Lobos aim to cool off hot-shooting Utah State

Utah State’s Steven Ashworth, right, celebrates making a 3-pointer during a Jan. 21 game against San Jose State. Ashworth is among the national leaders in 3-point shooting. (Eli Lucero/The Herald Journal via AP)One of the major statistics one could look at as to why the UNM Lobos have jumped from a bottom-of-the-standings, 13-win team a season ago to a 19-win (and counting) team this season that finds itself still in Mountain West title and NCAA Tournament conversations has been a rather drastic jump on defense.

While that side of the ball is still behind — some nights rather significantly so — the Lobos’ offense, there’s no denying that finishing the 2021-22 season ranked 243rd in defensive…