Oct. 28, 2004
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The University of New Mexico begins its 102nd season of men’s basketball on Monday, Nov. 1, hosting Eastern New Mexico in an exhibition game. Tipoff is 7:05 p.m. from the The Pit/Bob King Court in Albuquerque.
The Lobos’ second and final exhibition is Saturday Nov. 6, when Sul Ross State visits The Pit. Tipoff is 1:05 p.m. The regular season gets underway the weekend of Nov. 12-14, as UNM plays host to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Classic. Duquesne, North Carolina A&T and Santa Clara will be in town for the round-robin tournament that features three games in as many days for all four participants.
TICKETS – Season tickets are on sale at the UNM athletic ticket office at The Pit through Nov. 6. Individual game tickets are also on sale at The Pit, at www.unmtickets.com, at all Ticket.com outlets or by calling (505) 925-5858.
CHANGE IN EXHIBITION COMPETITION – Why is UNM playing Eastern New Mexico and Sul Ross State in exhibition games? Earlier this year, the NCAA prohibited Div. I men’s teams from playing exhibition games against clubs, traveling all-star teams, etc. The rule does not apply to NCAA women’s basketball.
Schools are now restricted to playing other four-year Colleges – either U.S. or foreign – in their exhibition games. The lone exception to playing an all-star team is if an existing contract was signed before the rule went into affect. The Lobos did not have such an agreement with any other organizations.
EXPERIMENTAL RULES – The NCAA Basketball Rules Committee stated that all certified games (previously known as “exempt” games) that occur before January 1, 2005, will be required to use an experimental free-throw lane that is 18 inches wider on each side, a three-point line that is extended to 20 feet, 6 inches, and an arc drawn 2 feet from the center of the hoop to assist with charge/block calls. UNM will use these rules in both exhibitions and the NABC Classic.
SEASON NO. 102 – The 2004-05 season is the 102nd in school history. The Lobos first laced up the hightops on Feb. 2, 1900, when they lost 8-6 to the Albuquerque Guards. While this season is actually the 105th anniversary of that inaugural year, UNM did not field a team for various reasons in 1900-01, 1903-04, 1917-18 and 1920-21.
The Lobos have been on the hardwoods continuously since the 1921-22 season and have compiled an all-time record of 1,206-960 (.556). New Mexico was 418-495 (.458) from 1900-62, but has gone 788-465 (.631) over the past 42 seasons, an average of nearly 19 wins per year. The Lobos have made 26 trips to the postseason during that span, including 10 appearances in the NCAA Tournament and 16 showings in the NIT.
LOBOS PREDICTED FOR 4TH-PLACE FINISH IN THE MOUNTAIN WEST – New Mexico was picked to finish fourth in the 2004-05 Mountain West Conference race during the league’s preseason media gathering Oct. 24, in Denver. Voters were a combination of head coaches and media. It’s the highest predicted finish for the Lobos since they were selected to place second behind Utah in the inaugural MWC season of 1999-2000. UNM was picked to finish seventh each of the past two seasons.
GRANGER NAMED MWC’S TOP RETURNING PLAYER – The MWC head coaches and the media that cover the loop picked UNM senior forward Danny Granger as the league’s top returning player. The 6-8 All-America candidate led the conference in scoring last year, averaging 19.5 ppg. He also led UNM in rebounding (9.0 rpg), steals (29) and blocked shots (31).
EXHIBITION HISTORY – The Lobos have been playing exhibition games since 1972-73. UNM has a 48-5 all-time record, 43-5 in The Pit. Last year, UNM went 6-0 in preseason games, winning four times on a Canadian Tour then beating Team Ezybonds 107-75 and EA Sports Southwest 75-71 at home. Average attendance for 48 home exhibition games is 15,367.
UNM VS. EASTERN NEW MEXICO – With the new rule regarding exhibition opponents, the Lobos and Greyhounds face each other in a game that will not count on UNM’s record. UNM and ENMU have met 16 times since 1941. The Lobos have a 15-1 series lead, the only loss coming in The Pit on Dec. 2, 1991, by a count of 81-76. The last meeting resulted in a 90-50 Lobo victory on Nov. 29, 2000. Former Lobo Mikal Monette is now playing for the Greyhounds.
HEAD COACH Ritchie McKay – Ritchie McKay begins his third season in charge of Lobo hoops and his ninth year as a collegiate head coach. He was named UNM’s 18th head coach on March 28, 2002.
McKay had previous stops at Portland State (1996-98), Colorado State (1998-2000) and Oregon State (2000-02). He has a career record of 107-121, 24-32 at New Mexico. While at Mountain West Conference member Colorado State, McKay led the Rams to the NIT in 1999. McKay is the son of the late Joe McKay, who was a three-year letterman at guard for the Lobos from 1961-63.
Seniors Danny Granger (33), Alfred Neale (21) and Troy DeVries (2) will lead the Lobos in 2005. |
PERSONNEL PICTURE – The Lobos return eight lettermen, including four starters, from last year’s team that finished 14-14. Sean Phaler, a redshirt last season, gives the Lobos nine players total returning from 2003-04. The biggest loss from a year ago is senior Javin Tindall. Tindall was second on the team in scoring (12.6 ppg) and 3-pt. FG% (41.9%). He led the team in assists (98) and FT% (83.1%) and tied a school record with nine 3-pt. FGs at UNLV. Returning starters include senior forwards Alfred Neale and Danny Granger, senior guard Troy DeVries and junior forward David Chiotti. Juniors Jeff Hart and Mark Walters, along with sophomores Ryan Wall and Kellen Walter are also back.
It will still be a young team as the only players with more than one year of experience at UNM are juniors Hart, Walters and Chiotti.
Lettermen not returning are 6-2 guard Ryan Ashcraft, 6-2 guard Lenny Miles, 6-2 guard Collins Ferris, 6-6 forward Mikal Monette and 6-8 forward Justin Benson. Ashcraft was a senior who graduated from UNM in May, while Miles, Ferris, Monette and Benson all transferred.
McKay and his staff welcome six new faces to the team in 2004-05, one junior college transfer (Kris Collins) and five freshmen (Tony Danridge, Blake Harden, Bambale Osby, Darren Prentice and Chad Toppert).
THE PIT – The 2004-05 season marks the 39th year of basketball in The Pit/Bob King Court, which was completed in December of 1966. UNM has an all-time mark of 536-132 (80%) in the building that resides 37 feet below street level. The Lobos have had a winning record in The Pit in 37 of their 38 years as tenants and tore off a school-record 41-game home winning streak from 1996-98. Since the beginning of the 1995-96 season, the Lobos are 137-30 (82%) at home.
NCAA TOURNAMENT RETURNS – UNM will again play host to men’s NCAA Tournament games when the 2005 Albquerque Regional comes to The Pit. New Mexico will host two regional semifinal games on Thursday, March 24, and the final on Saturday, March 26. The winner advances to the Final Four in St. Louis the following week. It’s the ninth time Albuquerque has hosted NCAA men’s action since 1968.
New Mexico is in a stretch where it is hosting NCAA competition for five consecutive years. The NCAA Men’s First and Second Rounds were here in 2002 followed by the women’s first and second rounds and the Midwest Regional in 2003 and the first and second rounds last season. The women’s West Regional will be here in March of 2006.
2003-04 REVIEW – The University of New Mexico finished its 101st season of men’s basketball with a 14-14 overall record, the 20th time in the past 21 years that UNM has posted a .500 record or better.
Sitting at 13-8 following an 87-75 win over Wyoming on Feb. 9, New Mexico lost six of its last seven contests to miss postseason play for the second straight year, something that hasn’t happened since a four-year drought between 1980-83.
The Lobos fell to UNLV 55-53 in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament, a troubling loss since UNM led for all but 41 seconds. New Mexico was eliminated in the first round of the tournament for the third straight year and is just 2-5 in MWC Tournament play since 2000. Both wins came in 2001.
After going 10-18 in 2002-03, the Lobos avoided consecutive losing seasons for what would have been only the second time in more than four decades. New Mexico was 6-20 in 1979-80 and 11-15 in 1980-81. Prior to that skid was eight straight sub-.500 records between 1955-62. The Lobos have only had four losing campaigns since former head coach Bob King arrived in Albuquerque prior to the 1962-63 season.
The Lobos surpassed their 2002-03 win total by four games and their conference total by one (4-10). UNM finished 14-4 in The Pit, winning five of its last six and 12 of 14. New Mexico was 10-7 at home in 2002-03.
Juniors Mark Walters (0) and David Chiotti (13) are looking to guide New Mexico to a MWC Championship in 2005. |
UNM tied San Diego State for fifth place in the MWC with a 5-9 mark. The Lobos were picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll. New Mexico suffered its fourth straight losing record in conference play for the first time since 1980-83.
UNM had a full roster the final 22 games – since Dec. 21, 2003 – when Danny Granger (Bradley) and Troy DeVries (Portland State) became eligible as mid-season transfers. UNM was 11-11 following their arrival, 11-2 in The Pit.
At 19.5 points a game, Granger led the MWC in scoring and was named first team all-Mountain West Conference. The transfer from Bradley joined Lamont Long (2000) and Ruben Douglas (2002 and `03) as Lobos who earned a spot on the first team since the league started in 1999-2000. A Lobo has now led the MWC in scoring four times in the past five years. Long averaged 18.7 ppg in 2000 while Douglas averaged 18.1 ppg in 2002 and a nation-leading 28.0 ppg in 2003.
Granger became just the second Lobo in the past 33 years to average more than 19 points and 9 rebounds for an entire season. Luc Longley (19.1 and 9.2) did so in 1991. Willie Long (23.9/12.9 in 1970 and 23.9/10.6 in `71) and Mel Daniels (21.2/10.3 in 1966 and 21.5/11.6 in `67) each did it twice, while Ira Harge was the first to accomplsih the feat in 1963 (21.1 and 13.2).
Granger was fifth in rebounding (9.0) and was also ranked among the top-15 in six other categories for conference-only games: FG percentage, 3-point FGs made, assists, FT percentage, steals and blocks. He became the first Lobo since Kenny Thomas in 1997-98 to record four straight double-doubles in one season.
DeVries averaged 10.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists, including 12 dishes against Coppin State, the best total by a Lobo in 12 years. He shot 44.6% (54-121) from 3-point, the sixth-best single-season accuracy in Lobo history. DeVries was third in the MWC with an average of 2.45 treys a game.