In the first of back-to-back road games Feb. 20, the New Mexico Lobos fell prey to a hot-shooting second half by San Jose State. The Spartans hit three-fourths of their shots from the field en route to a 71-55 win over the Lobos.
“We didn’t do anything well in the second half. We didn’t move the ball offensively, which led to a lot of bad shots,” Lobos head coach Richard Pitino said, according to golobos.com. “We didn’t stick to the scouting report. We had to do three different ball screen coverages because nothing was working.”
With the hot hand, San Jose State hit 20 of 27 shots in the second half. The 74.1% shooting percentage was the best half of shooting any opponent has posted against the Lobos since 2011, a report on the website said.
“Give them credit as well. They played hard and competed, and they are good when they are in rhythm offensively,” Pitino said. “It was an unfortunate step back for our guys, not because we lost, but our lack of playing the right way across the board.”
New Mexico held their own in the first half but couldn't keep up with San Jose in the second half. Jamal Mashburn Jr. led the Lobos with 17 points. Jaelen House had 14 and Jay Allen-Tovar chipped in 11.
The Lobos dropped their next road game against Utah State, as well. New Mexico is 11-17 overall and 3-11 in conference play as they return home for a game against Air Force Feb. 26.
