One of the big boys of the conference, New Mexico, hits Walt McPherson Court Saturday night to take on San Jose State University. The Lobos are coming off a three-point overtime victory at Wyoming in which all three Cowboy guards scored in double figures so keep a watch on how Coach Craig Neal's backcourters perform against their Spartan opposites.
New Mexico sports a pair of bigs in Alex Kirk and Aussie Cameron Bairstow (how did he not end up in Moraga?), 7-foot-0, 245 and 6-foot-11, 240 respectively.
They and 6-foot-4 senior point Kendall Williams are the Lobo talents that beat opponents.
Kirk brings 14.6 and 9.5 scoring and rebounding averages into the game, plus 42 blocked shots. Bairstow is at 20.4 points plus 7.4 rebounds each time out while shooting 56% and 76% respectively. Williams is tops in assists with 71, steals with 25 and is scoring 18.2 points per contest.
Defending in the paint is going to be a major SJSU problem, what with the lack of height and depth so expect the Lobos to zero right in on that element.
Backcourter High Greenwood, another baller from Oz and freshman guard Cullen Neal, the son of the head coach, are more ancillary talents at this point -- helpful but not mainstays.
Greenwood is the top out-on-the-floor defender but also with a 32/9 assist-to-turnover ratio while Neal is scoring 8.4 a night, shooting 43% from three-point range with half of his attempts being from long distance.
New Mexico is holding opponents to 40% overall shooting and has ventured to the foul line 138 more time than opponents but is in a deficit with long distance accuracy: 32% to 35%.
The Lobos thus far have lost on a neutral court to Massachusetts, at home to New Mexico State and on the road at Kansas. Can SJSU enter make that a quartet?
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