AFA men's basketball: 3 things to watch at New Mexico

Three things to watch as Air Force men's basketball travels to New Mexico on Saturday

1. Air Force’s bench

Senior guard Tim Anderson played all 45 minutes of Wednesday’s 64-62 overtime victory at Wyoming, and freshman guard Evan Washington played 43. Other than sixth man Andrew Henke, who played 31 minutes, and forward Eric Kenzik, who played 15 (about half after Keith Maren fouled out), guard Adam Hood was the only reserve to play in the game. And Hood played only 4 minutes. “It is a concern of ours,” coach Jeff Reynolds said of bench contributions. Especially with starter Anwar Johnson still battling pneumonia.

2. New Mexico’s J.R. Giddens

The 6-foot-5 senior guard arguably is the most talented player in the Mountain West Conference. And he seems to be thriving under first-year coach Steve Alford, leading the Lobos in scoring (13.4 points per game), rebounding (8.5) and blocks (1.1). He also has the second-most steals (21) and assists (52) on the team. “He has NBA-caliber attributes,” Reynolds said. “He can shoot the basketball from (3-point range), he can take you off the dribble, he’s extremely athletic and big and can take it coast-to-coast.”

3. The Falcons’ free throws

Air Force made only 7 of 14 from the line Wednesday, including just 3 of 8 in the final 10 minutes of regulation. In the past four games, the Falcons are shooting 57.9 percent from the line (40 of 69). In their loss to Colorado on Nov. 29, they missed 10 of 17. “It won’t be an issue in practice — we won’t make it a big issue,” Reynolds said. “It’s one of those things where we know we have a good shooting team and earlier in the year we shot them very well, and I think we’ll continue to do that.”