Blip or blueprint? What UNM’s 20-point loss really showed

Was it a blip, or was it a blueprint? 

Before you ask what was a blip or a blueprint, know that the subject at hand is the New Mexico Lobos’ 86-66 drubbing at the hands of the Utah State Aggies in men’s collegiate basketball late Wednesday night at the Pit.

The answer, in short, is both. But in seeking that answer, given that the lateness of Wednesday’s tipoff made it impossible to get accounts of the game into Thursday’s Journal print edition, I decided to take the long way around the question. 

Go to the game, check. Postgame interviews, check. Go home and watch the replay of the FS1 telecast, check. Read colleague Geoff Grammer’s game story and his Emptying the Notebook column, check.

I wasn’t sure how much there’d be left for me to write after reading ETN, since Grammer regularly touches more bases than Babe Ruth’s Major League record 457 in 1921. 

But anyway, here goes: 

The blueprint

In a postgame interview with Grammer — there he is again — Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun shared his game plan in more detail than you’d expect; most coaches share as little as possible with the media in such interviews, seemingly not understanding that opposing coaches watch game film/video and are pretty smart about figuring out such things.

“Don’t think I want to lay that out for you,” the late Rick Majerus told the media after one Utah victory over UNM in Salt Lake City. “We have to play these guys again.”

Calhoun was willing to lay out this much, after the Aggies allowed just 13 3-point attempts against a team that came in averaging almost 28 per game. 

"Our whole plan was, they're so good off the bounce and getting you in rotations and kicking out, we wanted to show early in the gaps and then really inch out to (Lobos freshman guard) Jake Hall. He was a big part of our game plan," Calhoun said. "I thought the guys did a much better job to get the shooters (in the second half). All these guys, they're so good at getting you in the air and then kicking out. So I thought we did a really nice job of running them off the line.”

Lobos coach Eric Olen noted that when an opposing team extends its defense to defend against the 3, that should open driving lanes. Against the Aggies on Wednesday, that didn’t happen. 

In watching the replay of the FS1 telecast, it seemed the Aggies played aggressively against the drive, forcing the Lobos to pick up their dribble before they wanted to and leaving them with no option but to throw it back out and start the possession over. The finish was not there, nor was the drive-and-kick (seven UNM assists on 21 made baskets, compared to Utah State’s 18 on 30.)

Last season, Calhoun’s first at Utah State, Olen’s UCSD Tritons beat the Aggies 75-73, one of their two homecourt defeats (the other an 82-63 pasting at the hands of Richard Pitino’s Lobos; keep that in mind for the upcoming blip report).

In that game, Olen’s Tritons were a pedestrian 8-of-27 on 3-pointers — but were a torrid 16-of-20 inside the arc. 

Has Calhoun gone to school on that game from last season and designed a blueprint to nullify, or at least minimize, what Olen likes to do on offense?

The rest of UNM’s season could depend on the answer, and how Olen and his staff respond.

But then, there’s … 

The blip

Lobos guard Tajavis Miller, roped into postgame interview duty because he didn’t have a bad game, had this succinct answer when asked what changed from half to half on Wednesday. UNM trailed by three points at halftime and lost by 20.

“They just came out playing harder than we did,” Miller said.

Yeah, they did.

While the Lobos were committing careless turnovers and failing to get organized defensively, the Aggies were running textbook offense — getting easy baskets off pick-and-rolls, with variations, things the Lobos have handled so efficiently most of this season. 

As stated many times, job one for Olen on defense is to control the paint. The Lobos looked lost in the paint on Wednesday.

But, hey. 

New Mexico had a bad game. Utah State had a great one. 

Mason Falslev, Utah State’s junior guard, had a game far better than that reflected by his very nice stat line: 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, four rebounds, three assists. He controlled this game, owned it.

Remember that 19-point Lobos blowout in Logan, Utah last season? Falslev’s stat line: four points, 2-of-8 shooting in 33 minutes. He’s human. They, and we, all are.

It’s worth pointing out as well that, 15 days after losing to UNM by 19 in Logan, the Aggies came to the Pit and lost by three. Falslev scored 27 points. 

So, yes, as Olen acknowledged late Wednesday night, he’s got some things to figure out before the Lobos go to Logan on March 7 in both teams’ final game of the regular season. In fact, he’s got things to figure out before Boise State comes to the Pit on Saturday — Broncos coach Leon Rice no doubt having taken notes. 

But, for the Lobos, there’s one sure way to turn a blueprint into a blip:

Play better. 

Rick Wright can be reached at rwright@abqjournal.com or @Burquerick on X.