I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

Feb 2: A sprained wrist limited Conley's effectiveness last night. X-rays proved negative, but he'll probably be out the next week to 10 days leaving us very thin at the point. Thompson will need to log some heavy minutes. Air Force pulled out a 67-66 nail biter at SD St. last night to keep the pressure on us headed to the academy.

[CoachC]

A huge game for both teams. A win gives us the hammer, a win for the Falcons puts them in a first place tie (we'd win a tie-breaker on strength of schedule) and pretty much guarantee them a spot in the Tourney field.

We didn't shoot well against their 1-2-2 zone the first time around, but stifling 2nd half defense and rebounding led us to a surprisingly easy 66-43 win at home. It'll be a different environment tonight at the sold out and intimate Clune Arena tonight however. The 1-2-2 zone remains a big concern, as does the fact that Conley is not dressed tonight. Thompson needs to be at his best tonight. Both Stetson and Bullock will probably get some minutes backing him up, but Thompson needs to give us 30+ minutes.

Rocket has now edged past Paul Hines as the conference's leading scorer, and the matchup between the two tonight will be big. Matt has some big responsibility on his shoulders tonight, not only in helping break down their zone, but in keeping a hand in Hines' face all night. THey've had Hines playing the point a lot lately, but he's too big for Thompson to handle.

Air Force had a couple of surprises for us at the outset. the first was starting the game in man to man out of deference to Houston whom they hounded relentlessly. Secondly, Hines didn't start for them and didn't come off the bench til mid way through the half. We out shoot them 52.9 to 34.6 and lead at the half 37-29. Thompson picked up his 2nd foul late, which is a concern. We will start in zone in the 2nd half and hope that Hines doesn't murder us. We need to get at the boards harder in the 2nd half as well.

In the 2nd half half they went to the zone, and we through up a clunker. Unable to score consistently, and playing horrible defense in addition to not taking care of the ball, we watched the Falcons soar right past us.


Backcourt: D- Needing a big game from THompson, he didn't provide it. 4 pts, 3 asts, but turned the ball over 5 times and was lost on defense and got into foul trouble. Everything we didn't need him to do. Houston had a miserable shooting night (5/26, 1/5 from 3) He also turned the ball over 5 times and did not play well defensively.

Frontcourt: C- Angelli led us in scoring with 12 points, and had 4 steals but also got into foul trouble on a night when he needed him on the floor. His own defense against Dion York left a lot to be desired as well. Johnson(6pts, 6 rebs, 1 stl, 1 block) played a halfway decent game. Ray (6 pts, just 3 rebs, 1 stl, 1 block) lacked energy tonight. Some decent decent play off the bench from the bigs kept this from being a lower score.

Bench: C+ Inyo Jackson was probably our most motivated player tonight with 11 pts, 7 rebs and strong post defense. Tatum (2 pts, 4 rebs in 6 minutes) also played well, but we got very little from anyone else, especially the guard corps/

Overall: D+
Poor shooting, poor defense and mediocre rebounding, plus some abhorrent ball handling in the 2nd half. Air Force wanted the game more, and in the 2nd half we handed it to them

Losing to the Falcons on the road would have been understandable. Playing the way we did in the 2nd half at both ends of the floor was inexcusable.

Final: UNM 58 Air Force 72

[CoachC]

Feb 5: We remain at #7 this week (#8 in coaches poll), Rpi falling to 7. Air Force finally cracks the top 25 at #24(#22 in Usa Today), RPI now at 19. We now need to regroup.

Despite a poor performance against Air Force, Matt Houston is again Freshman of the week in the MWC.

Isaac Gerren very unhappy about playing time, and felt he should have played more at Air Force when Houston was struggling with his shot. Gerren did nothing with the minutes he did have, however, so I'm not sure how he came to that conclusion, and spoke to him at length. His frustration is understandable, but I told him he needed to focus it on working hard in practice and in game situations. I definitely want the young man to succeed, but he has to show me he really wants the playing time if he expects to get more minutes.

[PointGuard]

Tough loss, Coach. Your guys should want some revenge if you end up playing the fly-boys in the conference tournament.

Strange when the AI doesn't start their leading scorer...I just played a game in which the AI did a similar thing to a guy who had been scoring over 17 ppg. He ended up playing a fairly substantial number of minutes (and scoring 11) but not as many minutes as he likely would have if he had started.

[CoachC]

Conley still not dressed tonight. Our guard play must be tons better tonight. We didn't shoot well at all at Wyoming, and won on our defense.

More poor shooting from everyone other than Houston, poor defense on the ball, and mediocre ball-handling. Only forcing them into 15 turnovers gives us a slim 31-29 lead at the half.

More of the same in the 2nd half, as we shot just 44.8 against the man to man and let them shoot over 51%. We also turned the ball over 20 times which made me want to pull my hair out. We turned them over 27 times though, and outrebounded them which, for tonight, was enough. Not a good game for us though.

Front Court: B- Johnson did all the things he does well. 8 rebs, career high 7 steals and a block and was not part of our defensive problem at all. Ray had 14 pts, 7 rebs, 1 stl, 3 blocks, but did not play his best post defense tonight, as he let their big man McClinton get far too many good looks at the basket. Angelli had a poor night, with just 6 points, 1 reb and 2 stls

Backcourt: B+ Houston found his shot again and led us with 20 pts, 7 rebs, 3 stls and played pretty good defense but turned it over 4 times. Thompson had 11 pts, 8 asts but offset that by turning the ball over 7 times. His defense on the point was sporadic.

Bench: D+ Only Petion (7 pts in 10 minutes) gave us much of anything off the bench tonight.

Overall: C- and that's generous. Too many turnovers, too much of a lack of communication on defense, and poor shooting from everyone but Houston and Ray.

Not a good game, but we get the win.

Final: UNM 67 Wyoming 57

[CoachC]

Feb 9: The Falcons give us back the hammer, stumbling at UNLV 67-60

[CoachC]

Not only did Hines not start, he played most of his minutes out of position at the point when he did come in.

[CoachC]

Looking for a strong finish to give them a shot at playing in the post-season somewhere (RPI 118) we need much better defense and ball-handling tonight. The 3rd place Rams shoot the ball very well and shot close to 49% against us in our 83-64 win at The Pit. They have a ton of good perimeter shooters, and are tough to zone, so Thompson needs to play smart defensively and not get into foul trouble. Team defense and getting switches off their screens will be key. Conley is dressed tonight, but doubtful. His wrist is still in a lot of pain and he has not yet returned to practice.

ooc: the Colorado St. court always disorients me. The big Rams Horns look like a couple of spiral staircases in the middle of the court. Hope no one falls down them and breaks their neck

A much better effort on defense tonight in the first half. Now we need to remember how to shoot the ball ourselves.

at the half we lead 31-24.

Difficult shooting night for us again, but smothering defense and total domination of the boards turned this one into a blowout.

Frontcourt: A Ray was all over the boards and played some of the best post defense we've seen from him all year. 12 pts, 18 rebs, 1 stl, 3 blocks in 29 minutes was a very good night. Angelli had 11 pts, 5 rebs, 1 stl, 2 blocks. Ho Hum game for Johnson (3 pts, 4 rebs, 1 stl) but we had help off the bench. We outscore them 34-12 on points in the paint and 12-2 on second chance scoring out rebounding them handlily (49-30, 19-7)

Backcourt: A- Houston ddin't have a great shooting night but led us with 17 points. Thompson was in a bit of foul trouble again, but had 8 pts, 4 asts, a stil and just 2 turnovers in 24 minutes. Stetson gave us solid relief tonight at both the point and the 2. Defensively we had a hand in the faces of their shooters all night.

Bench: A Some good help off the bench tonight from Stetson(8 pts, 2 asts, 3 rebs, 1 stl and just 1 turnover playing many of his 17 minutes at the point), Tatum (3 asts, 7 rebs in 14 minutes) and Petion (5 pts, 3 stls in 14 minutes). Inyo also gave us 5 rebounds and solid post defense in 12 minutes off the bench.

Overall: A- This kind of defense and rebounding can go a long way towards overcoming 40% shooting from the field. We challenged every shot, and left them crying for their mamas. We also outscore them 28-4 in transition.

Final: UNM 68 Colorado St. 41

[CoachC]

Feb 12: We did get Conley 6 minutes last night primarily at the defensive end and he came up with a steal and an assist off the break. Hopefully he'll be able to go full tilt in practice before the next game

We are at #7 again this week. Our RPI is back to 5. Air Force is now #21. CollegeInsider.com still projects as no better than a 4 seed and possibly a 5 seed. We need to finish strong. Air Force at the moment projects as perhaps a 6 or 7 seed.

Matt Houston MWC freshman of the week again. (he's had it every week but 2, might as well give him freshman of the year award now)

[CoachC]

Senior night for Conley, Stetson, Johnson,and Jackson. Howie Conley still nursing the wrist, but has returned to practice the last few days and should be able to give us at least some minutes off the bench in this one.

We need a repeat of our defense from the other night. The Aztecs point guard Robinson got away from us in the game at San Diego, and they shot over 52% from the field against us for the game. We were fortunate to shoot well ourselves that night

Poor shooting yet again combined with some lack of effort on defense and the boards and we find ourselves behind at intermission 24-30. It's not a happy locker room at the half. The crowd has been on it's hands most of the game thus far, since we've not done much of anything for them to be happy about.

We focused much better defensively in the 2nd half after going straight man, although it was the other Robinson brother, Derrick who gave us problems tonight.

FrontCourt: C
After deciding to stop making silly fouls, Angelli finally got red hot in the 2nd half and provided the offense with the jumpstart it needed to get the crowd in the game. Jon had 15 pts, 2 asts, 2 stls and a block. We need more than 2 rebounds from him though, and definitely more than 21 minutes on the floor. Ray did not provide enough help defense or rebounding tonight. He played like he was underwater and had just 8 pts, 4 rebs, 1 stl, 1 block for the game. Johnson had 5 pts, 5 rebs, 1 stl and 1 block, but could have used some more recognition from Ray trying to guard their talented 4 who scored 14. Tatum was the only big man to give much help off the bench tonight.

Backcourt: C+
Houston led us with 18 pts, and added 4 rebs, but kept losing Robinson (23 pts) on the defensive end. Thompson had 6 pts, 7 asts, 3 rebs, 1 stl and did an excellent job locking down the other Robinson, Kevin, this time around. He turned the ball over 5 times again though and he still needs to learn to value possessions more. Stetson did a terrific job for us off the bench.

Bench: B-

Tatum (7 pts, 2 rebs in 14 minutes) and Stetson(10 pts, 5 rebs) and played excellent defense at both the 2 and the 3 when on the floor) were the main contributors tonight.
Conley was able to play 11 minutes tonight, and although it was obvious the wrist was still bothering him, he did score 2 and came up with 2 stls. A pat on the back to Larry Guy who got a few minutes late in the first half, and responded with a 3 pt play driving in the lane as soon as he came in.

Overall: C+

Once we finally got going and got the crowd in the game, we did a solid job of closing it out. Our man-to-man defense in the 2nd half other than on Derrick Robinson was pretty good as well. We still didn't rebound very well, and it took us over 25 minutes to get out of first gear tonight.

Final: UNM 74 SD State 60