Spotlight opportunity: Lobo women, Rams to square off in televised game

It’s not exactly a prime-time opportunity, but the UNM women’s basketball team will have a moment in the national spotlight Tuesday.

The Lobos (13-10, 6-4 Mountain West) host Colorado State (15-7, 6-3) for an 8:30 p.m. contest televised on FS1. The question is, what kind of broadcast will it be.

UNM has put on some impressive shows this season, including a 78-74 road win over Colorado State on Jan. 18. When it’s clicking, the Lobos’ offense can be a pleasure to watch — case in point, last week’s 54-point first half at Boise State.

But UNM’s offense has also produced some dud quarters that would send TV viewers reaching for the remote control. The most recent came Saturday, when the Lobos managed just five points in the fourth quarter of a 59-46 home loss to San Diego State.

Overall, New Mexico has lost three games in a row with a similar bad quarter at the heart of each. Can the Lobos cancel this alarming trend and get back to putting on entertaining shows?

It’s not necessarily a simple fix, but UNM coach Mike Bradbury knows what his team cannot do.

“We can’t go out there and shoot 30 3’s,” Bradbury said, “that’s for sure. We’ve also been hanging our heads a little bit when these bad runs start. That’s something we’ve got to get fixed. The only way to stop these things is to fight your way out of them.”

After watching video of UNM’s recent losses, Bradbury sees offensive execution as the primary culprit.

“We’ve got to run better offense, get good shots and take them in rhythm,” he said. “We don’t really have a go-to scorer we can just clear out for when we need a basket. We have to execute and do it as a group — and we’re capable of that.”

Colorado State, on the other hand, does have a go-to scorer in graduate transfer Emma Ronsiek, who is averaging 20.2 points in Mountain West games. Ronsiek put up 29 points and 11 rebounds against UNM in the teams’ first meeting.

“They’ve still got the best player in the league,” Bradbury said of the Rams’ Ronsiek. “And they’ve got good players around her. It’s going to be a challenge trying to slow them down.”

But like most teams in the balanced Mountain West, CSU has had both strong performances and a few flops. Last week the Rams followed up an impressive road win at Wyoming with a 75-71 home loss to Air Force on Saturday.

Bradbury did not find either of those results overly surprising, nor is he putting too much emphasis on UNM’s current losing streak.

“This league is so good, even the top teams are going to take some losses,” he said. “Air Force went 11-for-19 from (3-point range) against CSU and made every big shot. It’s tough to beat any team that does that. We’ve had a couple teams get red-hot all of the sudden against us, too.”

Bradbury conceded that UNM’s leaky transition defense has been part of opposing teams’ recent runs. Shoring up that defense was a primary focus during the Lobos’ preparation for Colorado State.

UNM’s players and coaches are also well aware that the Lobos need to do a better job capitalizing on their home-court advantage. New Mexico is 4-1 in conference road games this season and just 2-3 in the Pit.

“(Tuesday’s game) is very important,” senior post Hulda Joaquim said. “We’ve lost our last three home games, and we have to turn it around. We have to protect the Pit.”

UNM leads the Mountain West by far in home attendance and is averaging 5,153 for conference games. Nevada is second at 3,274 per game after drawing a program-record 10,689 for a recent promotional game against Fresno State. Overall, UNM ranks 11th nationally in home attendance this season with 76,684 fans drawn. CSU has struggled in the Pit in recent years, losing eight of its last nine in Albuquerque.