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Source: Albuquerque Journal, N.迷你倉旺角M.Jan. 04--The University of New Mexico men's basketball team in October donned T-shirts proclaiming this a season of #unfinishedbusiness. Today, as the Lobos open up Mountain West Conference play hosting the Colorado State Rams at 4 p.m. in the Pit after a 12-day hiatus since their final non-conference game, they have another simple message."It's back to business," Williams said. "It's time to go."The Lobos the past two years have been in the business of winning league titles -- both in the regular season and at the MWC tournament. Today, UNM (9-3) begins defense of its league title against the team that was the biggest challenger to the crown a year ago, Larry Eustachy's Rams (9-5, 0-1 MWC).The problem facing the Rams today, however, is the team that finished in second place a season ago isn't the one taking the floor today. CSU lost all five starters from last year's team that finished the regular season in second place and advanced to the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament."They probably know more about me than I know about them," said Williams, who scored 46 points and hit 10 3-pointers in Fort Collins in the last meeting between the two teams. "That's something we have to be prepared for."But while the faces opposing the Lobos will be new, UNM isn't expecting much of a change in how the Rams play under second-year coach Larry Eustachy, who landed the CSU job two years ago when UNM's first year coach Craig Neal was a finalist for it."They're going to play hard and they're going to be tough physically," Neal said. "... There's a reason why he's been successful for his career."UNM senior forward Cameron Bairstow said he recalls February's game in Fort Collins, a 91-82 Lobos win thanks to Williams 46 points, as being "the most physical game of the year."He expects more of the same today from post players such as Navy transfer J.J. Avila (6-foot-7, 246 pounds), Gerson Santo (6-9, 238) and Marcus Holt (6-10, 200)."They're still a very physical team. They just have a different set of personnel, really," said Bairstow, UNM's leading scorer at 20.1 points per game. "They're a really skilled basketball team this year. ... Seem to be running a lot more motion (offense) this year and cutting and scremini storagening the four man, which they did a bit for (former Ram Pierce) Hornung, but not as much this year."Avila has been the key for the Rams, leading the team in scoring (19.2 points per game) and assists (2.6). He injured his back at a practice Monday, but played in Wednesday's home loss to No. 21 San Diego State."He's a different dimension they haven't had," Neal said. "He's pretty good. I think he's been outstanding."Junior Daniel Bejarano, who is the top rebounding guard in the league at 9.5 per game despite being just 6-4, is the other key for the Rams after earning Sixth-man-of-the-Year honors in the league a season ago.The return from a wrist injury of UNM point guard Hugh Greenwood, also one of the league's top rebounding guards, could be a factor in trying to keep Bejarano from doing damage on the offensive glass, though junior Deshawn Delaney will likely have the defensive matchup more than will the ailing Aussie. Greenwood missed the past three games for the Lobos and played in two prior to that with the injury suffered Dec. 4 against New Mexico State.RAM TOUGH: CSU isn't exactly feeling sorry for the Lobos as they work their way through the Greenwood wrist injury situation.CSU likely will play without reserve guard Dwight Smith today, a 6-4 junior who hurt a knee in Wednesday's loss to No. 21 San Diego State after missing 10 games earlier this season with a broken hand.While Avila played Wednesday with that sprained back, he's still not 100 percent.And remember, this is a Rams team that in October lost starting point guard Jesse Carr to a torn ACL after he missed all of last season with a torn ACL.TOUGH TICKET: As of Friday afternoon, the lower bowl of the Pit was sold out for today's game and only 11 club-level tickets remained, which can be purchased at the UNM ticket office prior to tip-off. Should those 11 tickets be sold, UNM will extend to four its conference home sellout streak dating to the final three league games of the 2012-13 season. TodayColorado State at UNM, 4:05 p.m., ESPNU, 770 AMInsideHow the Rams and Lobos match up D5Copyright: ___ (c)2014 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) Visit the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) at .abqjournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉
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