2005 MWC Basketball Tournament Postgame Notes
March 10, 2005
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The Lobo record is now 24-6 and the win streak at seven
games with a 85-71 victory over BYU in the quarterfinals
of the MWC Tournament…the lineup of David Chiotti, Troy
DeVries, Danny Granger, Alfred Neale and Mark Walters has
started every game during the streak…UNM has also won 10
of its last 11 since Jan. 29
The 24 wins ties for the 5th-most in school history…it’s a
10-win improvement from last year and 14 wins better than
2002-03, Ritchie McKay’s first season at UNM
Conference Tournament Records Set by New Mexico Tonight
(UNM Records)
3-point FG% – 55.6 (10-18); previous 11-20 vs. San Jose
State, 3-4-97
Assists – 26; previous 25 vs. San Diego State, 3-7-96
Assists – 12, Mark Walters; previous 10 by Kelvin
Scarborough vs. BYU, 3-6-86 and vs. San Diego State,
3-8-85
Blocks – 4, Danny Granger (tied); previous 4 by Luc
Longley, Charles Smith and Kenny Thomas
The 14-point winning margin is UNM’s largest in a
conference tournament game since beating San Jose State
103-70 in the 1st round of the 1997 WAC Tournament in Las
Vegas
New Mexico is now 24-3 with Danny Granger in the starting
lineup, 0-3 when he was out with a knee injury in
mid-January…since the 81-64 loss to Wake Forest on Dec.
22, the Lobos have a 14-1 record with Granger playing
Granger had a modest 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 1
assist and 1 block in 16 first-half minutes…in 13 minutes
of 2nd-half action, Granger had 16 points, 6 rebounds, 4
assists, 3 blocks and a steal giving him game totals of 23
points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals…it’s
his highest point total since coming back from Jan. 10
knee surgery and most since scoring 25 at Texas-Arlington
on Jan. 3
Junior Mark Walters had his 4th career double-double with
12 points and a career-high 12 assists…his previous assist
high was 10 earlier this season against New Mexico
State…that’s the most assists by a Lobo since Troy DeVries
had 12 last year against Coppin State…UNM is 10-1 since
Walters was inserted as the starting point guard on Jan.
29
Led by Walters, the Lobos had an amazing 26 assists on
their 28 baskets…they also had 26 earlier this year
against Mississippi Valley State
UNM snapped a 4-game losing streak in MWC Tournament games
and has advanced to the semifinals for the first time
since 2001 when it lost to BYU in the title game…the Lobos
are now 3-5 in the MWC Tournament
Head coach Ritchie McKay won his first career game in a
conference tournament…he had been 0-4 overall, 0-3 in the
MWC, including 0-2 while at UNM
The Lobos are 6-5 away from Albuquerque this season, the
most wins since the 2000-01 team went 6-9…UNM began the
season with a 29-game losing streak in games away from The
Pit
New Mexico has won 19 straight games when leading at
halftime and is 23-1 overall this season…the only loss
came at Oregon when UNM led 43-41, but lost 79-75 in the
fifth game of the season
The Lobos led 55-37 after a Bombale Osby FT, but BYU
scored seven straight to make it 55-44…UNM responded with
a 10-0 run on a Granger FT then consecutive 3-pointers by
Walters, Alfred Neale and Granger for a 65-44 advantage
Neale finished with 15 points on 5-7 FGs, including 4-5
from 3-point, and 7 rebounds
UNM received some nice contributions from its
freshmen…Bombale Osby scored 4 of the Lobos’ first 12
points (and 5 total) when head coach Ritchie McKay put
starters Danny Granger and David Chiotti on the bench at
the 17:39 mark of the first half…Tony Danridge scored 7
points, including a drive and left-handed slam that
provided a 32-20 advantage…point guard Ryan Wall had a
pair of FTs in 18 minutes…the frosh combined to make all 7
of their FGs and 2 of 6 FTs in 42 minutes
Troy DeVries hit a 3-pointer in his 27th straight game,
tying Charles Smith for the 2nd-longest streak in school
history…Ruben Douglas is 1st at 35…it was DeVries’ only
points of the game…he now has 141 career treys, good for
8th all-time at UNM