Nov. 13, 2006
New Mexico’s NBA-type schedule comes to an end Tuesday when the Lobos entertain Colorado. Tipoff is 7:05 p.m., from the The Pit/Bob King Court in Albuquerque. It will be UNM’s third game in five days to open the season. The Lobos (2-0) and Buffaloes (1-0) and hooking up for the first time in 26 years.
The game will be televised live by The mtn., which is Channel 276 on Comcast in Albuquerque and Channel 329 on Cable ONE in Rio Rancho. Live audio is also available at www.golobos.com.
New Mexico is 2-0 after a pair of blowout wins over Abilene Christian (91-54) and Sacramento State (92-56). Colorado opened its season with a 78-64 victory over Denver last Friday.
NEXT STUDENT TICKET PICK-UP IS WEDNESDAY – Students can pick up their free tickets Wednesday for upcoming games against Kansas State (Nov. 21) and New Mexico State (Nov. 28). Tickets are free for all full-time UNM students enrolled in a minimum of 6 hours. Tickets are available at the Center for the Arts ticket window outside of Popejoy Hall Wednesday from 7:30-11 a.m. After that time, tickets can be picked up at the UNM Bookstore or the Lobo Ticket Office at The Pit.
PROMOTIONS/GAME SPONSORS – It’s Dollar Dog Night at Lobo Basketball as the first 5,000 Wienerschnitzel Lobo Dogs will be sold for only $1. Game Sponsors are First Community Bank, Wienerschnitzel, 93.3 KOB FM and 610 The Sports Animal. The Albuquerque Regional Wiener Nationals will be conducted at halftime.
NEW MEXICO – COLORADO SERIES – Despite the close proximity of the two schools, UNM and New Mexico meet for just the 11th time since the first game in 1926. The last contest was Nov. 28, 1980 in The Pit, a 75-65 CU victory. The Buffs won the first four games in the series between 1926-58. The Lobos followed with four straight victories from 1970-76. Colorado has won the past two. Ritchie McKay faced Colorado twice while he was the head coach at Colorado State. McKay split the series with the Buffaloes with each team winning on its home court.
Scouting the Buffaloes; A Few Lobo Ties: Colorado was 20-10 last year overall, 9-7 in the Big 12, which was good for fifth place. The Buffs narrowly missed an NCAA Tournament bid. They fell to Old Dominion in the first round of the NIT.
Only one starter is back from last year’s team, but he’s one of the best in the country in 6-6 guard Richard Roby. The son of former Lobo Paul Roby (1978-79) and the half brother of NBA star Kenyon Martin, Richard Roby averaged 17 points a game last year when he was a consensus first team All-Big 12 selection.
Head coach Ricardo Patton is facing New Mexico for the first time in his coaching career. Now in his 11th campaign at Colorado, Patton began the season with a 177-140 record. Patton holds a fifth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
Former New Mexico assistant coach Paul Graham is in his fourth year as an assistant at CU. Graham spent two seasons (1990-91 and 1991-92) at UNM under Dave Bliss. The Lobos went 40-23 during that span, advancing to the NCAA Tournament in ‘91.40TH
LOBO HEAD COACH Ritchie McKay – Ritchie McKay is in his fifth season in charge of Lobo hoops and 12th year as a collegiate head coach. He was named UNM’s 18th head coach on March 28, 2002. He has a career record of 151-141, 68-52 at New Mexico. McKay is 58-14 in Albuquerque, 41-21 in all non-conference games, 37-7 in non-league games at The Pit and 5-14 in road/neutral games. He is 27-31 in MWC contests, 22-7 at home and 5-24 on the road. The 26-7 record in 2004-05 is 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.
SACRAMENTO STATE RECAP – J.R. Giddens had 16 points and eight rebounds to lead New Mexico to a 92-56 nonconference win over Sacramento State. The Lobos didn’t play a starter more than Giddens’ 26 minutes. Twenty-one minutes was enough time for Aaron Johnson to score 12 points and grab eight rebounds. Tony Danridge scored 12 points and grabbed a pair of steals in 19 minutes.
While those three New Mexico starters reached double digits in scoring, seven of eight reserves scored as the Lobos shot 57.6 percent from the field, and limited Sacramento State to a poor second half shooting – just 27.3 percent from the field.
The Lobos led 47-33 at halftime, and after a Roderick Adams layup for Sacramento State, the Lobos went on a 15-0 run to lead 62-35 with 15:39 left in the game. New Mexico did not have to struggle to break Sacramento State’s pressure defense early in the game, and a pair of Chad Toppert 3-pointers gave New Mexico a 20-14 lead with 10:49 left in the first half. New Mexico turned over the ball just four times in the first half and finished with nine in the game.
Once New Mexico was able to get through Sacramento State’s defense, the Lobos turned up the offense and outscored the Hornets 12-0 on fast-break baskets in the first half. New Mexico junior point guard Jamaal Smith dished out four assists to go with seven points. As a team, New Mexico had 18 assists on 34 field goals.
POSTGAME NOTES FROM SACRAMENTO STATE
Swingman Roman Martinez is the first Lobo true freshman to start the first two games of the season since Clayton Shields did so in 1994-95…Shields started the first 25 games that year…in 38 minutes in 2 games, the cool Martinez has 16 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks, 3 steals and 0 turnovers
New Mexico has reached 90 points in its first two games of the season for the first time since 1996…the last time it happened in the first three contests was 1981…the only other time UNM surpassed 90 points in back-to-back games under Ritchie McKay was in his first season of 2002-03: 90-88 over Northeastern and 91-66 over Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne on Dec. 2 and 6
The Lobo bench – all 8 of them – has scored 88 of UNM’s 183 points the first 2 games
3s FALLING EARLY – New Mexico opened the season by canning 16 of 39 3-pointers in a 91-54 victory over Abilene Christian. The 16 treys tie for the 5th-most in school history. It’s the most 3s since draining 16 against Penn State on Dec. 29, 2004. Current Lobo Aaron Johnson was a member of that Nittany Lions team.
The 39 attempts are the most ever by a Lobo team in a non-overtime game. UNM threw up 42 in a 112-104 double overtime loss to New Mexico State on Dec. 11, 1993.
MORE SHOTS SO FAR – New Mexico has averaged 64.5 FG attempts through the first two games compared to 50.5 in 30 games last year. UNM had 70 tries against Abilene Christian, the most since trying 71 at Texas Tech on Dec. 18, 2002.