The Auburn Tigers are one of, if not the hottest team in the SEC at the moment. Coming off two impressive showings at home where Auburn easily overpowered CSUN and Colgate, the Tigers now head to the Legends Classic where they will face off in a neutral court game in the Barclays Center against a top one hundred team according to the KenPom ratings.
University of New Mexico Lobos
5-1, UR, #88 Kenpom, Real Time RPI - 160
Currently 3rd in the Mountain West Conference
Top Team Statistics:
Points per game – 85.5 (23rd nationally)
Opponents Points per game – 73.7 (269th nationally)
Field goal percentage – 53%
Steals per game – 9.8
3-point defense – 258th out of 353
The Team:
Coached by Paul Weir (62-40 HC record) in his third year at UNM. Weir's team will look to stretch the floor and play quickly. The Lobos deploy an 8 man rotation for the bulk of their minutes. 5 players currently average double figures for the Lobos
The Players:
The Lobos come into this game looking to rely on their fast paced, high tempo offense. That offense runs through JaQuan Lyle. The 6’5 205 pound shooting guard is back this season after tearing his Achilles before the start of the 2018-2019 season. Before that he missed the entire 2017-2018 season while sitting out due to NCAA transfer rules after leaving Ohio State to play for the Lobos. He hasn’t missed a beat in his two-year absence. He leads the Lobos in scoring with 19 points per game while also grabbing 4.3 rebounds and dishing out 5.2 assists a game. He’s also an excellent free throw shooter (81% from the line) who will look to drive the lane and also distribute off the drive to their better perimeter shooters.
The Lobos starting point guard this season is the 6’1 redshirt-junior JJ Caldwell. Caldwell transferred from Texas A&M and sat out a year before joining the Lobos. Caldwell is an excellent distributor who doesn’t look to score first, but is always looking for the open man. Following the McNeese State game, Caldwell had only taken fourteen shots on the season. He went two straight games without recording a field goal. However, Caldwell is dishing out 5.3 assists per game while also collecting almost 3 steals a contest. Even without being a major contributor in the scoring department, Caldwell’s presence is felt in every other aspect of the game.
At small and power forward UNM deploys Makuach Maluach and Vance Jackson respectively. Coming in at 6’7 195, Maluach is one of the five Lobo players currently averaging double digits in the scoring column at 11.5 ppg. Jackson is more of a role player at the PF position but has good size (6’9 230). Jackson is a big body on defense, but hasn’t been very involved with the offense to this point in the season. The offensive production at the 4 falls on top reserve Corey Manigault. Manigualt is also a big body at 6’9 225, but is much more effective with the ball in his hands. UNM head coach Paul Weir said in an interview that Manigualt is the “best low-post scorer he’s ever had.” Jackson as the starter is averaging 6.7 ppg, while Manigault is bringing 12.3 ppg off the bench. It’s possible Manigault could start against Auburn and log more minutes than usual because Paul Weir knows this game will be fast paced and may come down to whoever has the last possession.
Rounding out the starting lineup is a former 5* and McDonalds All-American at C. Carlton Bragg started his college career at Kansas before transferring to Arizona State following his sophomore season, but never played a minute for the Sun Devils before transferring to his third and final school UNM. Brag is a 6’10 220 pounder who is averaging nearly a double-double this season (11.8 ppg and 9.8 rebounds). Austin and Mac will be in charge of keeping Bragg bottled up down low, and that should be a fun battle to watch for forty minutes.
Things to Watch:
As stated above, five players for New Mexico average double figures. This is a fast paced offense that runs the floor very well. They swing the ball around and shoot well from inside the arc. They are not a high volume three point shooting team, but are highly efficient getting into the lane and drawing fouls. Mac and Ant will have to do a good job of contesting drives and staying out of foul trouble.
Despite UNM’s size they were outrebounded by a very small Eastern New Mexico team in their opener, but have since won the rebounding battle in each contest. Auburn and especially Austin Wiley have been great at limiting second chance opportunities for their opponents. Auburn will need to keep that up, and they will have a good opportunity to outrebound another quality opponent.
Paul Weir is having to adjust his defense to keep his big men out of foul trouble. His forwards and center have had issues in that department since the start of the season. Because of this, UNM is giving up space on the perimeter and daring teams to beat them by shooting from outside. Playing off of Auburn’s shooters, given how hot they have been the last two games, doesn’t seem like the brightest idea. We’ll see if Auburn can still get into the lane and draw some fouls on the big guys down low. Regardless of if Auburn is successful drawing fouls and getting to the bucket, they have to get better at capitalizing from the charity stripe.
One final thing that can have an impact on this game is the fact that Auburn will have a full week to prepare for UNM, while the Lobos have played their two toughest games to this point in the season since Auburn last took the court. UNM lost to UTEP in the final 30 seconds of their game on Tuesday, and then followed that game up by beating a very talented New Mexico State team in Sante Fe. We'll see how two straight physical away games will impact the Lobos when they enter Barclays Center on Monday night.
Key Matchup:
Samir v. JaQuan Lyle
Lyle is without a doubt the Lobos go to guy. Samir will more than likely be the Tiger tasked with keeping him contained. Unfortunately for Lyle he will have the same task for the Lobos’ defense. #HeadbandSamir is coming off two career games and has shown no signs of slowing down. Samir is an excellent on-ball defender who is capable of having multiple steals a game, and Lyle is currently averaging a nasty stat-line of 5.3 turnovers per game. Samir will have the opportunity to wreak havoc on defense and really disrupt Lyle which will help in throwing off UNM’s flow on the offensive side of the floor.
Prediction:
I think UNM comes into this game at a huge disadvantage given the fact they will have faced two tough road tests before facing Auburn in New York. Bruce Pearl has had a week to watch film and prepare for this team, and I think that bodes well for Auburn's chances in this game. I also believe Auburn to be the much more physical team even of the two, and I think Isaac, J'von and Samir will have a lot of success splitting the guards and getting into the paint. Auburn will need to continue to play high intensity defense, and shouldn't be too afraid of giving UNM looks from three if that keeps them from doing what they do best. I think Auburn will be ready to get back on the floor and the Tigers will get another quality OOC victory Monday night.
Auburn - 86
UNM - 75
The game tips at 8:30 CT on ESPN News
The winner of this game will play the winner of Wisconsin v Richmond at 6:30 CT on Tuesday
Shoutout to @Jay G. Tate
