Nov. 5, 2008
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Stevens: Healthy Danridge Eager for the Start of the Season
The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team opens its exhibition season Saturday when its hosts Western New Mexico. Tipoff is 3:07 p.m., from the The Pit/Bob King Court in Albuquerque. The game will be televised live over KASY My50-TV in Albuquerque.
The 106th regular season of Lobo hoops gets underway Friday, Nov. 14 as UNM hosts Southeast Missouri State.
UNM VS. WESTERN NEW MEXICO
This is the second exhibition game between UNM and Western New Mexico. The Lobos won 98-42 on Nov. 2, 2006.
In regular-season games, UNM has a 19-2 lead in a series that started Feb. 13, 1915. The Mustangs won that initial meeting 39-13 in Silver City. WNMU’s other victory was 29-27 in Albuquerque on Feb. 11, 1931.
EXHIBITION HISTORY
The Lobos have been playing exhibition games since the 1972-73 season. UNM has a 57-6 all-time record, 49-5 in The Pit. Last year, UNM whipped Eastern New Mexico 94-50 in front of 11,980 fans. Average attendance for 54 exhibition home games is 14,958.
UNM PREDICTED FOR 5TH-PLACE FINISH IN MOUNTAIN WEST
New Mexico was picked to finish fifth in the 2008-09 Mountain West Conference race during the league’s preseason media gathering in Denver on October 14. Voters were a combination of head coaches and media.
SEASON NO. 106
The University of New Mexico men’s basketball program begins its 106th season in 2008-09. The Lobos first laced up the hightops on Feb. 2, 1900, when they lost 8-6 to the Albuquerque Guards. While this season is actually the 110th anniversary of that inaugural year, UNM did not field a team for various reasons in 1900-01, 1903-04, 1917-18 and 1920-21.
The Lobos have been on the hardwoods continuously since the 1921-22 season and have compiled an all-time record of 1,288-1,006 (.561).
New Mexico was 418-495 (.458) from 1900-62, but has gone 870-511 (.630) over the past 46 seasons, an average of nearly 19 wins per year. The Lobos have made 28 trips to the postseason during that span, including 11 appearances in the NCAA Tournament and 17 showings in the NIT.
HEAD COACH Steve Alford
Steve Alford, 43, begins his second season in charge of Lobo hoops and his 18th year as a collegiate head coach. He was named UNM’s 19th head coach on March 23, 2007.
Alford, who has never been an assistant coaching is his career, has a 332-192 (63%) career record in 17 seasons as a head coach. His teams have qualified for postseason play 12 times, produced 14 winning seasons and reached 21 wins on nine occasions.
Alford’s maiden voyage at New Mexico was something to behold:
A 24-9 record, tying the school mark for wins during the regular season and a 9-win improvement from the previous year
most wins by a New Mexico head coach in his rookie season
8-6 on the road after an 8-43 mark in five seasons before Alford arrived at UNM
a +7 in conference victories, the 2nd-greatest jump of all-time
Prior to New Mexico, Alford spent eight seasons at the University of Iowa where he compiled a 152-106 record, including a school-record seven consecutive winning seasons and six postseason appearances. The Hawkeyes won two Big Ten Conference tournament titles (2001 and `06).
Prior to Iowa, Alford posted a 78-29 record in four seasons (1992-95) at NCAA Division III Manchester (Ind.) College and a four-year (1996-99) record of 78-48 at Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State). The Bears defeated Wisconsin and Tennessee to advance to the Sweet 16 of the 1999 NCAA Tournament before losing to top-ranked Duke in the regional semifinals. In 1997 Alford led the Bears to a 24-9 record (second in the Missouri Valley Conference) and a trip to the National Invitation Tournament.
Manchester advanced to the 1995 NCAA Division III championship game before suffering its first defeat in 32 games to place second in the nation. Alford was named Indiana Collegiate Conference coach of the year in 1993, 1994 and 1995 and his record was 74-13 over his final three seasons.
THREE-YEAR EXTENSION FOR ALFORD
University of New Mexico Vice-President for Athletics Paul Krebs announced March 31, 2008, that Steve Alford has agreed to three-year contract extension that will keep him on the Lobo sidelines through the 2015-16 season. Alford finished the first year of a six-year contract in 2008.
PERSONNEL PICTURE
The Lobos return six lettermen, including four starters, from last year’s team that posted a 24-9 overall record and finished third in the MWC with an 11-5 mark in league play. UNM returns 51% of its scoring, 47% of its rebounding and 53% of its minutes from last year.
Returning starters include senior Daniel Faris, junior Roman Martinez and sophomores Dairese Gary and Jonathan Wills. Back for his senior season is Tony Danridge, who took a redshirt season last year after suffering a broken leg in October of 2007. Danridge has played in 95 career games and was a two-year starter from 2005-07. He averaged 12.5 points and 2.5 rebounds during the 2006-07 season.
Four of the team’s top-six scorers from last year are back. Although he started only 13 games last year, Toppert is the Lobos’ leading returning scorer. He averaged 10.3 ppg and finished 2nd in the nation in 3-point accuracy at 48%. Faris started all 33 games and averaged 9.2 points and 4.5 boards. Gary started 28 times as a true freshman point guard, averaging 7.8 points, a team-best 3.2 assists and 44 steals. Martinez logged 7 points a game and numerous floor burns in his 24 starts. Wills averaged 3.4 points in 32 games and 17 starts as a true freshman.
New Mexico’s biggest departure is J.R. Giddens, who was selected by the World Champion Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft. Giddens was the co-MWC Player of the Year and an honorable mention All-American after averaging 16.3 points and a league-high 8.8 rebounds a game.
Despite playing on the perimeter, Giddens became the first guard to lead the MWC in rebounding. He was also the only player in the conference to rank in the top-10 in the MWC in scoring, rebounding, FG percentage, assists, steals and blocks.
Also not returning are junior post players Johnnie Harris (2.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg) and Monquel Pegues (1.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg).
2008-09 FRESHMAN CLASS LARGEST IN 24 YEARS
The five scholarship newcomers brought in by the Lobos coaching staff is UNM’s largest freshmen contingent in 24 years.
Back in 1984-85, head coach Gary Colson signed Bob Arnold, Shawn Brooks, Paul Lawson, Rob Loeffel and Randal Moos.
LOOKING AHEAD TO SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE
The Lobos open their regular season on Friday, Nov. 14 against Southeast Missouri State. The Redhawks finished last season 12-19 overall and 7-13 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Southeast Missouri State is located in Cape Girardeau.
UNM and Southeast Missouri are meeting for the first time. Steve Alford is 1-0 in his career against the Redhawks as Southwest Missouri won 67-56 on Dec. 19, 1998.
The Redhawks defeated Missouri Baptist 81-73 in an exhibition game last Saturday in Zac Roman’s debut as acting head coach. Kenard Moore had a game-high 23 points while Jajuan Maxwell registered a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Roman was named acting head coach on Oct. 16 by Southeast Missouri State interim athletics director Cindy Gannon. Roman was selected to serve while head men’s basketball coach Scott Edgar was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of a hearing by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.
Southeast Missouri plays its second exhibition game Saturday against MacMurray.
The Redhawks’ head football coach is former New Mexico State head man Tony Samuel. Now in his third season at SEMO, Samuel is currently 3-6.
IMPRESSIVE SCHEDULE IN 2008-09
On paper and based on results from last year, UNM’s schedule looks to be one of the strongest in a long time. Of the Lobos’ 15 non-conference games, 13 are against opponents that had winning records last year, nine match-ups will be against 20-game winners, while two others won 19. Only two schools had losing records while eight advanced to postseason play.
Only two of UNM’s non-conference opponents were ranked outside of the top 150 RPI at the end of the 2007-08 season and eight were in the top 100.
Highlighting the early season slate are trips to Creighton, San Diego and Texas Tech, and the Cancun Challenge in Cancun, Mexico, where UNM will face Virginia Commonwealth and either Drake or Vanderbilt.
New Mexico has non-conference home games against Ole Miss, UTEP and Oral Roberts. The Lobos will also take on their in-state rival, New Mexico State, in a home-and-home series.
The Lobos will play six games away from The Pit for the first time since the 1987-88 season and just the second time since the building opened in 1966. It is the third year in a row the Lobos have gone on the road for at least five games in the non-conference season.
THE PIT
One of college basketball’s most famous and recognizable buildings, University Arena is the home of New Mexico basketball.
The 2008-09 season marks the 43rd year of basketball in The Pit/Bob King Court, which was opened Dec. 1, 1966. UNM has an all-time mark of 598-142 (81%) in the building that resides 37 feet below street level. The Lobos have had a winning record in The Pit in 41 of their 42 years, including a school-record 41-game home winning streak from 1996-98. Since the beginning of the 2004-05 season, the Lobos are 62-10 (87%) at home.
What is even more impressive about UNM’s home court is that more than 11.5 million fans have flocked into the sunken edifice to see their beloved Lobos play basketball. The Lobos have averaged 15,559 fans the past 42 years, an amazing 95% of capacity.
PIT TO GET BIG-TIME MAKEOVER
Major renovations to The Pit are expected to start in April of 2009. The cost of the project is approximately $60 million. The University of New Mexico Board of Regents gave preliminary approval for a $20-25 million bond while the rest of the funding will come from the state and private sources. Gov. Bill Richardson pledged funding for Pit renovations in January of 2006.
The venerable arena opened Dec. 1, 1966. All renovations in the past 40 years have been limited to locker rooms and offices. The scope of work is expected to include the following:
new entrances, ticket office and novelty store
new men’s and women’s locker rooms and a team weight room
expansion of the north, east and west concourses to allow for the construction of new rest rooms and concession stands
construction of suites on the east and west sides of the mezzanine level
connecting the Davalos Center to The Pit
Alumni Lettermen’s Lounge
possibility of adding a third floor to the north end of the arena
videoboards
ALBUQUERQUE 1 OF 5 FINALISTS FOR FUTURE MWC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Mountain West Conference future basketball championships site subcommittee recently announced finalist cities to host the 2011-13 men’s and women’s basketball championships. The five finalists are Albuquerque, Denver, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and San Diego. These cities will be moved forward in the Request for Proposal (RFP) process with an expected awarding of the future site to take place in June 2009. Denver (2004-06) and Las Vegas (1999-2003, 2008-10) have previously hosted the MWC Basketball Championships.
“The Mountain West Conference Basketball Championships is a signature event that highlights our student-athletes,” said Craig Thompson, MWC Commissioner. “We are pleased with all of the cities that showed interest in this event and the subcommittee is eager to begin reviewing the proposals from each finalist and move forward in the selection process.”
Sixteen cities, featuring twenty-seven different facilities, received the initial RFP on July 15, 2008. Final proposals and bid specs will be due in February 2009. After a thorough analysis and breakdown of each proposal, the Mountain West Conference subcommittee will convene to review the proposals and make a recommendation for the MWC Joint Council to review during its meeting in Phoenix in May 2009. The Joint Council decision will be forwarded to the Mountain West Conference Board of Directors for final approval during its June 2009 meeting. It is anticipated an announcement will be made at the completion of the Board of Directors meetings.
KASY My50-TV TO TELEVISE SELECT GAMES
Five non-conference games will air locally on KASY My50-TV this season, three home games and two road games: the exhibition game against Western New Mexico on Nov. 8, Grambling on Nov. 20 and Nov. 22 against Central Florida. The games against Grambling and Central Florida are a part of the Cancun Challenge played in The Pit.
My50-TV will also pick up the local broadcast of UNM’s games at San Diego on Dec. 10 and at Texas Tech on Dec. 20. The San Diego game will be produced by 4SD in San Diego, while the game with the Red Raiders is produced by the Texas Tech Television Network.
Scott Stiegler will provide play-by-play and former Lobo Hunter Greene will handle the color analysis for the Lobo men’s games played in The Pit.
New Mexico now has a total of 23 games that will televised this season, including five on My50-TV, 12 on The Mountain West Sports Network (The mtn.), three on Versus and three on CBS College Sports.
My50-TV can be found on channel 50 over the air, channel 12 on Comcast basic cable in the Albuquerque area, channel 50 on Direct TV and Dish Network, and channel 3 on Cable One, Rio Rancho.
NEW MEXICO IN POSTSEASON
The Lobos have made 28 postseason appearances – 11 NCAA and 17 NIT – and all have come in the past 45 seasons, since 1963-64. UNM has advanced to postseason play 20 times in the past 25 seasons, since 1983-84.
DEADEYE FROM LONG RANGE
The Lobos finished 2nd in the nation in 3-point accuracy in 2007-08 at 42.0%, converting 271 of 646 attempts. IUPUI was 1st at 42.3%.
UNM’s 3-point shooting is the 2nd-best in school history. The 1988-89 Lobos hold the record at 43.3%, however, that squad was just 157 of 362 from beyond the arc.
New Mexico’s six returning players combined to shoot 43.6% (164-376) from long range.
3s AND COUNTING
UNM has made a 3-pointer in 581 straight games, the 11th-longest active streak in NCAA Div. I. UNLV is 1st at more than 700 games. The last time UNM failed to connect from long range was Jan. 3, 1991, missing on 8 attempts against Colorado State in The Pit.
ATTENDANCE CLIMBS
The Lobos had sellout crowds of 18,018 in their final two home games of the 2007-08 season against BYU and UNLV. The last time UNM had back-to-back sellouts was for Arizona and New Mexico State in November/December of 1996. The last time for consecutive sellouts in conference games was 1994 when Lobo fans bought every ticket for six straight games.
Average attendance for 18 home games in 2007-08 was 14,361, an increase of 1,508 per game over the previous year’s average of 12,853. It’s the Lobos’ highest average attendance in five years, since 14,679 in 2003-04.
TOPPERT NO. 1 FROM 3
Chad Toppert enters his senior year as UNM’s most accurate 3-point shooter. He has made 45.66% (184-403) of his career attempts. His 184 treys rank 6th all-time at UNM, which is 101 short of Clayton Shields career mark of 285. Toppert has drilled 85 long shots each of the past two seasons.
In 2007-08, Toppert was 1st in the league and 2nd in the nation in 3-point accuracy (48.0%). and 3rd in the MWC in 3s per game (2.58 a game).
STATS TRENDS
Since 2003-04, New Mexico is 82-7 when it shoots better than its opponent…the record is 118-11 since 2000-01
The Lobos have won 21 straight games when allowing less than 60 points, and they are 42-2 since 2004-05
Since 2004-05, the Lobos are 70-14 when they lead at halftime…10 of the losses came during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons
DOUGLAS, GRANGER NAMED TO MWC’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY TEAM
Former Lobos Ruben Douglas and Danny Granger were named Oct. 13 to the Mountain West Conference 10th anniversary team, as selected by a combined panel of media, institutional and conference personnel and on-line fan poll. In order to be eligible for consideration, candidates must have been an all-Mountain West first team selection at least once in their careers.
Douglas enjoyed one of the most prolific offensive seasons in school history in 2002-03, becoming the first Lobo to lead the nation in scoring at 27.96 ppg. He was chosen Mountain West Conference Player of the Year following his senior season. Douglas has played professionally on the international level since leaving UNM.
Granger led UNM to the 2005 MWC Tournament championship and the NCAA Tournament. He was named MVP of the MWC tournament and was a 3rd team All-American by Basketball Times. In 2004-05, Granger was the only player in the NCAA to average 18.8 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals and 2 assists, and he became the first player in school history to record 60 assists, blocks and steals in a season.
Granger is in his fourth season with the Indiana Pacers of the NBA.