Feb. 13, 2006
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The surging New Mexico Lobos (15-9, 6-5 MWC) look to continue their winning ways when they play host to Wyoming (12-12, 5-6 MWC) Wednesday night. Game time is 7:05 p.m. MST from The Pit/Bob King Court in Albuquerque. There is no TV coverage. Game sponsors include Farmers Insurance, 96.3 The Buzzard and 99.5 Magic FM. A win over the Cowboys would give the Lobos’ a season-high four-game winning streak.
Heading into its only game this week, New Mexico resides in fifth place in the Mountain West Conference . The Lobos, who were picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll, are one game ahead of Wyoming and Utah and a game behind Air Force and BYU.
After Wyoming, the Lobos’ final four regular-season games will be contested against teams currently ahead of them in the standings: home games against San Diego State and UNLV and road trips to Air Force and BYU.
Winless this season on the road just a week ago, the Lobos are coming off a sweep of games at Colorado State and TCU. UNM staged its largest road comeback in 10 years to defeat the Rams 80-78 last Wednesday. The Lobos trailed 40-29 early in the second half.
Last Saturday, New Mexico held TCU to its worst shooting percentage in school history in the 53-42 victory. The Horned Frogs converted only 21% (13-62) of their tries from the floor, the worst accuracy by a Lobo opponent in almost 42 years.
Wyoming has been involved in a lot of close games, especially last week as both contests were decided with less than a second to go.
Last Wednesday against TCU, the Cowboys’ Justin Williams scored on a put-back with 0.2 seconds left for a 67-65 win. UW was the victim on Saturday as Air Force’s Jacob Burtschi hit the game-winning free throw with 0.4 seconds remaining, giving the Falcons a 62-61 decision.
All told, seven of the Cowboys’ 11 MWC games have been decided by seven points or less. Six have had a margin of five points or less.
NEW MEXICO-WYOMING SERIES – It’s the 112th meeting and the Pokes have a 61-50 lead…Wyoming has taken 10 of the 13 MWC games played, and has won 9 straight in Laramie…UNM’s last win at the Double-A was Feb. 18, 1995, by a 62-61 count…the Lobos lead 31-23 in Albuquerque, but just 25-14 at The Pit…only BYU with 15 has more wins in The Pit than the Cowboys.
JAN. 14 IN LARAMIE – Brandon Ewing scored 23 points, including four three-pointers, as Wyoming beat New Mexico 77-70. The Lobos made a late run, converting three consecutive three-point plays. David Chiotti’s three-point play with 50.5 seconds left brought New Mexico within 71-66. But Wyoming weathered the storm with strong free-throw shooting, hitting 17 of its last 18 attempts.
The Cowboys outscored the Lobos 11-4 to start the second half, going up 38-37 with 15:52 left. They went on a 9-3 run later in the period, gaining their biggest lead up to that point at 53-46 with 9:54 to go. New Mexico shot poorly from the free-throw line, making only nine of 19 attempts. Wyoming hit 18 of 21 attempts in the game.
Steve Leven scored 16 points and Justin Williams added 10 points and five blocked shots. Mark Walters led all scorers in the game with a career-high 26 points. Chiotti added 19 for the Lobos.
Walters hit his first three shots and grabbed two steals as New Mexico outscored Wyoming 10-3 to start the game. The Cowboys came back with a 10-2 run to take a 13-12 lead. After that, the lead changed 7 times before a final 9-0 New Mexico run, highlighted by three-pointers from Walters and Chiotti, put the Lobos up 33-27 at halftime.
LAST YEAR IN ALBUQUERQUE – Troy DeVries’ 15 points led six New Mexico players in double figures and the Lobos, with leading scorer and rebounder Danny Granger out with a knee injury, beat Wyoming 89-75. New Mexico dominated in the first half, when Granger led a torrid shooting effort by the Lobos during which they hit 16 of their first 21 shots.
UNM led 39-19 when Granger – averaging 19.5 points and 9.4 rebounds a game – went out with 6:27 left in the first half. He didn’t play the rest of the game, but New Mexico was able to withstand a brief second half rally by the Cowboys.
Moments after Granger went to the locker room, the Lobos extended their lead to 47-23. But with Granger out, Wyoming picked up some momentum and started cutting into the deficit.
The Cowboys closed the first half with an 8-2 run, then outscored the Lobos 12-2 in the first five minutes of the second half. A 14-foot jumper by Jay Straight, who led the Cowboys with 20 points and a short jumper inside by Alex Dunn got Wyoming within 51-43 with 15:11 left. That was as close as the Cowboys would come.
Lobo center David Chiotti hit a free throw and after Dunn made one of two free throws, New Mexico scored eight straight points. True freshman Tony Danridge hit a pair of field goals, Alfred Neale banked in a shot and DeVries scored off the board in traffic for a 60-44 lead with 10:45 left. Another 8-0 run late in the game rebuilt New Mexico’s lead to 72-51 with 5:14 to go.
Neale, playing in place of Granger, finished with 11 points, while Danridge matched his season-high with 10 points. Kris Collins added 13 points and Chiotti had 14. Granger scored 12 points and had 3 blocks in the 12 minutes he played.
GAME PREVIEW – Wyoming continues to lead the MWC in FG percentage defense as Cowboy opponents are shooting just 40% from the floor. The Pokes also lead the league in rebound margin at +5.0 and are among the nation’s leaders in blocks (6.92 a game). Offensively, Wyoming is only shooting 42.3% from the floor and is last in the loop in 3-point FGs (4.5), 3-point shooting (31.4%) and turnover margin (-3.17 a game).
Senior Justin Williams is arguably the MWC’s most dominant defensive player. He and San Diego State’s Marcus Slaughter are the only players in the league averaging a double-double. Williams comes in with averages of 11.4 points and 10.1 rebounds, and he also ranks second in the nation in blocked shots at 5.3 rejections a game, or a total of 116. To put that number in perspective, the entire Lobo team has 49 blocks this year, and had 115 all of last season.
Junior forward Steve Leven leads a balanced scoring attack, averaging more than 13 points. Seven Cowboys are averaging at least five points a game.
The Cowboys have a bright future based on the play of freshman guard Brandon Ewing, who is averaging 12 points a game and shooting 80 percent from the free-throw line. Ewing is even better in conference games, averaging 15.6 points, fifth-best in the league.
LOBO NITTY-GRITTY – The Lobos have a 41-16 record since 2004-05, tied with Utah for most wins among Mountain West Conference schools…the Utes are also 41-16
The Lobos’ 41 wins the past two seasons are the most in consecutive years since gathering 43 in 1998-99 (25) and 1999-00 (18)
UNM is 9-2 in February games the past two seasons
New Mexico needs 17,034 fans to reach 11 million in all-time attendance at The Pit
In the two-game road sweep over Colorado State and TCU, senior G Mark Walters scored 40 points, 30 coming after halftime…of UNM’s final 33 points in the two games, Walters scored 21…he made 8-16 FGs, 5-10 on 3s and 9-12 FTs in the second half of the two games
Solid “D” from Chiotti…senior forward David Chiotti has done an outstanding job of shutting down opponents’ big men the past few games…last Wednesday at Colorado State, 7-footer Jason Smith was limited to 8 points on 3 of 8 FGs, only the second time this season he has failed to reach double figures…Smith came into the game averaging 17…against Utah on Feb. 4, Chiotti held 7-foot C Luke Nevill to a mere 3 points on 1 of 6 shooting…averaging 10.3 ppg coming into the game, that was Nevill’s lowest output in an MWC game
Walters and Air Force’s Jacob Burtschi are the only players in the MWC that rank in the top-20 in points, rebounds, assists and steals…however, Walters is the lone MWC player who ranks in the top-20 in those categories and 3-point FGs (1.96 per game)
Walters and David Chiotti each gained admttance into UNM’s 1,000-point club in the Jan. 14 contest at Wyoming…the last time two Lobos reached 1,000 points in the same season, let alone the same game, was Luc Longley and Rob Robbins in 1989-90
Walters could enter a more exclusive club, that of 1,000 points and 500 rebounds…there are presently 13 members with Chiotti the most recent addition…Walters is 41 caroms shy
BYU ENDS HOME WINNING STREAK…AGAIN – Before the loss to BYU on Feb. 1, New Mexico’s 21-game home winning streak tied for the 3rd-longest streak in school history and was the 4th-longest current string in NCAA Div. I hoops. The Cougars have now snapped the top-three home winning streaks in Lobo history.
The last home loss for the Lobos before BYU was 81-74 to No. 5 Wake Forest on Dec. 22, 2004. UNM had also prevailed in 10 consecutive MWC home games, the most recent loss being dealt by UNLV (78-75) on March 1, 2004.
Still, after going 18-1 at home last year, the Lobos have won 31 of their past 33 in The Pit and are 43-4 in their last 47.
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 148-137, 65-48 at New Mexico. McKay is 55-13 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 25-28 in MWC games, 20-6 at home and 5-22 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 41-16 record since 2004-05, tied with Utah for most wins among MWC schools. 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
TCU RECAP & NOTES – Mark Walters scored 19 points and New Mexico held TCU to a school-worst 21 percent shooting from the field in a 53-42 win. TCU shot 5-of-28 in the first half and 8-of-34 in the second. Its previous record for lowest shooting percentage in a game was 1978, when the Horned Frogs shot 27 percent in a 90-41 loss to Texas.
David Chiotti added seven points and 10 rebounds for New Mexico. The Lobos have won three straight. Judson Stubbs led TCU with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Nile Murry added 13 points but shot made just four of 21 field goals.
TCU shot just 21% (13-62) for the game, the lowest by a Lobo opponent in nearly 42 years…UNM held Howard Payne to 15% (6-40) accuracy in a 102-32 victory at Johnson Gym on Dec. 23, 1964
UNM allowed its fewest points in a road game since Jan. 23, 1984, when it defeated Wyoming 40-38 at Laramie
New Mexico allowed its fewest points in a conference game – home or away – since beating BYU 74-32 in The Pit on Feb. 3, 1997
The Horned Frogs started 1 of 23 from the floor – including 17 straight misses during one stretch – as the Lobos built a 21-4 lead…however, TCU closed the first half with a 13-2 run to trail 23-17 at the break, but then missed its first 14 FG attempts of the second half
For the second straight game, senior G Mark Walters had a big second half…he scored 14 of his game-high 19 points after halftime vs. TCU, including 10 of the Lobos’ final 14 points down the stretch…he also had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals…in the two-game road sweep over Colorado State and TCU, Walters netted 40 points, 30 coming after halftime, including 21 of UNM’s final 33 points
One game after committing a season-low 7 turnovers at Colorado State, the Lobos committed 19 at TCU…their 7th miscue came less than 12 minutes into the game…it’s the most turnovers since 21 in overtime against New Mexico State on Dec. 13
The Lobos missed 12 of their first 13 attempts from 3-point before Kris Collins and Mark Walters hit consecutive treys to give UNM a 42-30 lead…still, the Lobos finished 4 of 17 from 3-land, or 23.5%, their second-worst accuracy of the season…UNM was 5 of 22 (22.7%) in the season opener against South Carolina State
Senior F David Chiotti grabbed 10 rebounds, moving into 13th place all-time at UNM with 579…he passed Bill Morgan, Khari Jaxon and Charles Smith…Chiotti also had 5 assists, giving him 11 the past 2 games
Senior G Kris Collins has made a 3-pointer in 3 straight games for the first time in his 43-game Lobo career…Collins is 3 of 7 in his last 3 games after starting 4 of 42 in his first 40 games…Collins finished with 9 points, 7 of those coming after halftime…the past 3 games he has scored 30 points with 26 coming after intermission
Sophomore Tony Danridge, scoreless in two games before TCU, scored 8 on 4 of 5 FGs
New Mexico’s first 12 points were scored by six different players (Joel Box, Tony Danridge, Kyle Prochaska, Ryan Kersten, Mark Walters and Kris Collins)
The Lobo bench has now contributed 94 points and 40 rebounds the past 4 games