New Mexico point guard Kendall Williams, a junior and three-year starter, leads the team in scoring (13.1 points per game), assists (4.6) and minutes played (34.8) heading into today’s biggest road test of the season (3 p.m., NBC Sports Network).
The 16th-ranked Lobos (22-4, 9-2 in Mountain West) play at No. 22 Colorado State (21-5, 8-3) in a matchup of under-the-radar teams that could make significant noise in the NCAA Tournament.But the most pivotal game in Williams’ season may have been the one he didn’t play, a 72-45 win over Fresno State on Jan. 12. Coach Steve Alford suspended Williams for being late to a team meeting, the most extensive punishment he has handed down in six efforts to address Williams’ chronic tardiness during his college career.“You always need wake-up calls, and it was definitely one of them,” Williams said in a recent interview. “In life or in basketball, you don’t want to take anything for granted.”Until the suspension, prior tardiness had resulted in benchings but never a full-game ban. Alford said the move was aimed at getting his guard’s attention for the stretch run and it seems to have worked.New Mexico, with a 3-0 record this season against Top 25 teams, ranks third nationally in RPI and seeks to improve on projections that it will earn a No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Williams, the team’s catalyst, said he has grown “a lot closer with my teammates” since rejoining the lineup and plans to cap the season on an uptick.Alford cited the Colorado State game as the first of three difficult road tests remaining for his team before the Mountain West tournament.“You’re trying to win championships and we’ve got a lot of tough travel ahead,” Alford said. “It’s about bagging road wins. Any time you can get one of those, it’s huge.”Jimmy Burch, 817-390-7760 Twitter: @Jimmy_Burch
