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March 9, 2006
New Mexico has never beaten UNLV in four conference tournament games, including an 0-3 mark in the Mountain West Conference Tournament…UNM is 3-2 since the MWC Tournament moved to the Pepsi Center in Denver, both losses have come against UNLV by a combined 3 points.
Before today, UNM was 6-1 this year in games decided by 5 points or less…this was the team’s first 1-point loss since 51-50 at Air Force on Feb. 14, 2004.
UNLV made 13 of its last 17 shots after it was down 43-30
The New Mexico men and women are both out of the conference tournament after the first round for first time since 2000
UNM and UNLV both allowed each other to shoot 50% from the floor today…the Lobos and Rebels were the No. 1 and 2 teams in field goal percentage defense during MWC play, allowing opponents to hit just 42.8% and 43.3%, respectively.
In its last 2 games New Mexico has hit 20-40 (50%) attempts from beyond the 3-point arc, but just 10-24 from the free throw line (41.7%)…senior David Chiotti went 0 for 8 the past two games
The Lobos have shot 50% or less from the FT stripe in five of their last six games, going 34 of 70, or 49%…the team had shot below 50% from the charity stripe just twice in the first 24 games of the season.
Senior Jeff Hart matched his career-high for the second straight game with 15 points on 5 3-pointers, and he also had a career-high 5 steals and tied a career-best with 39 minutes played…his 5 threes are tied for the most ever by a UNM player in a conference tournament game…three others hit five during a Western Athletic Conference Tournament game: Rob Robbins vs. Air Force (1989) and UTEP (1990), Clayton Shields vs. San Diego State (1996) and Royce Olney vs. San Jose State (1997)
Hart has scored 41 points in his last 3 games (13.7/game) after scoring a total of 56 in his first 24 games of the season (2.3/game)
Hart (15-26) and junior Kellen Walter (8-15) are a combined 23-42 (55%) from 3-point the past 4 games
Senior Kris Collins had 5 assists, his highest total in 17 games
Sophomore forward Tony Danridge scored in double figures for the first time in 9 games, finishing with 11 points off the bench.
Seniors David Chiotti and Mark Walters combined for 14 points and 6 rebounds today and totaled 33 points and 14 rebounds in their last 2 games…the pair averaged a combined 27.8 points and 10.9 rebounds per game during the regular season
Blake Harden (9), Jeff Hart (30), Chad Toppert (3) and Kellen Walter (12) – all current or former walk-ons – have scored 54 of UNM’s 131 points the past 2 games
UNLV senior guard Ricky Morgan scored 12 of the Rebels first 18 points in the game and it is only the third time this season he has scored in double figures in a game. He ended the day with 16 points.
New Mexico senior guard Jeff Hart recorded a season-high in scoring with 15 points. In five previous Mountain West Tournament games, Hart had not scored a point. It is also the third straight game he has been in double figures, scoring 11 against UNLV and 15 at BYU in the final two regular season games and the fourth time this year he has scored 10 or more.
Hart connected on five three-pointers in the game, tying for the fourth-most in a Mountain West Tournament contest. Hart also notched five steals in the game, which ties for the second-most in a Mountain West Tournament game (5, Marcus Banks, UNLV vs. New Mexico, 2002).
This is the fourth straight year UNLV has been the four seed in the MWC Tournament, winning all four quarterfinal games and posting a 6-3 record as the fourth seed (11-4 overall).
New Mexico has been the fifth seed just once, in 2004, where they also lost to UNLV.
UNLV used a 16-7 run from the 9:41 mark to the 4:18 mark to close within one point, 58-57. The 65-64 lead with 16.5 seconds remaining in the second-half was the first lead for the Runnin’ Rebels since the 18:25 mark of the first half (4-3).
Today is just the fourth game in Mountain West Tournament history where both teams shot 50 percent or better from the field. The last time was the New Mexico vs. UNLV game in 2002.
It is also just the third time in Mountain West Tournament history a game has been decided by just one point (Colorado State 62, UNLV 61, 2003; San Diego State 70, Wyoming 69, 2002).
The 11 steals by UNLV is the third most in a Mountain West Tournament game, second only to the 12 by UNLV vs. New Mexico in 2002 and the 12 by Air Force against Utah.