Air Force Guard: UNM Is The ‘Most Physical Team’

It was another Mountain West Conference win and another blowout for the New Mexico men’s basketball team.

The Lobos left Colorado on Wednesday, having rolled to their third straight league rout, this time an 81-42 laugher against host Air Force on Tuesday.

The win kept the Lobos (18-4, 4-2) within one game of co-leaders San Diego State (19-3, 5-1) and UNLV (21-3, 5-1) after Wednesday night when UNLV pounded Colorado State 82-63 and San Diego State held on to beat Boise State 58-56.

	Saturday UNM at Boise State, 2 p.m. TV: NBC Sports Net. Radio: KKOB-AM (770)

The Aztecs and Rebels both beat New Mexico this season, but how much of a separation is there between the three?

“It’s hard to say, they’re all tough,” said AFA star guard Michael Lyons, whose team has played all three. “But I think New Mexico is the most physical team we’ve played so far. They’re up there with UNLV and San Diego State in my book. New Mexico just has so many weapons. They play so many people off the bench and they contribute, too, so its always hard to guard them.”

Air Force lost at home to UNLV 65-63 in overtime on Saturday and lost 57-44 at San Diego State two weeks ago.

New Mexico’s four MMC wins have come by an average of nearly 25 points a game, with two of those victories coming on the road.

TRIVIA TIME: Who leads the Lobos in field-goal percentage? OK, that’s a little tricky, so here’s a better question: Who leads the Lobos in field-goal percentage among guys in the 10-man rotation? Answer below.

GREENWOOD 3 WOES: Starting freshman point guard Hugh Greenwood, who had an ankle injury about a month ago and missed two games, has been struggling from 3-point range. He was 1-of-4 on Tuesday and is 2-of-14 (14.2 percent) in league play.

“Since I’ve been injured, I’ve been changing my shot a little bit, trying to get it to the side of my head a little bit,” Greenwood said. “It’s probably not good (to do) during the season, but I felt it was necessary. But (the ankle) is feeling really good in practice and shoot-arounds, so I’m going to try and transfer that to the game.”

Greenwood is 18-of-60 from 3-point range (30.0 percent) in all games.

RPI BOOST: The NCAA Rating Percentage Index doesn’t come out until Monday, and the Lobos have another game prior to that. But one replica, realtimerpi.com, moved the Lobos up from 44 to 38 after their victory at Air Force.

STAT CHAT: The Lobos’ leading shooter from the field this season is freshman Dominic Dunning, who is 12-of-22 for 54.5 percent. Dunning, however, has played just 107 minutes, nearly all in mop-up time. New Mexico’s leading shooter of all the regulars might surprise you: backup junior point guard Jamal Fenton is shooting 52.5 percent (62-of-118) for the season.

Fenton also leads the entire MWC in assist rate, which is the percentage of baskets a player assists when he’s on the floor. His assist-rate for the season is 32.5 percent, which is the 59th best in the nation. No other MWC player is in the nation’s top 100. TCU’s Hank Thorns is second in the league at 30 percent ; UNM’s Kendall Williams is third at 29 percent.

Fenton had five assists on Tuesday – all in the first half – for a game high.

CONGRATS: UNM video administrator Craig Snow did not make the trip to Colorado Springs. He and wife Jessica had a new addition to the family this week with the birth of son Beckett William Snow.