Dec. 29, 2008
Lobo Basketball
What: Lobos at New Mexico State
When/Where: 7 p.m. tonight — Pan American Center
On The Air: AggieVision (Comcast 77); 770 KKOB-AM
Online: GameTracker at GoLobos.com
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
It might not be the best thing for the Lobos, if the Pan American Center is full of those wild-and-crazy Aggie students. Probably the smartest thing New Mexico can do is schedule a visit to Las Cruces during Christmas break.
But you also can’t help but hope a couple of hundred Aggie students figured all they had waiting in their stockings this Xmas was a lump of coal, didn’t go home, and decided to hang around campus for the Lobos’ visit.
“It’s kind of fun when the fans are getting on you. That’s part of college basketball,” said UNM’s Roman Martinez, an El Paso native well familiar with UNM/NMSU/UTEP wars. “And their students are good at it. I love the way their fans get into the game. They are intense and they make it worthwhile to go down there.
“Last year they picked on J.R. (Giddens) because he was our horse. I’m not sure who they’ll target this year. They might go after Daniel (Faris) a little bit, but they really like to get on everyone.”
While a large and hostile Pan Am crowd would only help the Aggies tonight, it might help the Lobos down the road when they visit the loud and hostile gyms of the Mountain West Conference. The Lobos will get a quick and nasty look at such a crowd come Jan. 3 when they open the MWC wars at UNLV.
What the Lobos are looking at is a tough two-game road swing: at their in-state rival which isn’t too happy after taking a 14-point beating in The Pit; at UNLV, the team picked to wear the 2009 MWC regular-season crown.
“These are two games that can really show our character and toughness as a team,” said Martinez.
In the long run, the UNLV game might be the more important of the two. But, as coaches say, “first games first” and the Aggies come first. It’s also not a nothing game. Pay attention! These are Aggies!
“This game is not just another non-conference game,” said Martinez. “Every game we play them is important and it`s a war. It`s at their house and they don`t like to lose over there.”
Martinez said a key to beating the Aggies in Cruces is to get the UNM freshmen to understand what a rivalry game on the road is like. “That kind of atmosphere at New Mexico State, I don’t think they understand how intense it is over there,” he said. “When you play over there, the fans are on you. They’ll (UNM freshmen) get a different intensity.”
Yeah, things often change from gym to gym when Lobos and Aggies war. UNM holds a 67-36 edge in Albuquerque. NMSU leads 58-39 in Cruces and 27-13 in the Pan Am Center. The Aggies lost 76-62 in The Pit on Dec. 23, in part, because the Lobos outrebounded NMSU 41-25 and the Lobos’ bench outscored the Aggies bench 17-4.
“We didn’t let their bigs get away from us,” said Lobos coach Steve Alford. “We didn’t let (Wendell McKines) get crazy on the boards. We didn’t let (Troy) Gillenwater get crazy on the boards and I thought that was the difference in the game. I’m sure (rebounding) is going to be a focal point for them.”
The Lobos are led in scoring by senior Tony Danridge with a 13.6 average. Danridge scored 22 against NMSU in The Pit win. Martinez is averaging 11 points a game and senior Chad Toppert is the heart of UNM’s bench scoring with a 10.8 average.
The Aggies who do most of the scoring are Jahmar Young and Jonathan Gibson. Young had 30 in NMSU’s 104-62 romp over 0-14 Loyola Marymount on Sunday. He averages 18.1 points and Gibson averages 15 points.
“I think those two are going to score,” said Alford. “”I think the key to their team is what their bigs do.”
Alford also knows how things change from gym to gym. One big shift can be the home team’s shooting percentage improving on the home rims. Another thing can be the intensity produced by the home crowd. Alford said he hopes his seniors help his freshmen in “understanding there is a difference in playing in The Pit and a difference in playing in Las Cruces.”
The Lobos (8-5) will venture into Cruces looking for their first sweep of the series since 2004. “We’re really focused and really determined to try and get this sweep done,” said Toppert. NMSU beat UNM 71-62 last season in Cruces.
Editor’s note: Richard Stevens is a former Associate Sports Editor and sports columnist for The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net. Previous articles are available at The Richard Stevens Corner