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New Mexico Lobos: 3 Thoughts on Loss to Texas A&M

By John Parker

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New Mexico and Texas A&M squared off Sunday afternoon in the fifth place game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. After jumping out to an early lead, the Lobos gradually faded before falling 64-51. Here are 3 takeaways from a contest that gave the Lobos a disappointing sixth place finish at the Tip-Off.

The Lobos are still learning how to play without Cullen Neal

New Mexico figured to be in a rebuilding year after losing bigs Alex Kirk and Cameron Bairstow to the NBA, and 2013 Mountain West Player of the Year Kendall Williams to graduation. That rebuild got a lot more difficult on Friday night when sophomore Cullen Neal suffered a foot injury. Neal, son of Lobos coach Craig Neal, topped 20 points in each of the team’s first two games before being injured in the loss to Boston College.

Mar 21, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; New Mexico Lobos guard Deshawn Delaney (33) shoots past Stanford Cardinal guard Robbie Lemons (10) in the first half during the 2nd round of the 2014 NCAA Men

Without Neal, Hugh Greenwood and Deshawn Delaney are shouldering the offensive load for the Lobos. So far, the results haven’t been what New Mexico is hoping for. Greenwood and Delaney combined to shoot 31.8% from the field, and made just two of 13 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.

Neal is expected to miss substantial time, so Greenwood and Delaney will need to perform significantly better than they did this afternoon to keep New Mexico afloat. The good news is that the remaining portion of the non-conference schedule features a number of teams that don’t have the athleticism to cause the Lobos’ backcourt as many problems.

New Mexico will struggle with length and athleticism

While New Mexico certainly misses the offense provided by Bairstow and Kirk, losing a pair of bigs that clogged the lane might be where the duo is missed the most. Jalen Jones and Danuel House attacked the rim down the stretch as Texas A&M erased a 22-10 deficit, eventually winning by 13.

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House, a former Top 20 recruit and the 2014 Conference USA Freshman of the Year, made his Texas A&M debut and proved to be too much for the Lobos. House, who transferred from Houston, scored 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting and secured 6 rebounds for the Aggies. New Mexico didn’t have anyone that could prevent him from getting to the rim, and he exploited that with a number of uncontested dunks.

This is not an NCAA Tournament team right now

New Mexico made four of the last five NCAA tournaments, in part because the team was able to win games against teams like Texas A&M and Boston College. The Lobos, picked to finish third in the Mountain West preseason poll, haven’t looked the part yet. Neither the Aggies nor the Eagles finished above .500 in conference play last season, and these could be two games that come back to haunt the Lobos in March.

Without any marquee non-conference games to boost its resume, New Mexico can’t afford to slip up before entering Mountain West play. From there, the Lobos may be in the same position Boise State found itself in each of the last two years. In 2013, Boise made the NCAA Tournament in part because of the Mountain West’s strength as a whole. Last year, the Broncos wound up on the wrong side of the bubble when the conference managed just two bids. Even a successful conference season might not be enough for New Mexico if teams like UNLV, Wyoming and Boise State don’t perform at a high level.