Lobos beginning to reap the benefits of being bigger

If you’ve been to the Pit this season, you may have noticed something a little different.

If it seems to you that opposing teams are no longer walking into the Pit looking like the varsity team warming up at the south end of Bob King Court while the much smaller Lobos look like the JV team warming up on the other end, there’s a reason.

The Lobos, who host Fresno State in a rare Monday afternoon game at 3 p.m. in the Pit, spent the past three seasons as a high-paced, small-ball team led by dynamic, albeit undersized guards like Jaelen House and Jamal Mashburn Jr.

Throw in Donovan Dent as the third starting guard and the Lobos’ high-minute trio of stars were three guards standing 6-foot-2 and shorter.

The result: Opposing teams, especially perennial Mountain West title hopefuls like Boise State and San Diego State, weren’t just bigger, they tended to bully the Lobos physically.

Now, after an offseason of bringing in newcomers like 6-9 Filip Boravicanin, 6-10 Atiki Ally Atiki and 6-10 Jovan Milicevic, to name a few, the Lobos aren’t just bigger and taller; they’re starting to realize how to use that size to overwhelm teams at times.

“We won 26 games last year, so obviously we were a really good team,” UNM coach Richard Pitino said. “But it was hard at times with the size on the perimeter. There’s a lot of times I miss those two guys, though, too. So don’t get me wrong. But we had that in mind (in recruiting) with Filip, so we could compete and rebound (and)do those things.”

According to KenPom.com, the Lobos’ average roster height of 6-foot-6.4-inches ranks second in the Mountain West — a league with seven teams ranked in the top 100 (out of 364) teams in average roster height.

Last season, UNM ranked 9th.

And as far as starting to learn what to do with that size advantage, consider the postgame quotes of two of the league’s longest-tenured coaches, both of whom have built rosters with size and physical defense in mind.

“They were the more physical team,” Boise State coach Leon Rice told Bronco Nation News after his team was blown out Friday night in the Pit.”... We’re a pretty physical team, and it wasn’t even close in the first half how much more physical they were than us. In this building, they’re pretty much allowed to do it. ...

“There’s no way to sugar-coat it. They kind of punked us in the first half.”

A week prior in front of a nationally televised Saturday mid-day crowd on CBS, San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher had this to say after his Aztecs were uncharacteristically out-physicalled in a blow-out loss in the Pit.

“This is how New Mexico plays,” Dutcher told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “They’re extremely physical.”

The Lobos lead the Mountain West in both blocks and steals, and their overall defensive efficiency rating is second best this season and in league games to SDSU.

“Just play hard and compete, you know?” Pitino said Friday night. “I mean, we want to win a championship, just like the other teams in this conference, and we know in order to do that, we got to beat teams like Boise and (SDSU).”

DD’S D: Dent is the only player in Mountain West play ranked in the Top 10 in blocks (10th, 0.9 per league game) and steals (5th, 1.8 per league game).

Not a bad defensive combination for the player who also ranks first in points per game and is second in assists.

THE FREEBIES: You don’t need to hear fans groaning in the Pit to know the Lobos have had a few bad games at the free-throw line this season. But, maybe it’s not as bad as those groans might suggest.

The Lobos, helped by a perfect 15-of-15 free-throw game Friday night against Boise State (the third most free throws made in a game without a miss in UNM history), the Lobos are right in the middle of the Mountain West pack — ranked 6th in the 11-team league — in free-throw percentage (69.2%).

In league games, the Lobos’ 72.5% free-throw clip ranks fourth.

Lobo opponents are shooting just 65.2% on the season, the third-lowest opponent free-throw percentage in Division I.

“We’re a good free-throw defense team,” Pitino joked. “I love that stat. I don’t know what the hell it means, but we’re like top 20 in the country at free-throw defense.”

For comparison on the randomness of the stat, the Lobos’ “free-throw defense” last season ranked 307th in the country (opponents hit 74.0% of their free throws).

JERSEYS: The Lobos will be wearing for Monday’s game what they call their “statehood jerseys” — the familiar yellow jerseys with the Zia symbol on the chest reminiscent of the New Mexico state flag.