli will be back in the starting lineup tonight in place of Stetson, and Thompson will start at the point for the first time this season.

The Golden Eagles (I still want to call them the Warriors) have had 6 straight NCAA appearances including the championship game 2 years ago. Last season they were 26-7 and advanced to the round of 32. They have a win over #22 OK. ST and a road win at Georgia. Their only loss was a surprising 9 point loss at home to Green Bay. Their offense is very perimeter oriented so we need to get out on the shooters and stop the dribble drive.

We couldn't have looked more hapless offensively in the first 20 minutes if we tried. Unable to hit shots from the perimeter again, and unable to find Ray in the low post, and our point guards playing hot potato with the basketball, we find ourselves trailing at intermission 22-30. We have to start playing as a team in the 2nd half and get this near capacity crowd into the game.

After trailing by as much as 15 early in the 2nd half, the crowd willed us back into this one, as we got stop after stop at the defensive end, finally taking our first lead of the game with 1:13 remaining. Pat Bullock hit two clutch freethrows with :18 to seal it and we escape with a 5 point lead.

Our defense is way ahead of our offense at this point. Struggling from the perimeter, defenses are able to collapse on Ray and he rarely is even to get a touch from closer than 10 feet. Having Angelli back tonight certainly made a defense, but it's time to watch some game tapes and try to fix our ailing offense.

Angelli led us with 11 pts, 2 asts, 8 rebs, 2 stls and a block, and thank goodness we had him back for this one as he put the team on his back at both ends as we made our comeback.

Houston again was our only other player in double figures with 10

Johnson had another solid game with 7 points, 11 rebs, 2 asts, 3 stls, and a block, but is not someone we can look to for a lot of offense. He scores mostly on putbacks and knows his place on the team...rebounding and defense, and excels at both.

We played a lot of offense to defense in this one, with Inyo and Ray on the court together much of the time in a double low post which helped some. Ray was still not a huge factor for us tonight, however, on offense, but still is a defensive workhorse. He had just 6 pts, and only 3 rebounds but did have 3 stls and 3 blocks.

Inyo played well off the bench with 6 points, 5 rebs, 2 stls, and a block, and we may have to play him and Ray together more to get touches inside. If they continue to triple team Ray, Inyo can and will score.

other than Inyo, not a lot of offense off the bench tonight, although Stetson played some good defensive minutes, and Gerren did hit a three near the end of the first half when we drew a play up for him out of the huddle.

This game wasn't pretty at all, and although it was nice to get a win over a ranked team, we should be better than this. We've got work to do. We can't keep shooting under 40% and keep winning.

Come from behind final: UNM 54 Marquette 49
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Postby CoachC » Fri Jan 17, 2014 5:43 am

Dec 4: Duke didnt think much of their road swing against the Mountain West as Air Force picked up another quality win, beating the Blue Devils 74-63/

We moved back to #13 this week, and the first published RPI numbers put us at 5th. Air Force getting closer to cracking the top 25 and have an RPI of 23.
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Dec 6: #13 UNM(5-1) @ Loyola-Marymount(1-5)

Postby CoachC » Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:07 am

Playing our 2nd and final non-conference road game of the season, pending the Bracket Buster in February, this is our return game from last years Bracket Buster and the Lions are our second opponent from the tough West Coast Conference. The Lions played well in conference play last year, but had a disappointing finish going 14-17 and failing to reach the post-season. Their only win this season has been at home to Easter Michigan, although they do have a quality 1 point loss on the road to Oregon. They still rely on Corey Abney for most of their offense (19.7/g) and will play mostly 3-2 zone. We've made some adjustments to our offense in practice in this week, but if we don't do a better job of attacking the zone than we did at Notre Dame this is a game we can lose. We've got to start sticking some jumpshots and i get ntelligent penetration from our point guards at some point in time if we are ever going to find Martin Ray some room to breath inside. We are forcing over 20 turnovers/g out of the Amoeba zone though and some transition baskets would help.

Although we shot just 37% in the first half, i did think we attacked the zone better. We just need to get some shots to drop. We had decent position on the offensive boards at least for 10 2nd chance points, and played lock down defense. At the half we lead 35-22.

Another poor shooting night (just 38.9% from the field), but excellent ball-handling(17-3 a/to), good rebounding and great defense throughout guaranteed the Lions were never going to make a game of it.

Houston led us with 13 pts, and 5 rebs but was just 6/24 from the field and we still need someone to start hitting some jumpshots.

Ray had 12 pts, 9 rebs, 1 stl, and 3 blocks

Johnson had another fantastic game and is being a difference maker in his senior year. 12 pts, 12 rebs, 2 stls and a block.

Inyo also gave the defense something to think about if they are going to keep manhandling Martin Ray and was also in double figures with 12 points, 4 rebs, and 2 blocks.

Thompson and Conley combined for 7 pts, 8 asts and only ONE turnover

Angelli didn't have one of his better games but had 7 points, 4 rebs, and a block

Stetson did a lot of a little things off the bench and gave us quality minutes, and Tatum had 4 points, 3 rebs in just 9 minutes.

We still badly need to develop a perimeter game of some kind, but I loved our tenacity in this one and was by and large happy with our effort.

Final: UNM 69 L-M 51
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Dec 10: #5 Georgia Tech(9-1) @ #13 UNM(6-1)

Postby CoachC » Fri Jan 17, 2014 8:41 am

Our 3rd ACC opponent of the season the Yellow Jackets come in with an RPI of 3 and are obviously very very dangerous. We'd better keep the Epi Pens handy and be ready for some nasty bee stings. Coming off of a 15-14 year last season, and a one and done in the NCAA tourney, Yellow Jackets are looking for much more this season. Their only loss was to Memphis in the championship game of the pre-season NIT. They have impressive wins over Arkansas, Oklahoma, UCLA, Pitt, Villanova, and a road win at Providence. They are the real deal. We should be able to beat them on the boards, if we can stop their penetration on offense, and find a way to score some points ourselves. Another capacity crowd at The Pit. Let's give them something to get excited about!

The 1st half saw us looking the best we have all year offensively, shooting 62.5% from the field and scoring inside and out! At one point Ray got a little too giddy and took an ill-advised 3 early in the shot clock, but otherwise our shot selection was excellent and the ball was finally dropping for us. Our defense and rebounding need to be better in the 2nd half, but we gave the crowd a lot to be excited about and take 56-40 lead into the locker room.

Quite an exciting basketball game for the crowd. They managed to get within 2 midway through the 2nd half on a barrage of 3s, but our own offense kept humming along and we simply were able to outscore them with the help of some big time steals for bustouts at the right times. Our perimeter defense left a lot to be desired at times, but this was probably the best team we've played all year, and without a doubt the best game we;ve played offensively this season. I'd have to say Notre Dame is a far better team defensively than they Yellow Jackets, but we've not seen anyone that put points up the way the Bees can. The thunder from the crowd was deafening in the final 2 minutes of the game and we picked their pockets for run out jams twice in a row to put it on ice.

With the offense giving Ray room to maneuver inside, he led us with 20 pts, 5 rebs and a block

The Rocket Man had his shooting shoes on tonight and added 18 including 3/4 from beyond the arc. He also supplied 5 asts, 3 rebs and 4 steals in a fine all-around game.

Angelli also had the shooter's touch tonight and scored 15 and 2/3 from 3 to go with his own 4 steals which all seemed to come at just the right moment.

Conley had 9 pts, 4 asts off the bench as he and Thompson (4 pts, 3 asts) gave us the floor play we needed.

Jackson added 8 pts off the bench

Johnson did all the things he's been doing all year long with 7 points, 9 rebs, 3 asts, 3 stls, and a block.

Stetson, Tatum, and Petion all gave solid minutes off the bench as well.

Hopefully this game will start giving us some swagger.


Happy Happy Final: UNM 95 Georgia Tech 84
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