Scouting report: No. 18 Arizona Wildcats vs. New Mexico Lobos
- Updated
Wildcats resume long rivalry with Lobos.
- Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Matchup: New Mexico (7-4) at No. 18 Arizona (10-2)
Location: McKale Center
Time: 7 p.m.
TV: Pac-12 Networks
Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
G Kadeem Allen (6-3 senior)
G Kobi Simmons (6-5 freshman)
G Rawle Alkins (6-5 freshman)
F Lauri Markkanen (7-0 freshman)
C Dusan Ristic (7-0 junior)
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
G Jordan Hunter (5-11 sophomore)
G Elijah Brown (6-4 junior)
F Sam Logwood (6-7 junior)
F Tim Williams (6-8 senior)
C Obij Aget (7-1 senior)
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
The series: The once-fiery and regularly contested Arizona-New Mexico series has been idle since 1999-2000, when the Wildcats lost a two-point game at McKale Center right before Christmas break that season. The teams split six games throughout the 1990s, with Arizona winning once in Albuquerque and New Mexico winning the 1999-00 game in Tucson.
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Strong at home as usual, the Lobos have struggled away from the Pit, losing even to in-state rival New Mexico State 84-71 on Dec. 10. While they average 76.9 points a game, some of their opponents find it easy to score even more: New Mexicoβs defensive efficiency ranks only 183 of 351 Division I teams, with it allowing opponents to shoot 45.1 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from three-point range.
Offensively, the Lobos rely on the two-man attack of forward Tim Williams and guard Elijah Brown. Brown can be a prolific scorer but he takes more than half of his shots from 3-point range but hits them at only a 27.5 percent rate. Heβs also turnover-prone. Williams is the Lobosβ leading scorer and rebounder. Williams has limited range but heβs shooting an efficient 63.1 percent from the field. Jordan Hunter took over point guard for Nealβs son, Cullen, who transferred to Ole Miss, while big wing Sam Logwood is a third-year starter. Inside, South Sudan native Obij Aget can be a defensive presence around the rim, but he averages just 18 minutes.
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
The Lobosβ leading scorer and rebounder has only shot one 3-pointer this season but hardly needs to. He's shooting 63.8 shooting percentage and has three double-doubles already this season.
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Not only will Allen need to shake off a rough game against Texas A&M, his leadership might be needed to keep the Wildcats focused on their last game before Christmas break, when many of them have trips home planned.
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
"Williams and Brown are as good of an inside-outside combination as (from) any team weβve played. Theyβre deep, they play 9 or 10 every game. They have five frontcourt players and five guards. They may have had their ups and downs in nonconference play but every team hits their stride. And you know what? Iβm sure this is a game they would love to hit their stride in right before Christmas, heading into the beginning of the new year, so we have to be ready and focused.β
UA coach Sean Miller
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
During his weekly news conference Monday, Miller said again that injured guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright is ahead of schedule and that he hoped to get his βwhole teamβ back at some point.
By βwhole team,β that presumably means guard Allonzo Trier, who has missed 12 games with his NCAA eligibility issue β although, as always, nobody wants to comment on that. UA prefaces nearly every press conference with the warning that Trier questions can't be answered, while two NCAA officials declined to comment in any form when asked by the Star about Trier.
Regardless of Trier, though, PJC may be on the earlier rather than later end of the 4-8 week timetable typically given to those who suffer high ankle sprains, as Jackson-Cartwright did on Nov. 30.
Miller said itβs even possible β though hardly certain -- that Jackson-Cartwright could return for UAβs Pac-12 opener on Dec. 30 at Cal, which would be just after the four-week mark.
βI donβt believe itβs in the cards for him to be out eightβ weeks, Miller said. βWhat the actual time is weβll find out more and more.β
Overall, Miller characterized UA's missing-persons picture this way:
βObviously, we need some good fortune to stay away from injury, and hopefully we can welcome our whole team back at some point,β Miller said. βYou feel like you deserve that. Kadeem Allen deserves that. It would be nice to walk out there and not have to come to you guys (media) at the end of the game and talk about surviving foul trouble and some of the things we currently have to do in our situation.β
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Asked during his news conference if freshman typically arrive in college with a higher basketball IQ these days, Miller said βnoβ and went on a long discussion on about one-and-dones.
βI think freshmen come to college basketball with more unrealistic expectations than ever before,β Miller said. βThat statement is the most obvious that a college basketball coach can make, that nobody truly understands the process thatβs going to be required to achieve what they want to achieve.
βThe one-and-done model is completely upside down in any area of civilization. You donβt become a lawyer (by going) to law school for a year.β
Miller went on to compare career tracks in several professions, but said he wasnβt frustrated over the fact that the NBA appears to be keeping the one-and-done rule in its new collective bargaining agreement. That rule states players must be 19 and a year removed from their high school class graduating year.
In fact, Miller said he is trying to help those seeking a one-year exit to the pros, as several of his players already have.
βIt is what it is,β Miller said. βWeβre recruiting five players a year. We take inventory every day.β
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
That Cullen Neal took the grad transfer route from New Mexico to Ole Miss after last season was hardly a surprise in this day and age of fluid rosters throughout college basketball.
Except that his dad is New Mexicoβs head coach.
But, as the point guard of a team barely over .500 last season, Cullen Neal found himself a frequent target. So much so that he sat down with University of New Mexico police last February to discuss the vague death threats he was getting on social media.
βI just think the dynamics didnβt work out and it ended up being a decision that was made for all parties involved,β Craig Neal said. βBut heβs moved on, weβve moved on and heβs enjoying his season there so far.β
The stats would indicate as much. Cullen Neal is averaging 12.4 points a game so far this season, comparable to his scoring production at New Mexico, but is shooting a higher percentage across the board.
But while he's also playing for one of Craig Nealβs longtime coaching friends in Andy Kennedy, that doesn't make it all good on a personal level.
Because, without his son around every day, dad's still hurting a bit.
βItβs been very difficult,β Craig Neal said.
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
0Β Arizona games covered so far this season by television analyst Bill Walton, who will make his Wildcat βseason debutβ tonight on a Pac-12 Networks broadcast.
- Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
1Β New Mexico win this season in five games away from The Pit, against Cal State Northridge in the Wooden Legacy event.
- Bruce Pasco Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
5Β Wins in six games immediately before Christmas break for the Wildcats under Sean Miller (UA played through Christmas at the Diamond Head Classic in 2012-13).
- Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
100Β Seasons since Arizona and New Mexico first played each other, with the Lobos winning 28-19 on Feb. 1, 1917 in Albuquerque. They have met 125 times.
G Kadeem Allen (6-3 senior)
G Kobi Simmons (6-5 freshman)
G Rawle Alkins (6-5 freshman)
F Lauri Markkanen (7-0 freshman)
C Dusan Ristic (7-0 junior)
G Jordan Hunter (5-11 sophomore)
G Elijah Brown (6-4 junior)
F Sam Logwood (6-7 junior)
F Tim Williams (6-8 senior)
C Obij Aget (7-1 senior)
The series: The once-fiery and regularly contested Arizona-New Mexico series has been idle since 1999-2000, when the Wildcats lost a two-point game at McKale Center right before Christmas break that season. The teams split six games throughout the 1990s, with Arizona winning once in Albuquerque and New Mexico winning the 1999-00 game in Tucson.
Strong at home as usual, the Lobos have struggled away from the Pit, losing even to in-state rival New Mexico State 84-71 on Dec. 10. While they average 76.9 points a game, some of their opponents find it easy to score even more: New Mexicoβs defensive efficiency ranks only 183 of 351 Division I teams, with it allowing opponents to shoot 45.1 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from three-point range.
Offensively, the Lobos rely on the two-man attack of forward Tim Williams and guard Elijah Brown. Brown can be a prolific scorer but he takes more than half of his shots from 3-point range but hits them at only a 27.5 percent rate. Heβs also turnover-prone. Williams is the Lobosβ leading scorer and rebounder. Williams has limited range but heβs shooting an efficient 63.1 percent from the field. Jordan Hunter took over point guard for Nealβs son, Cullen, who transferred to Ole Miss, while big wing Sam Logwood is a third-year starter. Inside, South Sudan native Obij Aget can be a defensive presence around the rim, but he averages just 18 minutes.
The Lobosβ leading scorer and rebounder has only shot one 3-pointer this season but hardly needs to. He's shooting 63.8 shooting percentage and has three double-doubles already this season.
Not only will Allen need to shake off a rough game against Texas A&M, his leadership might be needed to keep the Wildcats focused on their last game before Christmas break, when many of them have trips home planned.
"Williams and Brown are as good of an inside-outside combination as (from) any team weβve played. Theyβre deep, they play 9 or 10 every game. They have five frontcourt players and five guards. They may have had their ups and downs in nonconference play but every team hits their stride. And you know what? Iβm sure this is a game they would love to hit their stride in right before Christmas, heading into the beginning of the new year, so we have to be ready and focused.β
UA coach Sean Miller
During his weekly news conference Monday, Miller said again that injured guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright is ahead of schedule and that he hoped to get his βwhole teamβ back at some point.
By βwhole team,β that presumably means guard Allonzo Trier, who has missed 12 games with his NCAA eligibility issue β although, as always, nobody wants to comment on that. UA prefaces nearly every press conference with the warning that Trier questions can't be answered, while two NCAA officials declined to comment in any form when asked by the Star about Trier.
Regardless of Trier, though, PJC may be on the earlier rather than later end of the 4-8 week timetable typically given to those who suffer high ankle sprains, as Jackson-Cartwright did on Nov. 30.
Miller said itβs even possible β though hardly certain -- that Jackson-Cartwright could return for UAβs Pac-12 opener on Dec. 30 at Cal, which would be just after the four-week mark.
βI donβt believe itβs in the cards for him to be out eightβ weeks, Miller said. βWhat the actual time is weβll find out more and more.β
Overall, Miller characterized UA's missing-persons picture this way:
βObviously, we need some good fortune to stay away from injury, and hopefully we can welcome our whole team back at some point,β Miller said. βYou feel like you deserve that. Kadeem Allen deserves that. It would be nice to walk out there and not have to come to you guys (media) at the end of the game and talk about surviving foul trouble and some of the things we currently have to do in our situation.β
Asked during his news conference if freshman typically arrive in college with a higher basketball IQ these days, Miller said βnoβ and went on a long discussion on about one-and-dones.
βI think freshmen come to college basketball with more unrealistic expectations than ever before,β Miller said. βThat statement is the most obvious that a college basketball coach can make, that nobody truly understands the process thatβs going to be required to achieve what they want to achieve.
βThe one-and-done model is completely upside down in any area of civilization. You donβt become a lawyer (by going) to law school for a year.β
Miller went on to compare career tracks in several professions, but said he wasnβt frustrated over the fact that the NBA appears to be keeping the one-and-done rule in its new collective bargaining agreement. That rule states players must be 19 and a year removed from their high school class graduating year.
In fact, Miller said he is trying to help those seeking a one-year exit to the pros, as several of his players already have.
βIt is what it is,β Miller said. βWeβre recruiting five players a year. We take inventory every day.β
That Cullen Neal took the grad transfer route from New Mexico to Ole Miss after last season was hardly a surprise in this day and age of fluid rosters throughout college basketball.
Except that his dad is New Mexicoβs head coach.
But, as the point guard of a team barely over .500 last season, Cullen Neal found himself a frequent target. So much so that he sat down with University of New Mexico police last February to discuss the vague death threats he was getting on social media.
βI just think the dynamics didnβt work out and it ended up being a decision that was made for all parties involved,β Craig Neal said. βBut heβs moved on, weβve moved on and heβs enjoying his season there so far.β
The stats would indicate as much. Cullen Neal is averaging 12.4 points a game so far this season, comparable to his scoring production at New Mexico, but is shooting a higher percentage across the board.
But while he's also playing for one of Craig Nealβs longtime coaching friends in Andy Kennedy, that doesn't make it all good on a personal level.
Because, without his son around every day, dad's still hurting a bit.
βItβs been very difficult,β Craig Neal said.
0Β Arizona games covered so far this season by television analyst Bill Walton, who will make his Wildcat βseason debutβ tonight on a Pac-12 Networks broadcast.
1Β New Mexico win this season in five games away from The Pit, against Cal State Northridge in the Wooden Legacy event.
5Β Wins in six games immediately before Christmas break for the Wildcats under Sean Miller (UA played through Christmas at the Diamond Head Classic in 2012-13).
100Β Seasons since Arizona and New Mexico first played each other, with the Lobos winning 28-19 on Feb. 1, 1917 in Albuquerque. They have met 125 times.
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McKale Center likely won't be full for New Mexico tonight.
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