ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Four games into the Steve Alford era,
it's difficult to find anything discouraging about New Mexico's
play.
Jamaal Smith and Darren Prentice each scored 14 points and the
Lobos had no trouble with another overmatched visitor at The Pit,
beating St. Bonaventure 81-54 on Saturday night.
J.R. Giddens had another solid line for the Lobos (4-0): 11
points, 12 rebounds, four assists, no turnovers and one blocked
shot in 25 minutes.
So is Alford happy with the way things are going?
"Yeah, I don't know how you can't be," he said. "Your rebound
margin's around 10. Your assists to turnovers is at least 2-to-1.
We've had four games and in three of them we've turned the ball
over less than 10 times.
"That's not easy to do early in the season, and three of those
four games have been blowouts. You can get careless," he said.
Not these Lobos. Not yet, anyway.
Johnnie Harris added 11 points and New Mexico shot 46.4 percent
on 3-pointers (13-of-28), facing little resistance from the Bonnies
(2-2). The Lobos beat Presbyterian 88-57 on Friday, four nights
after beating Eastern Washington 92-57.
No, it's not Duke or Kentucky visiting Albuquerque. But it's
becoming clear under Alford that a top effort is expected from
every player on every trip down the floor, regardless of who's on
the other bench.
"I'm competitive. I want to win 100 to nothing," Alford said.
"That's just me, and I want our guys to know that. When we're down
10 or up 20 or in a tight game, every possession matters on the way
we guard, on every shot we get."
The goal, he explained, is to become a difficult team for
opponents to stop. He'll get no dispute on that from Bonnies coach
Mark Schmidt.
"New Mexico is a very good team," Schmidt said. "They're
athletic. They shoot the heck out of the basketball."
Zarryon Fereti led St. Bonaventure with 20 points. Michael Lee
added 12, but he averaged 24 points through the first three games,
and the Bonnies hurt themselves by committing 19 turnovers.
"Part of it was us," Schmidt said. "We had turnovers."
The Bonnies were the most athletic team New Mexico has faced
early in the season, and for a brief time it caused the Lobos a few
problems.
St. Bonaventure was getting back on defense through the first
six minutes, limiting New Mexico's ability to run. But just like
that, the Lobos struck with a 9-0 run, with Prentice hitting two
3-pointers.
That made it 23-13 midway through the first half, and New Mexico
scored the final seven points of the period to lead 40-26 at the
break.
"They're fun to watch. They're unselfish," Alford said of his
players. "They move the basketball at one end, looking for the
shot we want. At the other end, they're really working hard
defensively to help each other."
Giddens kept the momentum going to start the second half,
swishing a 3-pointer and, later, soaring for a rebound that led to
the second of consecutive 3-pointers by Smith for a 51-31 lead.
It forced a St. Bonaventure timeout with 16:52 remaining.
Moments later, Giddens collected a rebound and threw a fullcourt
pass ahead to Jonathan Wills for a layup that made it 53-31.
"Our rhythm's OK," Giddens said. "Our team chemistry isn't
where it needs to be because we're still getting used to each
other. But for not being used to each other, I think we're going
out and performing pretty well."