Jan. 1, 2006
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New Mexico opens its seventh season of Mountain West Conference play Wednesday when it meets Utah in Salt Lake City. Tipoff is 7 p.m. MST from the Huntsman Center on the Utah campus. The game will be televised by Salt Lake station KJZZ and available nationally on DirecTV and Dish Network through the ESPN Full Court package. UNM returns home to host Colorado State on Saturday at 7.
The Lobos are 9-4 and have won five of their last six. They captured their 18th straight home game last Thursday with a 63-51 victory over Texas-Arlington in the championship game of the Comcast Lobo Invitational. UNM is 9-0 at home this year, but winless in four tries away from The Pit. New Mexico was 8-6 on the road and at neutral sites last year.
Utah brings a 7-4 record into a game matching last year’s top two finishers in the Mountain West Conference. The Utes are 6-1 at the Huntsman Center, the lone loss a 73-43 decision dealt by Arizona.
Through Dec. 31, the combined record of the four schools UNM has lost to is 32-13. Kansas State is 8-2, New Mexico State is 4-7, Washington is 11-1 and San Diego is 9-3. Those four teams are 26-5 at home.
UPCOMING PROMOTIONS; PACK THE PIT SATURDAY – Saturday’s game against Colorado State is “Pack The Pit.” All tickets are just $10 and the first 2,500 fans will receive Lobo Beanie Caps courtesy of Sandia Casino. On Wednesday, Jan. 11 against TCU, the first 7,500 fans will receive Lobo Howl Towels courtesy of the New Mexico Lottery.
BIG CHALLENGE – New Mexico looks to do something it has done just two other times in the 54-year history of the Utah series and that’s defeat the Utes three straight times. The Lobos put together a five-game run between 1972-74 and they last won three consecutive 22 years ago in 1984.
If UNM is to accomplish the rare feat of three straight wins against Utah, it will have to halt a 16-game losing skid in Salt Lake City, a spot they haven’t won since 1989. In fact, New Mexico is just 5-49 all-time against Utah in SLC, winning in 1954, `72, `73, `84 and `89.
Adding to the degree of difficulty is that Utah is 6-1 at home this season and 38-2 in its last 40 contests at the Huntsman Center. The past 11 years, the Utes are 78-4 in home conference games. That’s the best record in the nation in that category.
NINE STRAIGHT WINS VS. MWC OPPOSITION – New Mexico enters the conference lid-lifter having won nine straight games against MWC competition, which includes last year’s three-game MWC Tournament title run in Denver. Utah has been the victim twice during the skein, 65-54 in The Pit and 60-56 in the championship game of the tournament. The Utes were ranked in the top-15 in the nation in both encounters.
HOME STREAK STAYS INTACT – The current home winning streak of 18 games is the fourth-longest in school history and currently ranks tied with Tennessee Tech for 5th in NCAA Div. I hoops through games of Jan. 1. Gonzaga leads with 31 in a row followed by Illinois (29), Southern Illinois (28) and Winthrop (20). It’s New Mexico’s most successful string since taking a school-record 41 straight from Feb. 10, 1996 to Feb. 26, 1998. The last home loss for the Lobos was more than a year ago, an 81-74 setback to No. 5 Wake Forest on Dec. 22, 2004. After going 18-1 at home last year, the Lobos have also taken 27 of their past 28 in The Pit and are 39-3 in their last 42.
BIG-TIME TURNAROUND UNDER McKAY – Head coach Ritchie McKay’s first two Lobo teams went 24-32, but UNM had just eight scholarship players available in his first season of 2002-03 and only 10 in his second year. Since the 5/8 rule was repealed after the 2003-04 season, the Lobos have posted a 35-11 record since 2004-05, a .761 winning percentage. Among Mountain West Conference schools, only Utah with 36 has more wins than the Lobos the past two years. Other tidbits:
Only Lobo coach who has a career winning record (4-3) against Utah
McKay, Norm Ellenberger and Dave Bliss are the only head coaches to take the Lobos to the NCAA Tournament within their first three years at the post
Picked to finish 4th in the MWC in 2004-05, the Lobos finished 26-7 overall, 2nd in the conference at 10-4, won the MWC Tournament for the first time in nine years and only the third time in school history, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years
The 26 wins in 2004-05 were the second-best total in school history and were a 12-win improvement from 2003-04…that tied for the 2nd-largest jump in program history and tied for the 3rd-highest in NCAA Div. I men’s basketball
Won five straight games away from The Pit in 2004-05, a feat last accomplished in 1977-78
Five Lobo seniors who completed their eligibility at UNM are now playing professionally (Javin Tindall, Ruben Douglas, Alfred Neale, Troy DeVries and Danny Granger)…the other two – Ryan Ashcraft and Senque Carey – had their careers cut short by injury
UNM IN MWC OPENERS – New Mexico is 4-2 in six MWC openers, 2-0 at home and 2-2 on the road. Head coach Ritchie McKay is 1-2 with losses at Colorado State and Wyoming and a home win last year against the Cowboys.
LOBO HEAD COACH Ritchie McKay – Ritchie McKay is his fourth season in charge of Lobo hoops and his 11th year as a collegiate head coach. He was named UNM’s 18th head coach on March 28, 2002.
He has a career record of 142-132, 59-43 at New Mexico. McKay is 51-12 at home, 40-20 in all non-conference games, 35-7 in non-league games at The Pit and 5-13 in road/neutral games. He is 19-23 in MWC games, 16-5 at home and 3-18 on the road.
The 26-7 record in 2004-05 is easily the best season of McKay’s career, surpassing a 19-11 ledger at Colorado State in 1998-99. The Lobos won the MWC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999, while posting the second-highest win total in school history. It was McKay’s first trip to the Big Dance.
McKay had previous two-year stops at Portland State (1996-98), Colorado State (1998-2000) and Oregon State (2000-02).
ROUGH START FOR McKAY AT UNM – It was a daunting challenging for McKay in his first two seasons at New Mexico. In his second game as Lobos head coach on Nov. 25, 2002, starting senior point guard Senque (sen-Q) Carey suffered a freak spinal cord injury in the first half against Northwestern (La.) State. He was partially paralyzed for several weeks before regaining full movement, but was unable to resume his playing career. Carey’s absence left New Mexico with just eight scholarship players and two walk-ons. Of those 10 players, seven were in their first year at UNM.
Sophomores Jamaal Williams (Washington) and Chad Bell (Nevada) transferred after the 2002-03 season, leaving New Mexico with just 10 scholarship players for the 2003-04. Mark Walters suffered a torn ACL in May of 2003 and never fully recovered until the 2004-05 season. In August of 2003, Billy Feeney, a promising 6-9 sophomore who had transferred from Portland State, took his own life.
The elimination of the 5/8 rule really helped before the 2004-05 campaign as it was able to add five scholarship players, reaching the full complement of 13.
LOBOS PREDICTED FOR 5TH-PLACE FINISH IN MOUNTAIN WEST – New Mexico was picked to finish fifth in the 2005-06 Mountain West Conference race during the league’s preseason media gathering last month in Salt Lake City. Voters were a combination of head coaches and media. UNM was picked to finish fourth in 2004-05, but ended up second behind Utah.
TEXAS-ARLINGTON RECAP & NOTES – Freshman Ryan Kersten scored a season-high 16 points and David Chiotti had his fourth double-double of the season in New Mexico’s 63-51 win over Texas-Arlington in the championship game of the Lobo Invitational. New Mexico won its 18th straight home game and won its 41-year-old holiday tournament for the 29th time.
Texas-Arlington never led in the game. The Mavericks had just two field goals and seven turnovers in the game’s first nine minutes and couldn’t overcome a sluggish first half in which they hit just 6 of 22 shots (27.3 percent).
Jermaine Griffin, who scored the Mavericks’ first 10 points in the second half, led Texas-Arlington with 19 points. He hit 9 of 10 shots, most of them lay-ups and dunks. Chiotti scored 11 points and had 11 rebounds for his eighth career double-double and third in the last four games.
Both teams struggled offensively much of the night and especially at the free throw line, where Texas-Arlington was 7-for-17 and New Mexico 11-of-21.
The Lobos pulled away from a 12-8 lead with an 8-0 run that started with a tip-in basket by Kyle Prochaska and finished with a 3-pointer by Kersten. Kersten, who broke into the starting lineup earlier this month, has scored 62 points in the past six games and has hit 13 of 25 3-pointers. Point guard Kris Collins scored just 5 points but added a career-high 7 assists for New Mexico.
UNM improved to 70-12 in the Lobo Invitational and won the championship game for the 29th time in 41 tournaments…New Mexico has won the tournament title 9 of the last 11 years
The Lobos improved to 4-0 all-time against the Mavericks
UT-Arlington shot just 22.2% (4-18) from 3-point range, matching the second-lowest percentage by a Lobo opponent this season
The Mavericks matched their season-low with 17 first half points…New Mexico is now 8-1 this season and 33-2 over the past 2 years when leading at the break
UNM won the rebounding battle for the 5th time this season – all Lobo victories
Senior forward David Chiotti recorded his 4th double-double of the season, 8th of his career and 3rd in the past 4 games with 11 points and 11 rebounds…he also matched a season-high with 2 blocks…Chiotti is averaging 10.0 rebounds over the last 4 games after pulling down an average of 6.3 in the first 9 games of the year…he now has 521 rebounds in his career, good for 22nd on the UNM all-time list…he passed Darryl Minniefield (519) tonight
Senior guard Kris Collins set a career-high with 7 assists against one turnover in 26 minutes at the point…it’s the most minutes he has seen in six games
Freshman guard Ryan Kersten scored a career-high with 16 points on career-highs of 6 FGs and 11 FG attempts…Kersten was 2-5 from 3-point range and is now 13-25 (52%) from beyond the arc over the past 6 games…Kersten is the first Lobo freshman to earn a spot on the Lobo Invitational all-tournament team since Marlon Parmer in 1999