Feb. 26, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The final home game of the 2006-07 regular season is Wednesday when New Mexico hosts UNLV. Game time is 8:05 p.m. from The Pit/Bob King Court in Albuquerque. It will be televised over The mtn., Channel 276 on Comcast Cable in Albuquerque.
It’s the final home game for the Lobos’ two seniors, Aaron Johnson and Kellen Walter. They will be recognized before the game.
The Lobos end the regular season Saturday at Wyoming. UNM will be without guards Jamaal Smith and Darren Prentice, who were suspended for that game after their involvement in a fight against the Cowboys Jan. 30 in Albuquerque.
UNM fell to 15-14 overall and 4-10 in the Mountain West Conference following two overtime losses last week: 81-74 at home to San Diego State and 93-91 in double OT at Utah. The Lobos are in eighth place in the MWC. UNM has never played three straight OT games.
UNLV is 23-6 overall and 10-4 in the MWC, one game behind BYU. UNLV has not played since last Wednesday, when it whipped Air Force 60-50 at the Thomas and Mack. After a 1-2 start in conference play, the Runnin’ Rebels have won nine of their last 11 and are in second place in the MWC.
The Runnin’ Rebels have three players averaging in double figures. Wendell White leads the team at 15.1 points a game, followed by Wink Adams at 14.5 and Kevin Kruger, the head coach’s son, at 12.3 ppg.
New Mexico is 13-4 at home this season with all four home losses coming in league play. The last time the Lobos dropped four conference games in The Pit was 1981 when they finished 4-4. UNM is 3-4 in MWC home games. The Lobos have never lost five conference games in The Pit, which opened during the 1966-67 season.
New Mexico has its fifth losing season in conference play in the past seven years. The Lobos’ only winning record in league play since 2000 was 10-4 in 2005. UNM was 8-8 last year. New Mexico never had a losing conference record from 1984-2000, a span of 17 seasons.
FINAL GAME FESTIVITIES
Wednesday will be a special evening on several fronts. From a basketball perspective, UNM’s two seniors – Aaron Johnson and Kellen Walter – are making their final appearance in The Pit. Johnson (Exton, Pa.) has started 23 of 30 games and is the team’s leading rebounder at nearly eight a game. Arguably the tallest 3-pointer shooter in school-history, Walter (Grand Junction, Colo.) has played in 79 games at UNM. He has made 59 field goals in his Lobo career, 50 of those 3-pointers.
Halftime will feature three presentations. Acting President David Harris will be recognized for his service to the UNM athletics department.
George Brooks will be feted for his 37 years of service as UNM’s head skiing coach. Brooks is retiring at the end of the current season. A 1970 Lobo graduate and Taos native, Brooks is the only head skiing coach the Lobos have ever had, taking over when he was just 20. New Mexico’s only national championship as a team came in 2004 when the skiers brought home the trophy. UNM goes after its second national title March 7-10 in Jackson, N.H.
And third, UNM will make a check presentation to the local United Way.
GAME SPONSORS/SPECIAL ACTIVITIES
Game sponsors are Pepsi, Coyote 102.5 and B 101.7. The first 5,000 fans will receive headbands courtesy of Pepsi. Other items of interest:
Pepsi will provide product sampling of a new flavor – Jazz Caramel Cream – to all fans upon exit from the arena
One lucky student will get a chance to win a $350 gift certificate from the UNM Bookstore.
The Intel “Winning With Research” Program: Elementary and middle school students will have their science projects on display on the concourse before the game and during the first half.
The Circle K “Teacher of the Season” will be honored in pregame
LAST SEASON FOR McKAY AT UNM
University of New Mexico director of athletics Paul Krebs announced last Thursday that the contract of head coach Ritchie McKay will be terminated at the end of the season. McKay and his staff will oversee the program through the final game of the 2006-07 season.
McKay was hired as New Mexico’s 18th head men’s basketball coach on March 28, 2002. He has an 82-66 overall record into his fifth season at UNM, 31-41 in Mountain West Conference play.
After records of 10-18 and 14-14 in McKay’s first two years at UNM, the Lobos finished 26-7 in 2004-05. They won the Mountain West Conference tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years. New Mexico was 17-13 last year, but lost in the first round of the MWC Tournament in Denver.
McKay is in his 11th season as a collegiate head coach. He has a career mark of 165-155, including two-year stints at Portland State, Colorado State and Oregon State.
NEW MEXICO-UNLV SERIES
The series started Jan. 17, 1976, and the schools meet for the 34th time. UNLV has a 21-12 lead, including a 76-72 overtime win in Las Vegas last month. It’s 3-3 in the past six games, but the Rebels have taken 10 of the past 13. UNLV has won nine of the past 10 against UNM at the Thomas and Mack, the lone win 77-66 two years ago when Danny Granger was a senior.
Last year, the Lobos won 47-39 in the Pit, which matched the Runnin’ Rebels’ lowest point total in program history. UNLV also scored 39 in a 59-39 loss at Virginia on Jan. 3, 1994. UNM held the Rebels to a season-low 24.2% (15-62) shooting from the floor, including 18% (3-17) from 3-point.
UTAH REVIEW AND NOTES
After missing two free throws in the first overtime, Luke Nevill made a pair with 2.4 seconds left in the second overtime Saturday to lift Utah to a 93-91 victory over New Mexico.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Utes and probably assured them of reaching the first round of the league tournament next month without having to win a play-in game.
Johnnie Bryant scored 23 points for Utah, including 13 in a row in the second half, and Shaun Green had 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
The Lobos nearly won in the first overtime after Nevill missed two free throws with 33.7 seconds left, but Darren Prentice didn’t make a long 3-pointer in the final seconds. Prentice made a game-tying jumper in the final minute of the first overtime as part of his career-high 28 points.
New Mexico made 17 of 27 3-pointers, with Chad Toppert hitting six of them on his way to 20 points. Utah made 13 of 16 free throws in the two overtimes.
New Mexico has lost 18 straight games to Utah in Salt Lake City…the last win was in 1989
The Lobos played their first double-overtime game since a 120-117 loss to UNLV in the 2002 MWC Tournament in Las Vegas
UNM has played consecutive overtime games for the first time since Jan. 2-6, 2001, an 81-80 win at Gonzaga and a 79-68 loss to New Mexico State in The Pit…that’s also the last time the Lobos played four OT games in a season
New Mexico is 1-3 in overtime games this season, all in the MWC and all in the past 11 games
The Lobos were 17 of 27 (63%) from 3-point…the 17 treys ties for the 4th-most by a UNM team in a single game…New Mexico is now averaging 9.65 3s a game for the season
UNM has made 280 shots from 3-point this year, the 3rd-highest total in school history…the record is 301 set by the 1997-98 team in 32 games
Darren Prentice scored a career-high 28 points on 9-14 FGs, including a career-best 5 3-pointers…the 28 points are the most by a Lobo since Danny Granger scored 28 against Utah in the championship game of the 2005 Mountain West Conference Tournament in Denver…Prentice scored in double figures for the 3rd straight game and 5th time in the past 8 games…he has averaged 19.7 ppg the past 3 games and 13.4 points the past 8 games…he had 3 assists and has 36 the past 6 games, or 6 a game…Prentice needs 1 assist to become the first Lobo in 6 years to have 100 assists in a season; Marlon Parmer had 182 in 2000-01
Chad Toppert tied a career-high for the 4th time with 20 points (North Carolina A&T, Pepperdine, TCU), making 6 of 9 baskets from 3-point…he tied a career-best for the 3rd time with six 3-pointers…Toppert ranks 8th on UNM’s single-season list with 82 3-pointers made and 3rd by making 49.1% (82-167) of his 3-point attempts
Jamaal Smith had 11 points and has scored in double figures in 3 straight games for the 1st time this year…he had 5 assists, his highest total since 5 against Wichita State on Dec. 22