Jan. 13, 2006
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New Mexico looks for its first road win of the season when it travels to Wyoming Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is 1:05 p.m. MST from the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie, a venue the Lobos have not won since 1995, losing eight in a row. ESPN Regional will show the game live with local coverage on UPN 50 in Albuquerque. The telecast will also be part of the ESPN Full Court package. The next home game is Saturday, Jan. 21, against Air Force at 7.
UNM improved to 11-5 overall and 2-1 in the MWC following Wednesday’s dramatic 56-54 triumph over TCU. The Lobos scored the last nine points of the game, holding the Horned Frogs scoreless for the final 4:20. It was New Mexico’s 20th straight home win.
The Lobos, however, are 0-5 away from The Pit this year. UNM is looking to start 3-1 in MWC play for the first time in five years, since the 2000-01 season.
Wyoming, 9-7 overall, is also 2-1 in conference action after snapping Air Force’s 12-game winning streak with a 55-50 victory Wednesday in Laramie. Like the Lobos, Wyoming lost its league opener, but has come back to win its last two.
The Cowboys come into the game ranked 1st in the MWC in FG defense (39.2%) and rebound margin (+5.5). Wyoming is shooting just 42% from the floor and is last in the loop in 3-point FGs (4.6) and 3-point FG shooting (31.8%).
Senior forward Justin Williams has become one the MWC’s most dominant players at both ends of the floor. He is averaging 10.7 points and 10.7 rebounds, and is one of a handful of players in the nation to be averaging a double-double. Equally impressive is that Williams also ranks second in the nation in blocked shots at 5.9 rejections a game or a total of 89. To put that number in perspective, the entire Lobo team has 31 blocks this year, and had 115 all of last season. Junior forward Steve Leven leads a balanced scoring attack, averaging 13.2 points. Seven Cowboys are averaging at least 6.4 points a game.
LOBO NITTY-GRITTY – Seniors David Chiotti and Mark Walters are almost guaranteed of becoming the 23rd and 24th Lobos to score 1,000 career points, possibly Saturday at Wyoming…Chiotti has 995 points in his 104-game career while Walters is 21 points away in 102 games
The last time two Lobos reached 1,000 points in the same season was Luc Longley and Rob Robbins in 1989-90
Both Chiotti and Walters could also gain entrance into a more exclusive club, that of 1,000 points and 500 rebounds…there are presently 12 members…Chiotti has 533 boards while Walters is 76 caroms shy…the last Lobo to get there was Lamont Long in 1998-99
New Mexico has won 20 straight home games, the fourth-longest streak in school history and currently 5th in NCAA Div. I hoops through games of Jan. 11…Southern Illinois leads with 31, followed by Gonzaga and Illinois (30) and Winthrop (22)…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 won 29 of their past 30 in The Pit and are 41-3 in their last 44
New Mexico is 0-5 away from The Pit this year and has lost six straight including the setback to Villanova in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament…the Lobos won eight games away from Albuquerque last season, tied for 5th-most in school history
The Lobos have prevailed in 9 consecutive MWC home games and they are 14-1 in their last 15 MWC contests in The Pit…the most recent loss was dealt by UNLV (78-75) on March 1, 2004
The Lobos have posted a 37-12 record since 2004-05, a .755 winning percentage…the total ties Utah for most wins among Mountain West Conference schools during that span
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 144-133, 61-44 at New Mexico. McKay is 53-12 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 21-24 in MWC games, 18-5 at home and 3-19 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).
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 37-12 record since 2004-05, a .755 winning percentage. That ties Utah for most wins among Mountain West Conference schools over that span. Other tidbits:
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
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.
GOOD START TO ATHLETICS SEASON – New Mexico’s fall sports all posted .500 records or better, highlighted by men’s soccer, which advanced to the NCAA title game before falling to Maryland 1-0. Head coach Jeremy Fishbein’s squad finished 18-2-3 in their fourth NCAA appearance in the past five years. Football went 6-5, giving head coach Rocky Long his fifth consecutive non-losing season. Women’s soccer was 8-7-4 and made it to the championship match of the MWC Tournament. Volleyball had its best record in nine years, finishing 14-14.
TCU RECAP & NOTES – Guards Darren Prentice and Ryan Kersten hit key 3-pointers down the stretch and New Mexico held TCU scoreless over the final four minutes to take a 56-54 win.
New Mexico won its 20th straight game at home, the fifth longest such winning streak in the nation. But the Lobos had to rally from a seven-point deficit late in the second half, then survived a flurry of last second shots by the Horned Frogs that could have won the game or forced overtime. Nile Murry led the Frogs with 18 points.
TCU nearly pulled off the win by hitting 8 3-pointers. But the Frogs, who shot just 32.7 percent for the game, couldn’t get a shot to fall at the end.
Kersten, a freshman from Australia, broke a 54-54 tie with a layup with 1:58 left. Kersten rebounded a missed shot by Murry, raced down the court and wedged his way through a couple of TCU players to hit what turned out to be the final points of the night.
TCU’s Neiman Owens missed a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left but the Frogs rebounded the miss and called a time-out. When play resumed Murry misfired on a 2-point shot and teammate Judson Stubbs got another offensive board for the Frogs. As the final seconds ticked away Brent Hackett missed a 3-pointer and Murry’s off-balance rebound and attempt at the buzzer came up short.
New Mexico trailed 54-47 with 4:20 left after Murry hit a 12-footer. Prentice, who finished with a season-high 8 points, hit a 3-pointer. Murry was called for a charging foul seconds later and Kersten hit a 3 with 3:36 remaining to cut the Frogs lead to 54-53.
New Mexico’s Mark Walters hit one of two free throws with 2:31 left to tie it and Kersten followed with his coast-to-coast lay-up. David Chiotti led New Mexico in scoring with 12 points, nine of them in the first half. Walters scored 10.
New Mexico extended its home winning streak to 20 games…UNM has won 29 of its past 30 and 41 of its last 44 in The Pit…the Lobos have also won 9 straight MWC home games and are 14-1 in their past 15 conference games in The Pit
The game featured 14 lead changes and 8 ties…there were 8 lead changes in the 2nd half
UNM outscored TCU 9-0 over the final 4:20 of the game, erasing a 54-47 Horned Frog lead…TCU missed its last seven FGs
Freshman Chad Toppert hit a 3-pt. FG at the end of the first half to give UNM a 28-27 lead at the break…the Lobos were just 3-15 from behind the arc in the opening period and Toppert’s bucket snapped an 0-9 streak from 3-pt. range
UNM is 6-0 when out-rebounding its opponent and 10-1 when out-shooting its opponent
TCU’s 32.7 FG percentage was the second-lowest by a UNM opponent this year…Ole Miss shot 25.5% from the floor in a 95-42 loss in The Pit on Nov. 19
New Mexico is now 37-12 since the start of the 2004-05 season, tied with Utah for most wins among MWC teams
Freshman guard Ryan Kersten scored 9 points and tied a season-high with 5 rebounds…Kersten had 5 points in the final 3:36, including the eventual game-winning lay-up with 1:59 remaining
Sophomore guard Darren Prentice came off the bench to score a season-high 8 points on 3-3 shooting, 2-2 from 3-pt., with all eight points coming in the final 12:27…his 3 with 4 minutes remaining ignited a 9-0 Lobo run to close the game…Prentice came into the game averaging 1.8 points in 10 games
Junior forward Kyle Prochaska scored 9 points on 4-7 shooting in the game…it’s his most points since a season-high 10 against Washington on Dec. 10
Senior David Chiotti scored 12 points and moved past former teammate Danny Granger (994) and Marlow White (993) for 23rd place on UNM’s career scoring list with 995 points
Senior Mark Walters scored 10 points and now has 979 in his career, good for 26th place at UNM…he passed Darrell McGee (977)
STATS TRENDS – Since 2002-03, UNM is 3-31 when it trails at halftime…the wins came against New Mexico State this season (trailed 32-28, won 71-68 in OT), last year at home against Colorado State (down 38-33, won 72-61) and Nov. 25, 2002 against Northwestern State (trailed 36-31, won 60-56)
The Lobos are 10-1 this season when they shoot better than their opponent…since 2003-04, New Mexico is 43-3 in that situation…the only losses came last year against Air Force (UNM 69.2% to AFA’s 50%) and to Villanova (29.8% to 28.3%) in the NCAA Tournament, and this year against Washington (54% to 50%)
UNM’s 3-point accuracy is down to 34.8%, which would be the lowest for a season since the 2000-01 team made 34.3%…the Lobos have made 32% (24-75) the past four games
DEFENSE NOTES – The Lobos are allowing just 62.2 points a game, 2nd-best in the conference…for an entire season, that would be the lowest figure in 22 years, since the 1983-84 Lobos yielded just 59.2 ppg
New Mexico opened the year by doing something it had not accomplished in 60 years and that is holding its first three opponents to less than 50 points…in 1945-46, UNM shackled New Mexico State twice (38-31 and 50-23) and Arizona (42-37) to begin the season
UNM held Ole Miss to 25.5% shooting from the floor, the lowest by a Lobo opponent since Northwestern State was held to 24.2% (15-62) in The Pit on Dec. 28, 2003
SEASON NOTES – UNM stats in 5 games away from The Pit this year: 58.6 ppg, 107-255 FGs (42%), 32-100 (32%) on 3-pointers, 47-81 FTs (58%) and a negative rebound margin of 9.2 a game
The 53-point victory margin over Ole Miss (95-42) ties for UNM’s 7th largest win in school history and ties for the 5th-widest margin in The Pit
The Lobos had won 21 straight games – and 28 of 29 – when leading at halftime before the 68-56 loss at Kansas State…UNM led the Wildcats 36-27 at the break…the last setback was at Oregon a year ago…UNM led the Ducks 43-41 before losing 79-75 at Eugene
New Mexico was outrebounded 33-20 at Kansas State…that’s the fewest caroms for UNM in eight seasons, since gathering 20 in a 77-62 win over Colorado State on Feb. 7, 1998
In 33 games last year, the Lobos were 2-2 in games decided by 4 points or less…so far, they’re 3-0