Jan. 12, 2008
New Mexico Basketball Postgame Notes vs. San Diego State
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Albuquerque, N.M. – The Pit
– New Mexico (14-3, 1-1 MWC) falls to San Diego State (12-4, 2-0 MWC) 72-67 in the Lobos’ first Mountain West Conference home game
– UNM loses for the first time in 11 home games this season and has its season-long 7-game win streak snapped
– San Diego State has won 5 straight in the series and becomes the 4th Lobo opponent ever to win 3 in a row in The Pit, joining UTEP (4 – 1983-86), Arizona (3 – 1975-77) and Utah (3 – 1995-96).
– The last 4 games in the series have been decided by 7 points or less
– UNM lost for the first time with the starting lineup of Chad Toppert, Roman Martinez, Daniel Faris, Dairese Gary, and J.R. Giddens (7-1)
– New Mexico’s opponents have shot 36.8% (112-304) from the floor in the last 5 games
– San Diego State missed its first 6 FGs and was 11-33 (33.3%) in the 1st half, but hit 51.9% of its shots (14-27) in the 2nd half
– The Aztecs were 2-14 from beyond the arc in the 1st half, but hit 4-7 in the 2nd half
– SDSU hit 15-18 free throws in the second half, including 13-14 in the final 1:10, and finished the game 16-21 (76.2%)
– The Aztecs entered the game ranked 8th in the MWC in free throw percentage (67.1%)
– After holding a 23-21 advantage on the boards in the 1st half, UNM was outrebounded by 14 (24-10) in the 2nd half
– Tonight’s attendance was a season-high 17,464
– UNM led by 11, 28-17, with 5:14 left in the 1st half, but was outscored 55-39 over the final 25 minutes
– The Lobos missed 10 of first 14 shots in the 2nd half and SDSU opened the period with a 14-4 run to take its first lead, 39-37, with 14:35 to play
Senior G J.R. Giddens
– Season-high 24 points and 11 rebounds for his 3rd double-double in the last 4 games
– Now has 5 double-doubles on the season and 8 in his career
– Over 20 points for the 3rd time this season and 10th time in his career
– Averaging 19.0 points and 11.6 rebounds in his last 5 games
– Averaging a career-high 8.6 rebounds/game this year…last year averaged 6.5.
– Scored 11 straight points for the Lobos in an 8-minute span until Chad Toppert’s three with 51 seconds to play