I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

The Broncos will be coming in angry after being embarrassed at home last time out, and we had BETTER be coming in angry after our fortunate escape against TCU. Hopefully we are the more angry team and do something about it.

The Broncos are deliberate and not very talented. After losing their first 6 games of the season they did win 7 out of 8 thereafter before running into the Falcons.

We play reasonably well in the first half, although i think that 7 turnovers is still too many for us. But we get to the boards, shoot well and play hard-nosed defense. At the half we lead 35-20.

Although we didn't shoot very well (42.6) we took care of business in the 2nd half. The Broncos simply lacked the talent to make any kind of run at us.

Houston led us with 16 pts, 5 rebs, 1 stl, 1 block
Angellie had 12 points, 4 asts, 6 rebs, and 5 stls in a good all-around game.
Ray had 11 pts, 8 rebs and 2 blocks but still isn't getting enough touches.
Johnson completed the double digit scoring with 11 pts, 2 asts, 5 rebs, and a steal.
Conley played well at the point with 5 pts, 5 asts, 3 rebs and 3 stls in 24 minutes, but Thompson was shaky with the ball again off the bench.

Stetson (4 pts, 5 rebs, 2 stls) and Jackson (4 rebs, 1 stl) were the only significant contributors off the bench tonight.

Inyo aggravated a hip pointer in the game and is day to day.

Final: UNM 65 Boise St. 41

[CoachC]

Jan 8: The Falcons aren't screwin' around getting another blowout win. This time at home against the Aztecs 92-66.

We move up to #14 this week and RPI of 7.
The Falcons are still getting no love from the pollsters this year, but are up to 21 in RPI.

Despite an off performance at TCU, Houston is once again Freshman of the Week.

[CoachC]

An early showdown. We'd better get our house in order and play some basketball tonight. They play 1-3-1 zone...so ..ooooh boy. We know what all conference point guard Paul Hines can do, and he's again leading the conference in scoring at 15.8. Small Foward Dion York and his 5 steals a game is a concern as well. He also is their leader in assists at 3.4/g and plays more like a point forward in their offense. Center Ray Jarrett leads the conference in rebounding at 8.8 and also averages over 9 pts/g. Here's where we find out if Ray's experience against some of the best big men in the country earlier pays off.

They have wins over Kentucky (neutral floor), Duke, Alabama, and BYU and split a pair of games with #11 Pitt the loss on a neutral floor, the win at home. They also have road wins vs North Carolina and St. Mary's, and quality road losses at OK. St. (by 2) and #19 Mich. St. ( by 6). Their other loss came on the road at High Point. They are the real deal and deserve to be ranked.

We actually shoot well against the zone (48.3% hallelujah!), rebound well, and play tenacious defense in the first half. We even take good care of the ball.

At halftime we lead 36-28.

We don't shoot nearly as well in the second half (didnt really expect THAT miracle to continue) and just under 40% for the game. Our defense was smothering though, as they shoot just over 27% for the game, we rebounded well and took very good care of the ball. Mr. York leading the nation in steals had nary a one against us. We run away and hide in the 2nd half.

Vernon Johnson had a stupendous game and led us with 19 pts, 10 rebounds.
Houston added 12, but couldn't get the ball to drop in the 2nd half.
Martin Ray finally got some touches but was just 3/11 from the field. He did get to a double double though with 12 pts, 13 rebs, 1stl and 4 blocks.
Angellli had 6 pts, 9 rebs, and a block
Conley and Thompson combined for 8 asts, and just 3 turnovers at the point.

Stetson, Jackson, Fredericks all gave good minutes off the bench, and a special pat on the back to Isaac Garren who had 6 points in 5 minutes.


Final: UNM 66 Air Force 43

[CoachC]

The Cowboys haven't had much to be happy about this season, and we need to keep it that way. Their best win of the year came at home against Arizona St. Their conference win came against last place TCU at home.

We need to play our game on the road and not shoot ourselves in the foot or anywhere else painful.

We shoot amazingly horribly against mostly man in this one (28.6), but we own the boards and play solid defense to take a 33-21 halftime lead. If we can shoot at ALL in the 2nd half the Cowboys will have a hard time coming back.

Our shooting woes in this one are mysterious, especially for Ray who finally gets some good looks and goes 4 for 14. Never-the-less, despite the poor shooting, defense and rebounding is enough to pull away late, and the Cowboys never were able to get closer than 7 or 8. We were 34-12 on points in the paint, 17-0 on second chance scoring, and 20-6 in transition. And shot 13 more freethrows.Those are numbers that can help overcome a cold shooting night even on the road.

Despite the poor shooting night, Ray is our only double digit scorer and had 14 pts, 9 rebs, 1 stl, and 2 blocks.
Angelli had 9 pts, 9 rebs, 2 stls
Stetson added 9 off the bench
Conley also had 9
and Houston 8

Thompson had 6 pts, 4 asts, 3 rebs off the bench, Inyo had 4 pts, 9 rebs, and Frederick and Tatum both gave good minutes as well.

Final: UNM 67 Wyoming 49 and only cold shooting kept it that close.

[CoachC]

Jan 15: We move up to #12 (#11 in coach's poll), 8th in RPI

[PointGuard]

Technical against the AI coach...WOW! Wish some of my coaching opponents would get those.

[CoachC]

but the dumb refs didn't even give us possession! I didn't get to pick the shooter either :S

[CoachC]

The Rams are off to a good start in conference, tied for 2nd with Air Force. We've spent a lot of time in practice the last couple of days working on our offensive sets, and I took the time to have a film session with Martin Ray as well. I think playing against the caliber of competition we did in the pre-season, has left him a little gun shy in the post, and he needs to get back to taking it strong to the hoop. I'm looking for good things out of the offense tonight.

I liked our shot selection in the first half and how we kept getting to the line by moving to the basket. That in turned opened things up more on the perimeter where Osei was able to drain a couple of 3s. We need him to get his confidence back. Only negative was that Ray picked up 2 personals and sat quite a bit. Hopefully he'll stay out of further foul trouble in the 2nd half. We need his rebounding for one thing, which we didn't do as well in the first half as we would have liked. at the half we lead 42-26

Not happy with our defense and rebounding tonight, but Ray being limited to just 19 minutes had something to do with that. What I did like was that we were scoring inside and out were even 8-16 from 3.

Houston had a career high 27 and also grabbed 8 rebounds. He was unstoppable tonight.
Petion also had a career high of 12 with 4 of 5 shooting from 3. That's the kind of weapon we know he can be, and it was good to see him have confidence in his shot tonight.
Angelli contributed 15 pts, 3 asts, 2 rebs, 2 stls. We could have used more rebounding from Jon tonight, but still a good game.
Johnson did a little of everything with 5 pts, 2 asts, 5 rebs, 4 stls, and 2 blocks.
Even in limited minutes, Ray still had 11 pts, 7 rebs and 2 blocks, but we need him on the floor.
Conley and Thompson combined for 12 asts, 3 stls, and just 3 turnovers. Thompson also hit a couple of 3s tonight for 6.

Besides Petion and Thompson, Inyo and Stetson also gave us good minutes off the bench. Fredericks sprained his ankle in the game and will be out about a week.

Final: UNM 82 Colorado St. 63

Besides Petion, Thompson had 6 asts off the bench

[CoachC]

Jan 19: Air force now alone in 2nd at 4-1, Colorado St alone in 3rd at 3-2.

[PointGuard]

but the dumb refs didn't even give us possession! I didn't get to pick the shooter either :S

I seem to recall (in the long distant past) getting a few technical shots, and while I wasn't able to pick the shooter, my highest rated free throw shooter who was on the court at the time was selected by the AI to shoot. Was that not the case for you?

But agree, the HUMAN coach should get to pick...and of course, there should be possession as well.