New Mexico at BYU
Jan. 24, 2005
The 68-53 loss at BYU drops the Lobos to 14-5 overall and
1-3 in the Mountain West Conference.
New Mexico has lost 3 in a row overall, 5 straight to BYU
in Provo and 25 consecutive road games against MWC
opponents…the Cougars have won 10 of the past 12 contests
against UNM
The Lobos had season-lows for points (53) and FG accuracy
(32.7%, 18-55).
If the injury situation wasn’t bad enough for UNM with
leading scorer and rebounder Danny Granger out the past 3
games following arthroscopic knee surgery, 6-9 junior post
David Chiotti was limited to just 11 first-minutes in the
BYU loss after aggravating a sore hip…Chiotti, who was
already playing with a tender ankle, too, came into the
game averaging 10.4 points and 5.7 rebounds a game…he
finished with 4 points and 4 rebounds
With Granger and Chiotti out, the Lobo roster consisted of
two seniors, three juniors, one sophomore and five
sophomores
UNM scored 25 points in the first half, a season-low for
any half this year.
The Lobos fell behind 42-26 early in the second half, but
put together a 12-0 run to trim the BYU lead to 42-38…the
Cougars answered with a 13-4 burst to go back up 55-42
Entering the Utah-BYU trip, the Lobos were No. 1 in the
nation in FG shooting at 52.5%…they made just 36.1%
(39-108) in the two losses
The Lobos averaged 83 points a game the first 16 games of
the season, but have averaged just 57.7 points with
Granger sidelined…UNM is now 14-2 when Danny Granger
plays, 0-3 without him
New Mexico made 20 of 37 FTs (54%) on the Utah-BYU swing.
The Lobos are now 2-4 on the road this season and are
averaging 66 points in those six games…that compares to
85 ppg and a 12-1 record in The Pit.