Another slow start and a hot-shooting New Mexico Lobos delt the Arizona Wildcats their second straight loss on Sunday afternoon in McKale Center. Arizona fought back from double-digit deficits on several occasions, but UNM came out on top 72-69.
“I was encouraged by what I saw today,” Arizona head coach Becky Burke said. “I think we took steps forward. I think we got better. I’m not a moral victory person. At the end of the day, I’m well aware that we lost the game, but I think with this team, we need
to appreciate and stay positive about growth and improvement, and generally, when we’ve grown and improved in games, they’ve come out as wins. Today, it didn’t, but we absolutely got better today.”
The Wildcats had opportunities. With about 30 seconds left, they opted not to pressure the ball despite trailing by three. The Lobos dribbled the clock down to three seconds before taking a shot, leaving UA with very little time to work with.
Burke called timeout to advance the ball and set up the final play. With little time left, Arizona inbounded the ball to the only open player. That was MJ Jurado, who was open at the rim. However, a 2-pointer would do no good. Jurado tried to pass out to the 3-point line, but the Wildcats didn’t get a final shot off.
“Didn’t run it exactly how I would have liked, but I should have called another time out,” Burke said.
The Wildcats did show some improvements over the game against Southern, particularly in the turnover column. They turned the ball over 24 times in their last game with starting point guard Lani Cornfield having her first game with more turnovers than assists since transferring to Arizona. Cornfield was back to her old self, dishing out seven assists against just one turnover this game. The Wildcats kept the giveaways to 11.
“That’s the game of basketball,” Cornfield said. “So some days I’m gonna have off games, and there’s some days I’m gonna have good games. As a point guard, it’s my job to take care of the ball, and last game was last game. But, I mean, like coach said, we were getting beat up all week in practice [by the practice players]. I know exactly what my role is and what I need to do with the ball, and so that was what was at the forefront today.”
The Wildcats’ final lead came at 4:41 in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the Lobos were gong 4 for 9 from the 3-point line in the opening 10 minutes. The result was a 26-19 lead. While UNM cooled down considerably in the second quarter, it still had a 42-39 lead at the half.
Arizona got contributions from unexpected places. Nora Francois made the first start of her Wildcat career after having a strong showing against Southern on Thursday. She ended with seven points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals despite being saddled with foul trouble much of the game. Tanyuel Welch had her best game in cardinal and navy with 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting, seven rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal. The rebounds led the team.
“I’m a like ‘what have you done for me lately?’ coach,” Burke said. I mean, no one starts just to start. No one starts just because they’ve been starting. Nora had a great game in our last game. She was our most efficient post player. She had a really good two days of prep for this game, and so I reward that and they’re gonna go battle it out this week for Wednesday’s game. Same thing like T. T played great today. Doesn’t mean she automatically gets to start the next game. She’s gonna have to practice well tomorrow and practice well the next day. And that’s how we need to keep it very competitive from a practice standpoint.“
Welch has been biding her time. She broke through when Arizona most needed her.
“Honestly, I just been patient,” Welch said. “You know, I’m not afraid of hard work or working hard in general. I just show up every day and practice, and I control what I can control. I take my opportunities and I make the best of everything. So the biggest thing for me is to just go out there and do everything as hard as I can, be what I need to be for my team, and everything else will come. And that’s what happened.”
Cornfield led the team with 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting. She added six rebounds to her seven assists. She also had one block and five steals.
Arizona also got double-digit scoring from Daniah Trammell. She had 13 points, one rebound, and one assist in 17 minutes off the bench.
The Wildcats had trouble with the size of the Lobos, especially inside. Emma Najjuma came off the bench to contribute eight points, 16 rebounds, one assist, two blocks, and one steal. Six of Najjuma’s rebounds came on the offensive end with one coming down the stretch when Arizona had a chance to cut further into the lead. She simply reached over all the Wildcats’ extended arms.
Burke opted to stay with her smaller lineup and play just one forward throughout the game. Both Achol Magot and Adde Adebanjo played less than a minute.
“They had size inside, and then every guard position that they have, they were all…bigger than us at every position,” Burke said. “And most teams from here on out will be, except for the exception of a couple. So going big for us, I think will help us at times offensively, but I don’t think we’re there quite yet where we feel comfortable just putting a huge lineup in, especially against other teams’ guards. So could it benefit you a little bit defensively, maybe, and we’ll play around with some more things, but we’re just going to be smaller, and we just need to put ourselves—like missing 10 free throws wasn’t because we were smaller.”
To that point, Arizona went to the line 27 times to just 11 for New Mexico. The Lobos made nine of their free throws while Arizona made 17.
The Wildcats now prepare for an early game against Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday, Dec. 10. The game is a return of a kids’ game that hasn’t been held since before the pandemic. Tipoff is at 11 a.m. MST.
“Practice will be first day of prep for Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday, tomorrow, and we’re going to get back after it,” Burke said. “There’s desperation after losses that you should be practicing with and talking about with your teammates…They should be living on the free throw line these next three days. And so that’s player led a lot of times. That’s conversations they’re having while they’re tying their shoes getting ready to head out to the practice floor. And yeah, I mean, if I got to motivate them to win a game after losing two straight, then I didn’t recruit players with the correct mindset.”
