Men's Basketball | 11/30/2016 11:08:00 PM
Box Score ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico outscored ACU 18-10 over a 10-minute stretch of the second half Wednesday night as the Lobos pulled away from the Wildcats for a 64-55 win in front of 11,154 fans as UNM celebrated the 50
th anniversary of the opening of The Pit.
On Dec. 1, 1966, the Wildcats were in Albuquerque to take on the Lobos, who beat Abilene Christian, 62-53, behind all-America Mel Daniels, who had 19 points for New Mexico to match the 19 scored by ACU center David Wray.
Wednesday night the Wildcats couldn't match New Mexico inside where the Lobos outscored ACU 34-18, the first time this season the Wildcats have been outscored in the paint. And the Lobos also forced 14 turnovers, scoring 21 points off Wildcat giveaways.
Despite all of that, ACU trailed just 35-28 at the half and 40-33 with 16:48 left in the game when the Lobos went on a bit of a run to get some separation. Over a 10-minute stretch from the 16:48 mark to the 6:52 mark, the Lobos ran off an 18-10 run to push their lead to a game-high 58-43.
Connor McDougall scored six runs in that run, while Elijah Brown and Xavier Adams each scored four as the Lobos looked like they were ready to run away from the Wildcats.
The New Mexico lead was 61-49 with 4:19 to play before
Jalone Friday and
Drake Green hit back-to-back 3-pointers to bring ACU to within 61-55 with 3:21 to play. Trailing by seven points (62-55), the Wildcats missed two tough layups by
Isaiah Tripp and jaren Lewis and they wouldn't get any closer.
Key Stats
• ACU had just five turnovers in the first half, but had nine in the second half to finish with 14 in the game. New Mexico scored 21 points off those Wildcat turnovers, including 14 in the second half.
• Junior forward
Drake Green's first 18 shots of the season were all from 3-point range (he was 7 for 18 from long range). He didn't take his first shot of the season inside the arc until the 8:45 mark of the first half, a mid-range jumper that was off the mark. He later missed another 3-pointer in the first half, leaving him 7 of 20 from the floor through 5 ½ games (7 of 19 from the arc).
• ACU entered the game shooting 47.5 percent from the floor on the season and leading the Southland Conference in opponents' field goal percentage (38.6 percent). The Wildcats, however, shot just 40.7 percent in the first half and allowed the Lobos to hit 54.2 percent of their shots from the floor (13 of 24). ACU's defense was demonstrably better in the second half as they allowed UNM to shoot just 37.5 percent from the floor (9 of 24).
• ACU was whistled for 20 fouls to just nine for New Mexico, and the Lobos shot 25 free throws (making 18) compared to just 10 for ACU (7 of 10).
Notable
• The Wildcats' 35-28 deficit marked the first time in six games this season that they've trailed at halftime.
• The Wildcats are now 0-10 all-time against New Mexico, including 0-8 in Albuquerque, N.M.
Quotable
"Our guys competed really well (Wednesday). We did a a little bit better job taking care of the basketball than we've done the last couple of games, but 14 is still too many. New Mexico hurt us inside, especially early in the second half when they got some separation from us. The ball was bouncing around quite a bit, but we just couldn't get our hands on it enough. We did a great job to get it back down to six points late and had a couple of good looks, but just couldn't get it go down for us. We're getting closer and we're going to keep working, and one day pretty soon we're going to get one of these against one of these big boys." –
ACU head coach Joe Golding
Up Next
The Wildcats will be back in action Saturday in Charleston, S.C., when they complete a rare in-season home-and-home series a non-conference opponent with a game against Charleston Southern. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. CST) from the Buc Dome. ACU is then off until a Dec. 10 home game against Northern New Mexico.
