Complete Release in PDF Format 
Feb. 19, 2009
The New Mexico Lobos (16-10, 7-4 MWC) look to stay alive in the Mountain West Conference race Saturday afternoon when they host Pit nemesis San Diego State (18-6, 8-3 MWC). Tip-off is 1:05 p.m. Mountain Time from Bob King Court in Albuquerque. San Diego State has won three straight over the Lobos in Albuquerque. Only one visiting team has ever won four in a row against UNM in The Pit: UTEP from 1983-86.
TV: Versus (Comcast 37 in Albuquerque, DirecTV 603, Dish Network 151)
Radio: Lobo Radio Network / 770 KKOB-AM flagship
Live Stats: GoLobos.com/GameTracker
The Lobos enter the weekend in 4th place in the clogged-up MWC standings at 7-4. Utah leads at 10-2 followed by San Diego State and BYU at 8-3. UNLV is 7-5.
Saturday’s two head coaches share similar won-loss records. New Mexico’s Steve Alford is 348-202 in his 18th season as a head coach while San Diego State’s Steve Fisher – also in his 18th campaign – is 349-218.
San Diego State has won 4 of its last 5. The Aztecs’ last game was a 71-60 home victory against Wyoming last Saturday. Sophomore Billy White was 12-of-12 from the floor en route to 24 points. He added 8 rebounds and 4 blocks in a dazzling performance. White is shooting 66% in all games and an amazing 77% (53-69) in 11 MWC games.
BYU ended the Lobos’ 3-game win streak Tuesday with a 73-62 victory in Provo, where UNM has lost nine in a row. Jonathan Tavernari scored 22 points and Jackson Emery had a career-high 19. Tavernari scored 13 points in the first 13 minutes of the second half after BYU struggled through its worst first-half shooting performance of the season (33%). Tony Danridge led New Mexico with 17 points. Teammate Daniel Faris added 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Cougars avenged their worst loss of the season, a 19-point decision in Albuquerque.
GAME SPONSORS & PARENT DAY AT THE PIT: Game sponsors include New Mexico Mutual, Big 98.5, Wild 97.7 and KOB-TV.
Creamland Dairies will present a check to UNM Athletics before the game. For one month each of the past nine years, Creamland has held a “Lobo Milk” promotion where a portion of proceeds from the sale of specially marked milk containers supports scholarships for UNM student-athletes. Creamland has raised more than $110,000 since 2000.
Also, the UNM Parent Association is partnering with UNM Athletics to offer the first “Parent Day at The Pit” at Saturday’s game. The association will host a pre-game reception from 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at the President’s Pavilion in the Tow Diehm Athletic Facility. Activities include a silent auction, door prizes, food and an appearance by Lobo Louie and Lobo Lucy. All proceeds from the silent auction benefit the Parent Association’s UNM student scholarship fund.
“We look forward to hosting the parents of our UNM students at Parent Day at the Pit,” said Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs. “The UNM Parent Association is offering a great opportunity for UNM parents to be involved in the life of their students while cheering on our men’s basketball team. This is a great chance for the parents of our UNM students to experience the environment at The Pit prior to the renovation.”
UNM students, both undergraduate and graduate, who attend the university and are enrolled in at least 6 credit hours, receive free admission into athletic events with a valid Lobo Card. Additionally, students may purchase up to three $10 discount tickets at The Pit ticket office for their guests/parents/family members. Tickets for the Parent Association reception are $5 per person. Pre-registration is required online at parent.unm.edu or call (505) 277-5915.
The Razzle Dazzle youth dance group will perform at halftime.
THE NEW MEXICO-SAN DIEGO STATE SERIES: UNM has a 36-27 lead in a series that started Jan. 2, 1976, although SDSU has won 6 of the past 7, including an 81-76 victory last month in San Diego. New Mexico has a 23-7 series lead in The Pit, but the Aztecs have won three straight here, 72-67 last year. The winning team has reached 70 points in each of the past 13 games.
NOTES TO KNOW BEFORE THE GAME
UNM’s 7 conference wins have been by an average of 17.4 points while their 4 losses – all on the road at UNLV, San Diego State, Utah and BYU – have been by a combined 19 points, or 4.8 points
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
UNM head coach Steve Alford is 28-4 all-time in The Pit, 11-2 in MWC games
Danridge the 2nd-Half Man: In the past 3 games, Tony Danridge has scored 43 of his 59 points and pulled down 15 of his 18 rebounds after halftime…he scored 24 of his career-high 26 points against UNLV in the second stanza and overtime…Danridge has been on the bench for only 2 minutes in the second half of the past 3 contests
Nice Numbers for Toppert: Senior Chad Toppert ranks 3rd at UNM and in MWC history with 249 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 45.19%
And He’s Approaching 1,000 Points: Toppert needs 15 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 119-game career…every other Lobo to reach 1,000 points has started at least 53 games…Toppert has a career scoring average of 8.3 ppg
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 40.1%, 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% (1,204-2,962) in 59 games against Alford’s Lobo teams
Only twice in the past 31 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 4-4 when trailing at half this year, 3-0 at home and 1-4 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…that means UNM is 5-9 when Ro plays 30 minutes or less
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-SAN DIEGO STATE LAST YEAR IN ALBUQUERQUE: Lorrenzo Wade scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half and San Diego State rallied from a 14-point first-half deficit to beat New Mexico 72-67. Kyle Spain added 13 points and D.J. Gay scored 12 for the Aztecs. With the win, the Aztecs ended New Mexico’s seven-game winning streak. San Diego State has won three straight over the Lobos at The Pit.
San Diego State also logged the second biggest comeback under coach Steve Fisher, holding the Lobos without a field goal for a 4-minute span late in the second half, then making 13-of-14 from the free throw line in the final 1:10.
J.R. Giddens had 24 points and 11 rebounds for New Mexico, which couldn’t capitalize on the fire from a season-high crowd of 17,464 fans.
Matt Thomas made two free throws to put the Aztecs up 63-56 at the 1-minute mark, but New Mexico’s Chad Toppert hit a 3-pointer from the left corner. Spain made another pair for San Diego State but Jamaal Smith answered with another 3-pointer, pulling New Mexico to 65-62 with 35 seconds remaining. Wade made two more free throws with 33.3 on the clock to give the Aztecs a 67-62 lead. San Diego State coach Steve Fisher called his last timeout, and Toppert put up an airball on New Mexico’s ensuing possession.
The Lobos had all the momentum in the first half, when they built a 24-10 lead with 8:29 before halftime. It was 33-25 at the break when Roman Martinez threw in a 3-pointer at the buzzer. But the Aztecs opened the second half with a 14-4 run to seize control.
UNM-SAN DIEGO STATE JAN. 21 IN SAN DIEGO: Kyle Spain and Lorrenzo Wade combined to score 51 points and were keys to SDSU’s 81-76 win. But the Lobos almost stole one in San Diego as Dairese Gary and Phillip McDonald led a furious rally by combining to score UNM’s final 18 points. The Lobos trailed 64-53 with 7:48 to play, but twice cut the gap to two points: 75-73 with 1:18 to play and 77-75 with 40 seconds left in the game. The Aztecs countered with four free throws and a layup by Wade in the final 50 seconds to hold on to the win.
Spain scored a career-high 30 points and added eight rebounds and four assists. Wade had 21 points, going 12-of-15 from the free throw line. UNM got 17 points from McDonald, 14 from Tony Danridge and 10 points from Gary. Freshman Nate Garth came off the bench to chip in nine points and five assists. SDSU was 28-of-39 from the line and UNM was 23-of-35. “It was an odd game,” said UNM head coach Steve Alford.
“There were a lot of whistles blown. I’ve never been a part of a game that had that many fouls. Seventy-four free throws were shot in the game. That’s a lot.”
The Lobos jumped to a 16-5 lead at the 13:38 mark of the first half on a Danridge jumper. The Aztecs came back to grab a 23-22 lead at the 7:28 mark. SDSU was up 37-32 at the half. The Lobos never led in the second half, but three times cut SDSU’s lead to two points.
POSTGAME NOTES FROM BYU
BYU entered the game No. 1 in the nation in FG percentage at 51.2%…the Lobos held the Cougars to 42% (27-64) for the game, including a season-low 33% (12-36) in the 1st half…UNM has limited BYU to 40.7% shoooting (48-118) in 2 games this season
New Mexico has lost 9 straight to BYU in Provo…the Lobos’ last win at the Marriott Center was nine years ago – Feb. 17, 2000 – when they prevailed 78-74
UNM started 6 of 9 from the floor, but then hit a stretch where it missed 14 of its next 17…the Lobos finished the game shooting 40.4% (21-52) and 33% from 3-point (7-21)
After only 27 total turnovers the previous 3 games, UNM was guilty of 15
New Mexico came into the game shooting 74% from the foul line in MWC games, but hit just 59% (13-22)…UNM is 36-58 (62%) from the stripe the past 2 games
The Lobos shot 33% (7-21) from 3-point after having made 46% (32-70) in its first 5 conference road games…Chad Toppert and Roman Martinez had combined to convert 49% (41-83) of their 3s in league road games, but were just 2 of 13 against the Cougars
Senior Daniel Faris
had his second career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds…his first was at New Mexico State earlier this season (17 points and 11 rebounds)
has scored 35 points in 2 games against BYU this year
had 3 block to move into 8th place on the Lobos’ career list with 89
Senior Tony Danridge
a team-high 17 points in 37 minutes
59 points the past 3 games (19.7 ppg), 43 coming in the 2nd half
Sophomore Dairese Gary
scored 15 points, including 3-3 from 3-point, for his 2nd-highest point total of the season…he had 20 vs. Central Florida on Nov. 20…also added 3 steals
had 1 assist and 2 turnovers, his first errors in 4 games
has 15 assists and 2 turnovers in the last 4 games
Senior Chad Toppert
7 points, but just 1 of 7 from 3-point
is 15 points from becoming the 26th Lobo to reach 1,000 career points