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VS. TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO: The Lobos and the Roadrunners have never matched up before. UTSA is a member of the Southland Conference and is a first-time opponent for UNM.
AGAINST THE SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE: The Lobos have not played very many games against schools in the Southland Conference. Currently UNM is 2-6 against member schools. Of the 12 schools in the conference UNM has only played five.UNM leads Nicholls State 1-0Northwestern State leads 1-0Southwest Texas leads 1-0Stephen F. Austin leads 1-0Texas-Arlington leads 1-4
IT WAS A BIG ONE: The Lobos defeated Texas Tech for the first time in 10 tries. The No. 8/9 ranked Lady Raiders entered The Pit on Nov. 30th having won all nine games against UNM, knowing that this was going to be the last game played between the two teams. The Lobos outscored and outrebounded TTU enroute to a 74-65 victory.
HONORS/AWARDS: Jordan Adams was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week, the first for this year and the third in her career. Adams helped the Lobos to a 1-1 record in the Preseason WNIT. In an 81-54 win over Pacific, Adams recorded a single-game WNIT record seven blocks to go along with her first double-double of the season, totaling 21 points and 10 rebounds. Against No. 12 Colorado, Adams picked up 14 points and five blocks. Despite only playing two games, Adams set the WNIT record for blocks in the tournament with 12.
HEAD COACH DON FLANAGAN: Don Flanagan, arguably the greatest women’s basketball coach at New Mexico, is entering his seventh season at UNM. Flanagan took over this struggling program in 1995 and the Lobos have improved to a remarkable 122-63 (.516), they’ve captured a conference regular-season championship, a conference tournament championship and made four consecutive postseason appearances, including the school’s first-ever NCAA bid. Flanagan has already become the school’s all-time leader in victories, surpassing Doug Hoselton’s previous mark of 89 from 1980-87. Amazingly, Flanagan took just 133 games to reach 90 wins for his career, while Hoselton won 89 in 194 tries. Of course winning is nothing new for Flanagan – in fact he is winning less now than in his previous job as head coach at Albuquerque’s Eldorado High School, where he compiled an astounding 401-13 record and won 11 state championships in 16 years. Under Flanagan, UNM has become a consistent threat to win the conference title, as the Lobos have finished no worse than third in each of the last four seasons. Flanagan’s teams have become noted for their stifling defense. New Mexico has finished among the conference leaders in scoring defense in each of the last six years and has consistently ranked in the top 20 in the nation in that category as well. Fan support has been tremendous as a result of the Lobos’ defense and intense style of play. Last season the Lobos were fifth in the nation in average attendance with 8,712 setting a school record. The Lobos had 16,845 fans witness their loss to Utah on Jan. 7, which at the time was the largest attendance in the nation. UNM also had a crowd of 18,018 at the WNIT Championship game, the third-largest on-campus attendance for the year in the NCAA. In 1999-00, UNM was sixth in the nation with an average attendance of 8,918; in 1994-95, the year before Flanagan’s arrival, Los Lobos averaged just 397 fans per game.
IT’S A BLOCK PARTY: Jordan Adams set a new WNIT record with her seven blocks against Pacific and 13 blocks in the two games. The Lobos set a new team record with 13. Adams must think seven is her lucky number as that is her career-high for blocks in a game and she has tied that several times. Adams is the UNM women’s career leader in rejections with 201. Adams is currently fourth for both the men and the women with her 201 blocks. She’s behind Luc Longley, Kenny Thomas and Khari Jaxon of the men’s team. She needs only 19 blocks to overtake Jaxon and move into third. She finished last year ranked fifth in the nation in blocked shots. Adams has now had at least one rejection in the last 29 games that she’s played. This year she’s had 35 blocks for a 4.71 blocks per game average.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Jordan Adams had her first double-double of the year against Pacific with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Adams had three double-doubles last year and has six for her career. Junior Chelsea Grear has now had two double-doubles for the year and three for her career. Freshman Mandi Moore had her first double-double with 15 points and 10 assists. The last time a New Mexico player had 10 or more assists was last season when Nikki Heckroth had 11. Heckroth’s 11 hand-outs was the first time since 1996 a Lobo player has had double-figure assists. Lindsey Arndt joined the party after garnering 17 rebounds and 14 points against Arizona.
RETURNING NUMBERS: Combined statistics of players returning for the 2001-02 season and the percentage of the 2000-01 totals:Starters3 Points1,395 (58.1)Rebounds652 (47.1)Field Goals498 (60.8)Field Goal Att.1,118 (58.9)Field Goal Pct..4453-point FG92 (47.9)3-point FG Att.295 (49.4)3-point FG Pct..311Free Throws307 (54.0)Free Throw Att.409 (52.1)Free Throw Pct..750Assists269 (45.3)Turnovers325 (52.4)Steals151 (54.7)Blocks129 (77.7)
THE MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE: The newest conference in the nation has quickly emerged as one of the best. The Mountain West Conference, which officially commenced operation on July 1, 1999, sent three football teams to bowl games and won a national championship (women’s cross country) in its first year.The MWC was conceived on May 26, 1998, when eight teams announced they were breaking away from the Western Athletic Conference. Those teams — Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah and Wyoming — brought immediate credibility to their new league.Last year, the Lobos finished in a tie for third place. Utah won the regular season title but it was the Colorado State Rams that won the tournament. CSU and Utah both advanced to the NCAA Tournament while UNM, UNLV, BYU and San Diego State played in the WNIT.
NCAA Tournament Hosts: The University of New Mexico will be hosts for the 2002-03 women’s west regional. The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight contests were held here in 2000 and the Lobos will play hosts to the 2001-02 men’s first and second rounds. The Pit has hosted NCAA Tournament action in 1968, 1978, 1983, 1985, 1992 and 1996. It ws the site of the 1983 Final Four, in which Cinderella North Carolina State upset heavy-favorite Houston at the buzzer to win its second national title. The Tournament returns to Albuquerque again in 2005 for the men’s west regional.
MAKE THAT FIVE YEARS IN A ROW: For the fifth straight year the Lobos have had a winning record. Last season was the third time in school history – and the third time in the last four years – the Lobos won at least 20 games in a season. The 22 wins in 2000-01 were the third-highest single-season total in school history. Only the 1997-98 team, which went 26-7, and the 1998-99 squad, which went 24-7, won more games. The Lobos finished 16-5 at home, the second-highest victory total in The Pit in school history.
EXHIBITIONISTS: The Lobos had two preseason exhibition games in 2001-02. The first was against the Houston Flight of the NWBL USA Elite. Many of the players on the Flight roster were former or current WNBA, ABL and international players. The Lobos were able to send the Flight flying by a score of 84-80. Jordan Adams led the Lobos with 24 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks. The Lobos then faced a team from Denmark. UNM was able to handle this team much better than the Flight, as New Mexcio won easily, 85-44. Adams again led all scorers with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
New mexico and the wnit: New Mexico was the host of five post-season WNIT games and two preseason games. This year, UNM defeated Pacific in the preseason WNIT and then lost to Colorado. Last season the Lobos dominated the competition in the first four rounds, winning by an average of 21 ppg and holding opponents to just 33.3% from the field. The Lobos advanced further in postseason play than any other squad in school history. UNM won four games, after having never won more then two and having never advanced past the quarterfinals. Jordan Adams and Chelsea Grear were both named to the WNIT All-Tournament Team. In the pre-season WNIT this year, the Lobos continued their winning ways as they topped Pacific 81-54. Adams led the team with 21 points and she set a new WNIT record with her seven blocks. The Lobos, as a team, are also WNIT record-setters as their 13 team blocks is a new record.
THE INVITATION’S IN THE MAIL: Junior Jordan Adams competed for a chance to represent the USA in the World University Games this past summer. Adams spent three days vying for a spot at the olympic headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado. While there she competed against 32 of the nation’s top women’s basketball players. Other schools that sent players to the trials include; Oregon State, Colorado, Ohio State, Stanford, Purdue and Virginia. No other player from the Mountain West Conference was giving an invite to the trials.
RECORD-BREAKERS: Jordan Adams is New Mexico’s all-time shot blocker with 201 and she holds several records in season categories. For a season (2000-01) she’s currently third in free throws made with 129, third with 163 free throws attempted, fifth in field goals made with 182 and second in points with 509, all of those records came last season.
awesome adams: Adams only needs 22 points to become the ninth player in New Mexico history to score 1,000. Jordan is currently averaging 18.7 ppg.
IT’S UP, It’S GOOD: The Lobos have now had 48 games in a row in which they’ve hit a three-point bucket. The last drought UNM experienced was against Colorado State on Jan. 29, 2000.
IT’S JUST A NUMBER: Ranked teams have continued to baffle the Lobos. UNM is currently 3-13 against opponents that have a number before their name. The Lobos defeated their first ranked opponent since 1997-98 when they were victorious over the visiting Texas Tech Lady Raiders, 74-65 on Nov. 30.
PRESEASON POLLS: Four Mountain West Conference teams appeared in preseason polls to start the 2001-02 season. Colorado State was ranked #24 in the Associated Press poll and Utah was #25th. In the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, CSU was picked 25th while Utah was 24th. UNLV received votes in both polls and BYU received votes in the coaches poll.
RANKING THE MWC: The Mountain West Conference leaped from #12 in the RPI during the 1999-2000 season to #7 in the final 2000-01 RPI. The MWC will play a minimum of 37 nonconference games against the top 10 conferences according to the final 2001 NCAA RPI. The MWC will also play 20 games against 2001 NCAA Tournament teams during the nonconference schedule.
THIS JUST IN: UNM signed a total of three players to national letters of intent during the early signing period. The group includes: Abbie Letz (El Paso, TX), a 6’1 post who averaged 19 points per game and 8 rebounds at Hanks High School. Letz chose New Mexico over Texas A&M Corpus Christi, North Texas and Southwest Missouri State. Tiana Johnson (Roswell, NM) a 5’10 post who averages 24 points per game and 9 rebounds at Goddard High School. Tiana chose UNM over Santa Clara and Oral Roberts. Jana Francis (Canadian, TX) a 6’2 post player who averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds at Canadian High School. Jana chose the Lobos over Rice, Texas Christian, Baylor and Oklahoma state.
FRESHMAN FIREPOWER: The Lobos have three freshman who have contributed greatly this year. Mandi Moore has started every game while Lindsey Arndt has started 7 out of 7 and Stephanie Shaw has seen action in every game. The three players combined have played 605 minutes, scored 182 points, grabbed 96 rebounds and dished out 72 assists. Moore is second on the team in scoring with a 12.3 ppg average and she leads the team with 40 assists.
IT’S A LONE STAR STATE OF MIND: Of the 12 players on UNM’s roster this year, six are from Texas. Stephanie Shaw, Brittany Wolfgang, Mandi Moore, Chelsea Grear, Daja Adams and Lauren McLeod all call the Lone Star state home. The Lobos are only represented by four states.
CHARITY STRIPE? UNM is currently shooting .783 from the free throw line while their opponents are shooting .710. Jordan Adams had hit 12 straight free throws before missing against Arizona. Adams is third on the team (29-35, .829) behind Molly McKinnon (25-30. .844) and Lindsey Arndt (11-13, .846). Several Lobo players have been perfect from the line 19 times this year.
ON THE AIR: Every UNM game can be heard on “The Sports Animal”, 610 AM, a sister station of flagship 770 KOB AM. Andrew Paul is in his third year broadcasting the women’s contests and while at home he is joined by former Lobo assistant coach, Hazel Tull-Leach. In addition to being on the radio the Lobos have one nationally televised game scheduled. UNM and UNLV will play at The Pit on Jan. 2 at 2:00 pm and that game will be aired on ESPN2. The UNLV game is the annual “Pack the Pit” fan promotion. Last year during the same promotion against Utah the Lobos had 16,845 fans show up.
GET OUTt: The Lobos three losses this year have come when their opponent has outrebounded them. Colorado had the 48-34 advantage on the boards while Oregon State grabbed 45 rebounds to UNM’s’ 40. Texas barely had the edge but it was enough, 47 to 34.
IT’S ALL ON THE BENCH: Several of UNM’s bench players came up pretty big in the Lobos’ loss to Texas. Sophomores Melissa Forest and Lauren McLeod combined to score 22 of UNM’s 58 points. Tiffany Scaglione also chipped in two off the bench. The six bench players also contributed 85 minutes, 12 rebounds, one assist, one block and three steals.
FOREST FIRE: Sophomore Melissa Forest went from barely playing last year to actually starting a game and playing in all seven this year. She scored a career-high 13 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds against Texas.