Dec. 29, 2008
Men’s Basketball at NMSU Game Notes
New Mexico (8-5) will try and sweep the season series from New Mexico State (5-6) for the first time since 2004 when the two teams meet Tuesday in Las Cruces. Tip-off for the 202nd meeting is 7 p.m. Mountain Time from the Pan American Center and Lou Henson Court.
The game will be televised by AggieVision, which is channel 77 on Comcast Cable in Albuquerque.
Last Tuesday, the Lobos grabbed their fifth win in the past six games with a 76-62 victory over the Aggies in The Pit. UNM has won seven of the last 10 against New Mexico State, and six in a row over NMSU in Albuquerque.
New Mexico State improved to 6-6 after demolishing winless Loyola Marymount 104-62 Sunday in Las Cruces. Sophomore Jahmar Young (30) and junior Jonathan Gibson (20) combined for 50 points and 11 of 15 accuracy from 3-point. NMSU went 17-of-27 from 3-point range and shot 53.7 percent from the field. The 17 3-pointers were two short of a school record.
The Aggies are 6-0 at home this season, winning by an average of 21.7 points. They are 0-6 away from Las Cruces.
THE UNM-NMSU SERIES
It’s the 202nd game in a series that started Dec. 22, 1904. New Mexico has a 107-94 lead, and has won 7 of the past 10, including 6 in a row in The Pit.
New Mexico State has a 58-39 lead in Las Cruces, 27-13 in the Pan American Center. The Lobos’ last win at NMSU was 84-66 on Dec. 4, 2004. The Aggies won 71-62 last year.
RIO GRANDE RIVALRY UPDATE
The winner of Tuesday’s game will receive 1.5 points in the Rio Grande Rivalry. UNM leads the 2008-09 standings, 12 to 3.
The Rio Grande Rivalry began in the 2007-08 academic year. UNM and NMSU conduct competitions in 12 sports with points being awarded to the winner. The school with the most points is the winner. The Lobos won the inaugural competition, 16.25 to 6.75.
TICKET OFFICE HOURS DURING THE HOLIDAYS
The ticket offices at The Pit and at the UNM Bookstore will be closed through Jan. 4 for the holidays. Both will open again at 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 5, 2009. Tickets are always available at www.unmtickets.com or from select Albertson’s stores.
NOTES TO KNOW BEFORE THE GAME
The Lobos are 1-2 in true road games this year, and 9-8 in head coach Steve Alford’s tenure at New Mexico…in the 5 seasons before Alford, UNM had an 8-43 record in road games…UNM went 8-6 in 2007-08, tying a school record.
New Mexico had to rally from 12 or more points twice during the recent 4-game winning streak…UNM trailed Southern Miss 30-18, before prevailing 60-58…it was a 34-19 hole against Oral Roberts, but the Lobos rallied for a 66-63 victory.
The Lobos have won 25 straight games when allowing less than 60 points, and they are 46-2 in such games since 2004-05.
The Lobos are 38-1 in their last 39 non-conference home games and are 7-1 in The Pit this season, the only loss to Central Florida on Nov. 22.
New Mexico is 2nd in the MWC in FG pct. defense (39.3%)…opponents have shot just 40.5% (959-2,370) in 46 games against Steve Alford Lobo teams.
Senior Chad Toppert was 2 of 6 from 3-point against New Mexico State to pass Ruben Douglas for 3rd place all-time at UNM with 220 treys…Toppert continues to rank No. 1 at UNM by making 45% of his career 3-point attempts.
Last year, UNM’s 5th loss did not come until the 21st game of the season – a 16-5 start – on Jan. 26 at BYU.
It certainly looks like four true scholarship freshmen will letter for UNM in 2008-09: Will Brown, Nate Garth, A.J. Hardeman and Phillip McDonald…that has happened only one other time in the history of Lobo basketball: 1983-84 when five Lobos – Paul Connery, Hunter Greene, Larry Markland, Kelvin Scarborough and Mike Winters – all saw time…freshmen became eligible to play with the varsity in 1973-74.
Three Lobos did not play basketball last season: senior Tony Danridge was out with a broken leg while freshmen Will Brown and A.J. Hardeman were tending to academics
UNM-NMSU LAST YEAR IN LAS CRUCES
Justin Hawkins recovered from an 0-for-5 first-half shooting effort, scoring 12 points, and freshman Wendell McKines had 15 rebounds as New Mexico State beat New Mexico 71-62.
With Hawkins struggling to a 3-of-14 shooting performance from the floor, his teammates picked things up. Hatila Passos was a force inside, scoring 12 points, Chris Cole added 11 and Jonathan Gibson 10, including a 3-pointer and a dunk during an 11-5 burst that stretched New Mexico State’s lead to 57-44 with 5:11 remaining.
The Lobos cut it to 67-60 on a three-point play by Jamaal Smith with 39.1 seconds to go, but New Mexico State made all 12 of its free throws in the final 2:14 to seal it up. Hawkins was 6-for-6 from the line in that stretch.
Chad Toppert led the Lobos with 20 points, hitting 6-of-7 from 3-point range, and Smith scored 17. New Mexico standout J.R. Giddens was held to four points on 2-of-10 shooting.
New Mexico State used a 44-28 rebounding advantage to control the interior and relied on a backcourt press to disrupt New Mexico’s guards, nullifying the Lobos’ dangerous transition game.
The Lobos shot 38 percent from the field, hitting 21-of-55.
UNM-NMSU LAST WEEK IN ALBUQUERQUE
Tony Danridge scored a game-high 22 points to lead New Mexico to a 76-62 victory over in-state rival New Mexico State. The Lobos had four players in double figures, with Roman Martinez adding 15 points and Phillip McDonald contributing 12. Jahmar Young led NMSU with 18 points.
The Aggies held the lead only once when they scored the opening basket. UNM responded with an 11-2 run and went on to take a 31-25 at halftime.
NMSU was able to cut the Lobos’ lead to 46-44 with 12 minutes remaining in the game when Young hit all of his free throws after getting fouled while shooting a wayward 3-pointer.
Chad Toppert answered with his second straight 3-pointer and a minute later, Martinez followed suit, pushing the lead back up to seven at 53-46. The Lobos ended up outscoring the Aggies 45-37 during the second half.
After struggling from long distance in the first half, the Lobos were able to find the range in the second half, going 6-11 from the 3-point line. New Mexico also had a strong effort on the boards, out-rebounding NMSU 41-25. Martinez and Daniel Faris led the way on the glass, grabbing nine and eight respectively. Danridge snagged seven rebounds to go along with three assists, two blocks and two steals.
POSTGAME NOTES FROM UNM-NMSU IN ALBUQUERQUE
New Mexico improved to 38-1 in its last 39 non-conference home games…UNM is 7-1 in The Pit this season.
New Mexico led for all but the first 35 seconds of the game (2-0)…NMSU closed to within 3 (49-46) with 10:47 to play and were down 60-55 with 5:58 left in the game…the Lobos, however, outscored the Aggies 16-7 the rest of the way to win by a game-high 14-point margin.
New Mexico held a 41-25 (+16) rebound advantage and improved to 6-2 this season when winning the battle of the boards.
The Lobos improved to 8-0 when committing fewer turnovers than their opponents (+2, 11-13)…UNM had just 2 turnovers in the 2nd half.
After hitting just 2-9 threes in the 1st half, UNM went 6-11 in the 2nd period.
New Mexico has made a 3-pointer in 594 consecutive games; the last time it didn’t connect was Jan. 3, 1991, going 0-8 against Colorado State.
Senior Tony Danridge
Game-high 22 points along with a career-high 7 rebounds
3rd game with 20+ points this year and 7th time in his career…has now scored in double figures in his last 6 games, averaging 16.8 in that span…his career-best is 8 consecutive games with 10+ points during the 2006-07 season
UNM is 5-1 when he leads them in scoring this season
19 rebounds in his last 3 games (6.3 avg.)…averaged just 3.1 in his first 10 games of the year
Tied his career-high for the 5th time with a pair of 3-pointers (2-3)…entered the night 2-9 from beyond the arc this season
Junior Roman Martinez
One rebound shy of his 3rd double-double of the season, finishing with 15 points and 9 rebounds
It was his career-best 5th-straight game scoring in double figures and 9th game with 10+ this season…he is averaging 14.4 points in the past 5 games…entering this season he had never had more than 2 consecutive games with 10 points or more
Also tied his season-high with 4 assists
Senior Chad Toppert
Scored 11 points and was 2-6 from 3-point range – all in the 2nd half – to move into sole possession of 3rd place on the UNM all-time 3-pointer list (220)
15-27 from 3-point range in 6 career games vs. New Mexico State and 11-18 from beyond the arc in his last 3 games against NMSU
UNM is 6-2 this season when he scores at least 10 points
True Freshman Phillip McDonald
12 points, including 9 in the 2nd half, on 4-5 shooting…matched his season-high with 3 three-pointers on 4 attempts
29 points in his last 2 games and double figures in 3 of his last 4 games
UNM HEAD COACH Steve Alford
Steve Alford, 44, is in 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 coach is his career, has a 340-197 (63%) career record in his 18th season as a head coach, 32-14 at New Mexico. 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