Feb. 8, 2007
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The New Mexico Lobos look to keep up their winning ways when they entertain 15th-ranked (AP) and league-leading Air Force Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is 3:35 p.m. Mountain Time from The Pit/Bob King Court in Albuquerque. The game will be televised live on The mtn., Channel 276 on Comcast Cable in Albuquerque.
Game sponsors include New Mexico Mutual, KISS 97.3 and New Mexico CW & My 50 TV.
It’s American Indian Lobo Basketball Day as UNM will recognize New Mexico tribal leaders during pregame. All American Indians will receive $8 tickets in benches rows 1-10 and in the mezzanine. Tickets are available at The Pit during normal business hours from 8:30-5.
Air Force beat New Mexico 65-57 last month at the Academy even though the Lobos had a 21-point lead in the first half and were up by 17 early in the second period.
The Lobos are 14-10 overall and 3-6 in the Mountain West Conference after snatching a 70-66 victory Saturday at Colorado State. The win halted a 9-game road losing streak dating to last year. UNM also stopped a 9-game road slide last year in Fort Collins. The Lobos begin the week tied with Utah for seventh place in the MWC.
New Mexico is 12-2 at home this season and 45-5 in The Pit since the start of the 2004-05 campaign.
Air Force, picked to finish 3rd in the preseason MWC poll, is 20-4 overall and 7-3 in league play after a 62-41 loss at San Diego State on Tuesday. The Falcons’ five starters combined for just 22 points on 9 of 33 shooting from the floor, including 0 of 13 from 3-point.
After a 13-game winning streak and a 17-1 start, Air Force is 3-3 in are tied for second place in the MWC with UNLV, a game behind BYU.
Saturday’s game matches the top 3-point shooting teams in the conference. Air Force is 1st in the league at 9.33 treys a game. The Lobos are 2nd at 9.25. New Mexico’s Chad Toppert ranks 7th nationally with a 3-point FG% of 48.5.
REDEEM UNUSED TICKETS
A reminder that Lobo season ticketholders may redeem any unused tickets from the 2006-07 season for the San Diego State game on Feb. 20. This offer if valid only to season ticketholders. Tickets must be redeemed at the ticket office at The Pit during normal business hours.
LOBOS ON TV
New Mexico will have 13 regular-season conference games televised live this year, including the last 12. That equals the most since UNM joined the Mountain West Conference in 1999-2000. A total of 10 games were shown live last year, 11 in 2004-05, eight in 2003-04 and 10 in 2002-03. The last time for 13 was 2000-01 and 2001-02.
NEW MEXICO-AIR FORCE SERIES
It’s the 59th meeting and UNM has a 41-17 advantage, although Air Force has won 6 of the past 8 and it’s 8-7 Falcons in MWC games. UNM has lost seven straight at the Academy.
Last month at Air Force, UNM had a 21-point lead at 37-16 late in the first half only to have Air Force go on a 40-7 run for a 56-44 lead with 4:39 left in the game. It was 39-24 at halftime and 41-24 in New Mexico’s favor after a Daniel Faris basket to start the second half. The Falcons then scored 21 straight points to take a 45-41 lead with 9:11 remaining as UNM went more than 10 minutes without scoring.
IMPRESSIVE NUMBERS FOR THE FALCONS
The team-oriented Falcons have all five starters averaging at least 9 points a game. They rank 1st in the MWC in 8 of the 19 statistical categories. Dan Nwaelele leads the team at 14.5 ppg and is shooting 49% from 3-point. All five starters also have at least 45 assists.
Air Force was 24-7 last season, 12-4 in the MWC and in second place behind San Diego State. The Falcons lost to Illinois in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 78-69.
Air Force is coached by Jeff Bzdelik, who is in his second season as head coach. Bzdelik returned to the college game last year after 15 seasons as a coach and scout in the NBA, most recently as head coach of the Denver Nuggets. Bzdelik has a career record of 69-42, including 44-11 at Air Force. Bzdelik was the head coach at Maryland-Baltimore County for two years from 1986-88.
UNM VS. RANKED TEAMS
Saturday’s match-up against Air Force will be New Mexico’s third game against a ranked team this season. The Lobos upset then-No. 8 Wichita State 71-68 Dec. 22 on a neutral floor in Las Vegas and lost to Air Force 65-57 last month.
UNM has an all-time record of 50-111 against ranked teams: 35-49 at home (33-28 in The Pit), 10-52 on the road and 5-10 on neutral floors.
Head coach Ritchie McKay is 4-5 against ranked teams in his career at UNM, 2-1 at home, 0-2 on the road and 2-2 on neutral sites.
The Lobos beat No. 22 Utah (76-69) during McKay’s first season and lost at 6th-ranked Wake Forest (70-61) in 2003-04. New Mexico went 2-2 against ranked teams in 2004-05, taking out Utah twice (13th and 15th-ranked). The losses were at home to No. 5 Wake Forest and to 22nd-ranked Villanova (55-47) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Nashville.
COLORADO STATE REVIEW AND NOTES
Tony Danridge scored 24 points to lead New Mexico to a 70-66 win over Colorado State, which lost its third straight. Aaron Johnson had 13 rebounds and five points for New Mexico and J.R. Giddens added 14 points.
The teams traded the lead 14 times. Chad Toppert’s two free throws with 20 seconds left gave New Mexico a 70-66 lead. Jason Smith and Tyler Smith both missed 3-pointers in the last 15 seconds for Colorado State.
The Rams trailed 65-64 with 1:13 to go after two free throws by Cory Lewis. Toppert hit a 3-pointer with 39 seconds left to put New Mexico up 68-64. Jason Smith hit two foul shots for CSU to pull to within 68-66 before Toppert hit his two foul shots to close out the scoring. Jason Smith led the Rams with 16 points.
UNM has won consecutive games for first time since Dec. 28-29
New Mexico snapped a 9-game road losing streak, dating to last February at TCU…the Lobos also ended a 9-game road skid a year ago in Fort Collins
UNM is 9-2 in its last 11 games against the Rams in Fort Collins
The Lobos used their 14th different starting lineup of the season
New Mexico missed its first 11 shots from the floor and 15 of its first 16…the first basket came at the 13:05 mark on a 3-pointer by Darren Prentice…UNM ended up shooting 38% (24-64) for the game
New Mexico was 12 of 28 (43%) from 3-point…that’s the most 3s for UNM in an MWC game this season
UNM tied an MWC-low with 9 turnovers
On Jan. 6 in The Pit, Colorado State shot 63.3% (31-49) from the floor and converted 11 of 20 3-pointers…the Rams were held to 46% (22-48) overall and 31% (4-13) from 3-point
UNM had a 35-33 rebounding edge, making them 10-1 this season when it out-boards the opponent…CSU had a 35-21 carom margin in The Pit last month…New Mexico came into the game averaging 10.3 offensive rebounds, but they had 18, tying a season-high…it also had 18 against North Carolina A&T
CSU’s Jason Smith scored a career-high 28 points – plus 11 rebounds – against New Mexico in The Pit last month…he had 16, all in the 2nd half
Smith and Stuart Creason had 36 points and 16 boards against New Mexico in The Pit, 24 points and 9 rebounds Saturday
New Mexico has scored 161 points the past 2 games, 103 of those coming in the 2nd half
Tony Danridge tied a career-high with 24 points…he also had 24 against Alcorn State…he scored 17 points in the 2nd half at CSU, making 7 of 9 FGs after 7 points in the 1st half on 3 of 8 FGs…he has scored in double figures for the 8th straight game, extending the longest streak of his career
Chad Toppert scored 11 points on three 3s…he scored 8 of UNM’s final 12 points, including the last 5 in the final 38 seconds; a 3 that gave UNM a 68-64 lead, then 2 FTs on a 1-and-1 with 20.2 seconds left that pushed the lead back to 70-66
Aaron Johnson pulled down 13 rebounds, including 9 on the offensive end…had 2 rebounds against Colorado State in The Pit…Johnson has 27 rebounds the past 2 games…he averaged 6.3 boards in the first six MWC games, 13.5 in the past 2
Ryan Kersten scored 11 points off the bench, on 3 of 6 from 3-point…he made three 3s for the first time this season…Kersten has scored 31 points the past 2 games after scoring 36 points in his first 7 MWC games
Darren Prentice had a career-high 6 assists
J.R. Giddens finished with 14 points, hitting 3 baskets from 3-point…he made three 3s in a game for the first time since making 6 against Pepperdine on Dec. 29…he also has scored an even 1,000 points in his collegiate career