Feb. 15, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The New Mexico Lobos (16-9, 7-3 MWC) have two big games this week, starting Tuesday at hot-shooting BYU (19-5, 7-3 MWC). Tip-off is 8:05 p.m. Mountain Time from the Marriott Center. UNM has lost eight straight to the Cougars in Provo. Both teams have won five of their past six games.
The game will be televised live nationally by The mtn., which is channel 276 on Comcast cable in Albuquerque, channel 616 on DirecTV. James Bates and Joe Cravens will call the game.
After the trip to Provo, the Lobos host San Diego State Saturday afternoon for a nationally-televised game on Versus. The Aztecs have won three in a row over the Lobos in Albuquerque. Only one visiting team has ever won four straight against UNM in The Pit: UTEP from 1983-86.
The Lobos and Cougars enter Tuesday’s fray tied for third in the MWC with 7-3 records. Utah leads at 9-2 followed by San Diego State at 8-3. UNLV is 7-4. San Diego State does not play until visiting The Pit on Saturday. Tuesday’s game matches the nation’s most accurate shooting team (BYU, 51.2% from the floor) against the top team in the Mountain West Conference in field goal percentage defense (New Mexico, 40%).
On Jan. 17 in Albuquerque, the Lobos held the Cougars to season-lows for points (62) and FG percentage (39%, 21-54). UNM won 81-62 to snap a six-game losing streak to BYU.
Last Wednesday, UNM made it 3 straight wins with a 76-66 victory at Air Force. Roman Martinez tied his season high with 20 points, making 4 of 6 shots from 3-point. Tony Danridge added 16 points and a game-high 7 rebounds. After leading 15-0, the Lobos found themselves trailing 37-33 at halftime as Air Force connected on 11 of its last 12 FG attempts in the first half.
UNM countered in the second half by making 12 of 17 (70.6%) shots to finish the game at 55%, including 47% (9-19) from 3-point. Freshman Phillip McDonald added 12 points for the Lobos, who didn’t trail over the final 16:49 and outscored the Falcons 23-14 from the free throw line.
BYU has won 4 in a row following a 79-63 victory at TCU on Saturday. In their past six games, the Cougars are averaging 82.2 points, while shooting an astounding 56.3% (183-325) from the floor and 50% (50-100) from 3-point.
THE NEW MEXICO-BYU SERIES: New Mexico has lost 8 straight to BYU in Provo. The Lobos’ last win at the Marriott Center was nine years ago to the day of Tuesday’s game: Feb. 17, 2000, when they prevailed 78-74. It’s game No. 125 in a series that started Jan. 29, 1950. BYU has a 73-51 lead and has won 16 of the past 21. The Lobos’ 81-62 victory in The Pit on Jan. 17 snapped a 6-game losing streak to the Cougars. It’s also BYU’s biggest loss of the season.
NOTES TO KNOW BEFORE THE GAME
UNM’s 7 conference wins have been by an average of 17.4 points while their 3 losses – all on the road at UNLV, San Diego State and Utah – have been by a combined 8 points, or 2.7 points
The Lobos are 4-5 in true road games this year, and 12-11 in head coach Steve Alford’s tenure at New Mexico…in the five seasons before Alford arrived, UNM had an 8-43 road record…UNM went 8-6 in 2007-08, tying a school record
Dating to last season, UNM is 6-3 in its last 9 MWC road games
Better Shooters on the Road: The Lobos are surprisingly shooting better away from home (47.6%) than they are at home (47.2%), especially from 3-point where it’s 43.5% on the road versus 36.3% in The Pit…the accuracy is 50.2% (120-239) in 5 MWC road games this season, including a salty 55.3% (73-132) in its last 3 at TCU, Utah and Air Force
And Hot Shooters on the Road in the 2nd Half: In the past 3 road games against Air Force, Utah and TCU, New Mexico has shot 66% (39-59) from the floor after halftime, including 60% (12-20) from 3-point
The Lobos are 5-0 in home conference games this season…in the first four games, UNM held Air Force (53), BYU (62), Colorado State (50) and Wyoming (57) to their lowest scoring totals of the season
Danridge the 2nd-Half Man: In the past 2 games, Tony Danridge has scored 35 of his 42 points and pulled down 13 of his 16 rebounds , including a career-high 26 in the win over UNLV on Feb. 7…he has scored 35 points in the 2nd half on 13-17 FGs, plus 13 of his 16 rebounds have come in the second half…additionally, Danridge has only been on the bench for only 1 minute in the second half of the past 2 contests
FT Percentage Improving: Hovering around 65% from the line after the preseason, UNM has made 76% (104-136) of its tosses the past 6 games and 74.4% in 9 MWC games…the season average has climbed to 69.6%
Nice Numbers for Toppert: Senior Chad Toppert ranks 3rd at UNM and in MWC history with 248 career 3-pointers…he is also 1st at UNM, 3rd in the MWC and 15th in the NCAA record book with a career 3-point accuracy of 45.59%
And He’s Approaching 1,000 Points: Toppert needs 22 points to become the 26th member of UNM’s 1,000-point club…teammate Tony Danridge became the 25th Lobo to do so earlier this season…what’s unique about Toppert is that he has only started 28 games in his 118-game career…every other Lobo to reach 1,000 points has started at least 53 games
FG% defense has been a strength of UNM teams under Steve Alford…last year, UNM held opponents to 41.0%, the 4th-lowest by a Lobo team in the past 43 years…it’s even better this season at 40%, which currently ranks 1st in the MWC…the last time New Mexico held the opposition to under 40% for an entire season was 1964-65 (36.7%)…opponents have shot just 40.6% (1,177-2,898) in 58 games against Alford’s Lobo teams
Only twice in the past 30 games has an opponent made 50% of its FG tries against the Lobos…San Diego State hit an even 50% (23-46) on Jan. 21 and Air Force converted 52% (22-42) on Feb. 11
New Mexico is 4-3 when trailing at half this year, 3-0 at home and 1-3 on the road…the wins came over Southern Miss, Oral Roberts and UNLV…the road win came at Air Force last week
Stay in the Game Ro: The Lobos are 11-1 this season – with 11 consecutive wins – when junior Roman Martinez plays more than 30 minutes in a game…the only loss was at Creighton on Nov. 16
Keep `Em Below 60: The Lobos have won 30 straight games when allowing less than 60 points, and they are 50-2 in such games since 2004-05…the last loss was 51-46 at Air Force on Feb. 22, 2006
Of UNM’s 33 games in 2007-08, six were decided by 3 points or less, and it went 2-4…the 2008-09 squad has surpassed that total for nail-biters, recording a 4-3 mark
UNM-BYU JAN. 17 IN ALBUQUERQUE: The Lobos played one of their most complete games of the season in dispatching BYU 81-62. UNM ended a six-game losing streak to the Cougars while holding the visitors to season-lows for points and FG percentage (38.9%).
Roman Martinez found his three-point stroke in the second half, knocking down four from long range in the second half. Martinez finished with 15 points, 13 in the second half, as one of four Lobos in double figures. Senior forward Daniel Faris led all scorers with 19 points, while Cougars guard Jimmer Fredette scored 15. Nate Garth came off the New Mexico bench to hand off a game-high six assists.
Martinez and Chad Toppert, who added 15 points, combined for four 3-pointers over a five-minute span as the Lobos took control. They hit consecutive threes to ignite a 10-0 New Mexico run that pushed the UNM lead to 64-51 before Jonathan Tavernari ended BYU’s three-minute scoreless streak with a baseline 3-pointer. The lead never dropped below 10 the rest of the way.
New Mexico used a 12-2 run midway through the first half to take a 31-23 advantage, with Toppert hitting a pair of 3-pointers and a driving layup to spark the streak. Tony Danridge, who had 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds, gave the Lobos a 41-34 lead at the break with an acrobatic, reverse layup under the basket, driving the baseline before flipping it off the glass. New Mexico finished 22-for-25 from the free-throw line.
BYU was held to a season-low 38.9% (21-54) shooting from floor…the Cougars entered the week ranked 1st in the Mountain West and 3rd in the nation with FG percentage of 51.1%
The Lobos held BYU leading scorer Lee Cummard to 7 points…it was just the third game under 10 points for Cummard at that point of the season…he entered the game averaging 18.1 points
BYU’s top three scorers – Cummard, Jonathan Tavernari and Jimmer Fredette – came into the game averaging a combined 50.2 points per game…UNM held the trio to 35 points, making 10-of-32 field goals
UNM-BYU LAST YEAR AT PROVO: Lee Cummard scored 20 points and Jonathan Tavernari added 19 to lead BYU past New Mexico 83-66. BYU wasted no time securing its 42nd consecutive home win in front of 19,932 fans. The Cougars trailed at 2-0, but after Sam Burgess connected on a 3-pointer to give BYU a 5-2 lead they never trailed again.
Burgess gave BYU a hot start by scoring all nine of his first half points in the first five minutes of the game. Then it was Tavernari’s turn. He followed with 16 first-half points as the Cougars took a commanding 44-24 lead at the break. BYU shot 51 percent overall for the game and was 13-of-16 from behind the 3-point line, including 5-of-6 from long range by Tavernari and 3-of-3 from Burgess. New Mexico shot 27 percent in the first half including 1-of-5 from beyond the 3-point line and a season-low 34 percent for the game. Dairese Gary led the Lobos with 17 points along with Daniel Faris and Darren Prentice with 12 and 10 points, respectively. J.R. Giddens tied a season-low with just 4 points on 2 of 8 shooting.
POSTGAME NOTES FROM AIR FORCE
UNM’s three seniors were held to 5 points in the first half, all by Tony Danridge, but combined for 27 in the second half – 11 for Danridge, 9 for Daniel Faris and 7 for Chad Toppert
The Lobos shot 70.6% (12-17) from the field in the second half after converting 43.5% (10-23) in the first half…they finished the game at 55% (22-40)…UNM is shooting 55.3% (73-132) from the floor in its last 3 road games
UNM has a 45-18 series advantage over Air Force…the Lobos have won four straight for the first time since a seven-game run between 1996-2001
Junior Roman Martinez
tied his season-high with 20 points, making 6-9 FGs and 4-7 from 3-point
career-high for points scored in an MWC game
Senior Tony Danridge
scored 16 points to pass Ike Williams for No. 21 all-time at UNM with 1,095 points
42 points the past 2 games, 35 coming in the 2nd half
a game-high 7 rebounds, giving him 22 in the past 3 games
Freshman Phillip McDonald
scored 12 points, his first double-digit game since tying his career-high of 17 at San Diego State on Jan. 21
has 202 points on the season…needs 56 points to pass teammate Dairese Gary for 10th place on the Lobos’ freshman scoring list
Senior Chad Toppert
7 points, all in the 2nd half…was 2-3 from 3-point
12-20 (60%) on 3-pointers the past 4 games and 52.3% (23-44) from 3-point range in conference games
Sophomore Dairese Gary
8 points, 7 assists and 0 turnovers in 27 minutes
has 14 assists and 0 turnovers in the last 3 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 348-201 (63%) career record in his 18th season as a head coach, 40-18 at New Mexico. His teams have qualified for postseason play 12 times, produced 14 winning seasons and reached 21 wins on nine occasions.