Post-Game Notes
Jan. 31, 2005
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With its victory tonight, New Mexico improved to 16-5 on the year and evened its Mountain West Conference record at 3-3…the Lobos are now 14-1 in The Pit this year, and 3-0 in conference play…UNM also defeated San Diego State for the 19th time in the past 20 meetings in Albuquerque…New Mexico has a 23-4 record against the Aztecs all-time in The Pit…SDSU lost for the third time in its last 4 games, falling to 9-10 on the year and 2-4 in the MWC standings.
After shooting less than 40% from the floor in its three previous games, New Mexico knocked down 60% (12-20) of its shots in the first half and went on to finish with a .583 field goal percentage (28-48)…it was the Lobos’ best shooting performance at home since hitting 62.3% (33-53) in a 88-66 victory over Troy on Dec. 29.
UNM also hit 12-25 (48%) from 3-point range after connecting on just 6 of 28 attempts (21.4%) two nights earlier vs. UNLV…the 12 3s were the team’s best output in 8 games since hitting 12-24 vs. Troy…SDSU, meanwhile, hit just 2-12 from beyond the arc in the second half after canning 4 of its first 9 attempts in the opening period.
New Mexico’s 40 first half points were its most in five games, since tallying 49 with a healthy Danny Granger in the lineup vs. Wyoming…the Lobos and Aztecs combined for 71 first half points…two days earlier, however, both teams struggled out of the gate…UNM and UNLV combined for 53 points in Albuquerque (29-24 Lobo lead), while SDSU and Air Force opened with a combined 49 in Colorado Springs (25-24 Aztec lead).
In his second game back after missing three contests due to knee surgery, UNM senior forward Danny Granger scored 21 points (6-10 FGs), recorded 9 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 more steals…after tallying 11 points on 4-12 shooting in his return to the lineup on Jan. 29 vs. UNLV, Granger poured in 14 in the first half alone (4-6 FGs)…he also finished 3-6 from three-point range after a uncharacteristic 0-6 line two nights before…New Mexico improved to 16-2 with Granger in the lineup this season…the team is winless in 3 road games without the All-American candidate.
New Mexico senior forward Alfred Neale scored a season-high 20 points off the bench, including two-more dunks off alley-oop passes, and matched his best effort of the year with 4 3-pointers…Neale, who had hit just 3 of his previous 16 attempts (19%) over the past 3 games, missed just once from beyond the arc…he also set a season-high with 5 assists and gathered 6 rebounds in 28 minutes.
UNM senior guard Troy DeVries finished with a season-high 6 rebounds and broke out of a brief scoring slump with an 18-point effort…he had scored a total of 12 points in his last 2 games.
San Diego State’s Brandon Heath and Marcus Slaughter were held to a combined 22 points on 5-19 shooting (26%)…the duo entered the night averaging 18.6 and 17.9 point per game (36.5 combined ppg), respectively…Slaughter’s total is a season-low.”