Last night I went to the Midnight Madness at The Pit, featuring Davidson and New Mexico! It had been awhile since I'd been to The Pit, I love that place! If you ever get a chance to see a basketball game there, check it out! I hadn't been to a game since Steve Alford's first game as head coach when they dominated Eastern Washington in an exhibition game. As an Iowa fan, it's kind of weird to be rooting for Steve Alford, since he wasn't the greatest coach at Iowa. He did win a conference title, and had a 26-5 record one year, but made some decisions that didn't rub everyone the right way. I think he's a great fit for the Lobos, he looks better in red anyway.
Back to The Pit, amazing atmosphere. The place was pretty packed for a midnight tip-off, and loud as always. Davidson came in ready to play. They return most of their team from last year, a team that made the NCAA tourney and won a conference title.
The game got off to a rough start for the Lobos, they spotted the Wildcats a 10 point lead. New Mexico tried chipping away, but couldn't seem to get within single digits. They were hitting their free throws luckily or it could have gotten really ugly. Davidson was hitting three's and rebounding on defense and offense. The Lobos offense looked sloppy and were struggling to get off decent shots. They took a lot of off balance shots. Davidson's lead got up to 16 if I remember correctly. The Lobos pulled within 8 late in the first half, but the Wildcats drilled two threes and took a 14 point lead into halftime.
The second half was a different story. The Lobos came out with some attitude and stepped up their game. They forced Davidson to miss their three's and seemed to grab a lot more boards. A few of the Davidson players got into some foul trouble as well, which helped the Lobo offense. Tony Snell took charge in the second half, he blocked a huge three point attempt late in the game and pushed the ball ahead to Kendall Williams for a two-handed dunk which ignited the crowd. Snell drilled a three with about a minute left which pretty much sealed the deal for the Lobos, capping a huge comeback.
I'll try to do a rundown on all of the players that played.
Cameron Bairstow 6'9" Jr Had a decent game, had a nice dunk and knocked down 7-8 FT Needs to add more strength to be more of a force down low.
Demetrius Walker 6'2" Jr Hit 2 huge 3's in the game that sparked the comeback, but other than that didn't do much. He's a beast, looks more like a football player, but he makes everyone nervous when he's dribbling, kind of a sloppy ball handler. I could see him turning the ball over a lot.
Kendall Williams 6'4" Jr Had a pretty solid game overall with 6 boards, 7 assists and hit 13-14 free throws which were huge. His dunk near the end of the game was huge, solid game for Kendall.
Tony Snell 6'7" Jr Tony was the man, created his own shots, he ended up on the floor a lot. Loved his hustle, definitely a guy you want on your team when the game is on the line. Hit 9-10 FT, 25 points and a huge three with a minute left.
Hugh Greenwood 6'3" So This guy might be my favorite guy on the team, he's a solid defender, great ball handler, too. Got called for some BS fouls, so he didn't get as many minutes as he should have. Not a huge scoring threat last night, but a great rebounder for a PG, also hit 5-6 FT. I believe he held #12 scoreless also.
Chad Adams 6'6" Sr Hard to believe Adams is a SR already. He was pretty insignificant in his minutes early in the game, didn't do anything memorable.
Alex Kirk 7'0" So Kirk is a monster out there! Definitely the bench player of the game, had a nice second half. He can shoot for a big guy, he knocked down some nice outside shots, also had a huge dunk later in the game. Ended with 14 points and 7 boards.
Nick Banyard 6'8" Fr I remember seeing Banyard out there and he looked pretty good, grabbed 6 rebounds in 12 minutes! Could be a nice addition to the team, and he has good size.
Cleveland Thomas 6'3" Fr Don't remember Thomas doing anything huge in the game.
I was pretty impressed with the Lobos. I think they could add Kirk to the starting lineup replacing Walker.
G-Greenwood
G-Williams
G-Snell
F-Bairstow
C-Kirk
And the great thing about that lineup, they'll all be back next year hopefully! It's gonna be a fun season in Albuquerque.
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