Final from the Pit: Lobos 65, Oregon 46!

[Bloo]

Lobos crush Ducks!

WOOHOO!!!

GO LOBOS!!!

[ThickLobo]

My two cents worth:

I thought Angela played terrific defense. Yes, she had a good tournament offensively and on the boards, but she was truly impressive in how she frustrated the bigs for Oregon with her tenacious positioning and denial. The team needs her to play like she did the last two nights because she is the best inside defender. If she stays out of foul trouble, that will solve a big question mark going into the season.

What can you say about Amy? She is tough as nails and she is truly taking command of the team. I really like how she is driving to the bucket to make layups or assists. She needs to do even more of that to provide the attack style that will make the other players more effective on that end of the court. She is the Energizer Bunny Rabbit out there - she goes 100 mph all game.

As far as Dionne goes, we need the refs to make at least one bad call on her at the start of every game. After she was called for a foul on a very clean blocked shot midway through the second half, she got real determined and was a key reason that the Lobos pulled away. Until then she seemed quite satisfied to give up the ball when she had ample opportunity to drive to the rim instead. As has been her style since she came to UNM, Dionne will deliver when needed (for example, she almost single-handedly pulled out the Cal game when she decided to carry the team on her back in the second half of that game).

That takes care of the all-tournament players. Congrats to them on a fine outing.

Good news came in the form of Brandi getting her shooting touch back. She played a steady game on both ends of the floor as did Amanda A. and Eileen. Jessica continues to impress with her contributions and development on the defensive end of the floor.

Other players made solid contributions over the two games. I was pleased to see Geronika earning more time and playing well. She is a good defender and I still think she has potential as the back-up point.

CLIFF's NOTES (So named for an avid LL fan who's handle shall remain not identified - you know who you are): The crowd was really into the game tonight. A chant of "defense, defense" erupted at the beginning of the game, probably in anticipation of a tough, tight game. Accordingly, it was a defensive battle as both teams played a physical brand of ball. But the Lobos played perhaps their best defensive game of the young season and withstood a Ducks squad that was on fire from beyond the arc in the first half. For a 9:20 p.m. tip off on a Saturday night following a football game, I thought that the 7,000 + attendance was pretty decent. I'm looking forward to 10,000 + as the season progresses and the competition intensifies.

[Lobodawg92]

Thanks for the feedback Mr. ThickLobo!

BTW, anyone have any idea what the Coach Duckie was so upset about. If it was the refs, I have to agree, tons of bad calls and missed stuff, but it went both ways I thought. I thought we were more physical then they were, and it seemed to me that they reverted to a little "dirty ball" after she got T'ed up. I thought there were a couple of intentional hard fouls applied to Amy, and I saw a few other things that would seem to indicate that as well.

Go Lobos!

[Mark]

Thanks for the recap Thick!

[sandia mt]

Thanks for the feedback Mr. ThickLobo!

BTW, anyone have any idea what the Coach Duckie was so upset about. If it was the refs, I have to agree, tons of bad calls and missed stuff, but it went both ways I thought. I thought we were more physical then they were, and it seemed to me that they reverted to a little "dirty ball" after she got T'ed up. I thought there were a couple of intentional hard fouls applied to Amy, and I saw a few other things that would seem to indicate that as well.

Go Lobos!

Yeah they really went after Amy. I didn't catch what caused the T though.

[yooperlobo]

Coach Flan mentioned in his postgame interview how "tough" this team is. He mentioned the physical play of Angela, Eileen, Jessica, and Amy. He even singled out Amanda (A) as "one tough cookie". Said "she may look like a cheerleader but is a very physical competitor." :horn)

[txlobo95]

From Thick:



I thought Angela played terrific defense. Yes, she had a good tournament offensively and on the boards




If she stays out of foul trouble, that will solve a big question mark going into the season.



The center position was also "one" of my big question marks going into the season. However, Jessica has provided me a certain level of comfort in that regard. She is uncanny for a freshman player, in that, she brings a high level of energy and intensity for EVERY game. She's has Brandi's type of always active motor in a post players body.

Angela probably played one of her best two games in a row ever for UNM and perhaps is starting to come out of her "shell". With that said, Jess was with her step for step on the stats:

Angela had 19 points, 12 rebounds on 7-14 shooting, but most importantly only had 1 turnover in 42 minutes.
Jessica had 13 points, 11 rebounds on 6-10 shooting, and had 2 turnovers in 38 minutes. Jess was 0-3 on FT's or could have had more points. One made FT was taken away for a lane violation.

Angela, no question, plays much better when she is not saddled with foul trouble. Can she continue to bring this level of intensity to each and every game? Jessica is showing she is a very capable player in the post and provides our team with not just depth at that position, but quality depth.

As far as the Oregon coach blowing up, we may have gotten a couple of ticky tack calls against them, they didn't get against us. That happens when your on the road.

The one that blew her top is when they called the foul on the player Amy was guarding on the inbounds play and the Oregon player was called for a "push off" on Amy. Probably should have been a no call and their coach blew a gasket.

It was a good solid win for the LLobos, especially consider their FT shooting woes in this game, with a number of those at the front end of a 1-1. Otherwise, it could have been a major blow-out.

The two best aspects I really like about this team so far; they get after it on rebounding and blocking out and second, they take very good care of the ball.

One thing I also noticed in both tourney games; we are finding our post players in transition underneath for easy buckets before the opponents defense has a chance to set-up. Not sure if it's officially a fast break, but it sure provides a few easy looks for our post players. :cool:

[judas_priest]

Could anybody give me their impressions of the Oregon team? I will be seeing them for the first (and probably last) time this season in not quite two weeks. Both the womens's and men's teams come up to Portland and play a doubleheader in the Rose Garden. I don't know whom the women are playing, but the men will take on Utah.

[Lobodawg92]

Could anybody give me their impressions of the Oregon team? I will be seeing them for the first (and probably last) time this season in not quite two weeks. Both the womens's and men's teams come up to Portland and play a doubleheader in the Rose Garden. I don't know whom the women are playing, but the men will take on Utah.

My impressions JP:

Big! They have very good size and skilled players. I thought they ran their offense well, and played good defense. If you don't mind an RPI style guess, I would think they would be in the 50 -100 position. I thought they were a good team, but did not expect the physical play of the Lobos, and perhaps twore them down a little at the end. I think they can give some people fits inside.

Go Lobos!

[judas_priest]

That fits in with what I thought of the team. It might not just have been the physical nature of the game - I think they're somewhat used to it. I think the altitude - and two games in two nights - played a role. Eugene's elevation is a whopping 426 ft above sea level (actually, part of the campus may reach over 500 feet). Hey, that's higher than my 150 feet. I'd be more than 1/2 mile underground at the lowest point in NM.

[Dr.M]

JP, My DSL line has been out all weekend, so I'm just getting around to posting my thoughts on the Oregon team. Sorry that I don't have a score card so I'm using numbers instead of names for the players. The first thing that strikes you about this team is that they have three space-eaters in the 6-4, 6-5 range. Fortunately for us, two of them are a bit on the slow side. #4 surprised us when she hit a 3-pointer and she also exhibited nice shooting form on free throws. The big girl who had the most skills was #54, their 6-5 freshman, I believe. She had enough quicks to put the ball on the floor and drive. She will be an excellent player before she leaves college, but is not ready to dominate a game yet against a team with adequate posts. #3 is a quick point guard. She loved to dribble penetrate but we did a masterful job on her. Chapdelaine had torched Coppin State the night before and is a quality shooter but seemed unable to create her own shots. She did get selected to the All-tournament team, however.

We won this game with somewhat better talent- mostly Amy- and superior coaching. Oregon did not run good offense against our suffocating defense and often reverted to going one-on-one, accounting for their low number of assists. Conversely, UNM made good adjustments at halftime and began showing better spacing and began getting the ball to Dionne in scoring position. The Lobos managed to pull away even though we are still not shooting well, particularly from three and at the foul line. Otherwise, this would have been a 30-40 point win. It's certainly possible that the Ducks were sucking air after two games in a row at altitude, but they are not ready for prime time. My guess is that they might be a middle of the pack MWC team.