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Nov. 9—HENDERSON, Nevada — Here are some extra notes, quotes, stats, videos and whatever else I managed to empty out of the old notebook after Friday’s 72-64 UNM Lobos win over No. 22 UCLA in the Las Vegas Hoopfest.
He said it…
“We weren’t ready for the intensity of this game.”
— UCLA coach Mick Cronin
Turning defense in offense…
Last season, the Lobos were blessed by the one-man fastbreak that was Jaelen House.
On a regular basis, the point guard’s high-intensity, on-ball defense turned into an easy layup at the other end of the court in the blink of an eye. Pick sixes, coaches call them, referring to when a football player intercepts the ball and takes it all they way back for a touchdown.
But with House gone, the natural assumption may have been that the Lobos would take a step back in the points off turnovers category.
Hardly.
While the sample size is small, the potential is clearly there for this season’s Lobo roster to be as good or, dare I say, even better overall in that department.
The Lobos averaged 16.8 points off turnovers last season, they are averaging 22.0 through two games this season.
In Monday’s season opening win against Nicholls, the Lobos scored 23 points off 17 turnovers.
Friday, it was 21 points off 21 UCLA turnovers.
“Twenty one turnovers,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said, pausing in front of reporters to let the number sink in. “It’s hard to beat Division II teams with 21 turnovers.”
Of course, the Lobos had 24 turnovers and did win, but we’ll get to that a little later in this ETN column. This section is about how the Lobos actually did something with the 21 turnovers UCLA had (UCLA scored just 15 points off UNM’s 25 turnovers).
From the opening tip, the Lobos were the aggressor and regularly turned defense into offense.
Like here…
… or here …
… or here …
It wasn’t just the 12 steals the Lobos had, either. Friday was an all-around defensive gem for UNM.
“I think defensively, we were as connected as we’ve ever been, and that’s coming off of a bad…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/emptying-notebook-unms-pressure-defense-150100473.html
Author : Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
Publish date : 2024-11-09 15:01:00
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