There is no plan B.
And when plan A, for the second game in a row, pretty much failed to bother the opposing team, the University of New Mexico Lobos looked lost.
UNM allowed 49 fast-break points and their signature full-court press was rendered ineffective in a gut-punch 104-96 loss Tuesday to Tennessee Tech in Dreamstyle Arena.
It is the second loss in a row for the Lobos (2-2).
In just the fourth game of the Paul Weir era, and third home game, a few of the announced 9,703 fans in the Pit were heard booing by game’s end. They were frustrated watching the layup line the visiting Golden Eagles (4-1) performed throughout the night — scoring 24 fast-break points in the first half, mostly by breaking the Lobos’ press, and then 17 points off 10 second-half Lobo turnovers.
“I didn’t think we were that bad of a passing team, but tonight we really were,” Weir said. “It was unfortunate to see and it was embarrassing. I apologize to fans. I apologize to people that came out. We looked like the ninth-place team in the Mountain West tonight (UNM was picked ninth in the 11-team league in a preseason poll), which I never thought we were going to be. And we’ve just got to do everything in our power to make sure this is not going to be our final destination.”
Asked if his Lobos could win when the press wasn’t working, Weir didn’t directly answer, instead explaining he thought the team made the necessary adjustments.
“I thought the first half they did a really good job of breaking the press and scoring,” Weir said. “We made some adjustments at halftime I thought really helped. The second half was really just all turnovers. I don’t know if they really scored at the back of our press the second half as much as — I mean, they had 13 steals and they had just as many points off turnovers as we did.”
Tennessee Tech coach Steve Payne knew it was his team’s handling of the press that was the difference.
“I thought making them pay at the back of the press was important,” Payne said. “It kind of took some wind out of their sails.”
TTU’s Aleksa Jugovic scored a game-high 31 points, including 7-of-7 from 3-point range, most after breaking the press in the first half. The Golden Eagles shot 55.7 percent from the floor in the game.
Jugovic had 24 of his points in the first half and the Lobos held him in check until the final 90 seconds. He hit a bucket with 1:27 remaining to give TTU a 94-91 lead and then a corner 3 with 57 seconds left pushed the lead to 97-93 and sealed the upset.
UNM was led by 29 points and six assists from junior guard Chris McNeal, who hit seven 3-pointers. But he also had 10 of those second-half turnovers. Sam Logwood added 21 for UNM, who shot just 40.6 percent and was outrebounded 39-32.
McNeal, like Weir, said he didn’t think the press was the reason UNM lost the game.
“It’s not the press. It’s kind of us,” McNeal said. “Our energy was pretty bad the past two games. It’s basically all on us. It’s nothing about the press.”
NO TROY: Junior guard Troy Simons, who was ejected from Friday’s loss at NMSU after drawing two technical fouls, was held out of the first half on Tuesday. Weir said Monday he was not being disciplined. Asked Tuesday about the first-half benching, Weir said, “Coach’s decision,” and did not elaborate.
