Feb. 23, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The New Mexico Lobos (17-10, 8-4 MWC) look to strengthen their position in the Mountain West Conference standings when they play host to TCU (14-13, 5-8 MWC) Tuesday. Tip-off is 6:35 p.m. Mountain Time from The Pit / Bob King Court in Albuquerque.
TV: The mtn; Comcast 276 (Albq), DirecTV 616
Radio: 770-AM KKOB and Lobo Radio Network
Live Stats: GameTracker
The game will be televised live nationally by The mtn., which is channel 276 on Comcast in Albuquerque and channel 616 on DirecTV. James Bates and Blaine Fowler will call the game.
At 8-4, the Lobos begin the week tied with BYU and San Diego State for 2nd place in the MWC. Everyone is chasing Utah at 10-2. UNLV is 8-5. A look at the remaining conference games for the league contenders:
Utah (10-2): UNLV, at BYU, at New Mexico, TCU
New Mexico (8-4): TCU, at Colorado State, Utah, at Wyoming
BYU (8-4): at San Diego State, Utah, at Wyoming, Air Force
San Diego State (8-4): BYU, at TCU, Colorado State, UNLV
UNLV (8-5): at Utah, Air Force, at San Diego State
The Lobos dismantled San Diego State 75-49 on Saturday to end the Aztecs’ three-game winning streak in The Pit. UNM held SDSU to a season scoring low and recorded its largest victory margin over the Aztecs in nine years. Senior Tony Danridge scored a game-high 25 points while Roman Martinez added 17 on a career-high-tying 5 3-pointers. Capped by a Martinez 3, the Lobos ended the first half on a 9-0 run to take a 40-29 halftime lead. UNM connected on its last 6 shots of the 1st half. New Mexico shot 50% (26-52) from the floor, 63% (10-16) from 3-point, 87% (13-15) from the line and out-rebounded SDSU 35-25.
TCU lost at Wyoming 61-56 Saturday. After a 3-1 start in conference, the Horned Frogs have dropped seven of their past eight since the Lobos won 69-52 in Fort Worth on Jan. 24.
THE NEW MEXICO-TCU SERIES – New Mexico has a 10-5 lead in a series that started in 1964. UNM has never lost to TCU in Albuquerque, posting a 6-0 record. The Lobos have won the past two games by holding the Horned Frogs to 100 total points and 36.3% (29-80) shooting from the floor. UNM prevailed 69-52 last month in Fort Worth and 64-48 last year in The Pit.
NOTES TO KNOW BEFORE THE GAME
UNM’s 8 conference wins have been by an average of 18.5 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 6-0 in home conference games this season, winning by an average of 20.1 points…in four of those games, UNM has held the opponent to a season scoring low: BYU (62), Colorado State (50), Wyoming (57) and San Diego State (49)
The last time New Mexico went undefeated in conference home games was 7-0 in 2005
Including last year’s home win over UNLV, the Lobos have won 7 straight MWC home games…the victory margin in those games is an impressive 20 points
UNM head coach Steve Alford is 29-4 all-time in The Pit, 12-2 in MWC games
Danridge on a Roll: Senior Tony Danridge has averaged 21 points over the past 4 games, making 30-47 (64%) FGs, 2-3 from 3-point and 22-28 (79%) FTs…52 of his 84 points have come in the 2nd half…with 1,137 points in his career, Danridge needs another 22 to pass David Chiotti, Johnny Brown and Charlie Thomas for the 18th spot on UNM’s all-time scoring list
Impressive Numbers for Toppert: Senior Chad Toppert ranks 1st at UNM, 3rd in the MWC and 18th in the NCAA record book with a career 3-point accuracy of 45.31%
And He’s Approaching 1,000 Points: Toppert needs 7 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 120-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%, 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% (1,222-3,011) in 60 games against Alford’s Lobo teams
Stay in the Game Ro: The Lobos are 12-1 this season – with 12 consecutive wins – when junior Roman Martinez plays more than 30 minutes…the 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 31 straight games when allowing less than 60 points, and they are 51-2 in such games since 2004-05…the last loss was 51-46 at Air Force on Feb. 22, 2006
Only twice in the past 32 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
UNM-TCU JAN. 24 IN FORT WORTH – The rims at TCU were more than friendly to the Lobos, who shot 70 percent in the second half and 57.1 percent overall in grabbing a 69-52 victory. “I thought our shot selection was very, very good,” said Lobo Coach Steve Alford. The Lobos ended up shooting 24-of-42 from the floor (57.1 percent) and went 7-of-9 from behind the line for 77.8 percent. TCU went 15-of-40 for 37.5 percent and 2-of-14 from 3-point range. UNM won the board battle 28-to-22.
The Lobos were led by Roman Martinez with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Chad Toppert kicked in 11 points with five rebounds and three assists. Dairese Gary had five assists and three steals plus seven points. Tony Danridge had 12 points and Daniel Faris had 10 points. TCU was led by Kevin Langford with 21 points. The Lobos went up 12-6 at the 14:52 mark of the first half on a 3-pointer by Martinez. Freshman A.J. Hardeman slipped in a layup at 11:51 to make it 16-6 and at 7:13 Phillip McDonald banged in a trey to put the Lobos up 26-13. TCU outscored UNM 8-4 down the stretch to give UNM a 30-21 bulge at the half. New Mexico steadily pulled away from the Frogs in the second half. At the 8:28 timeout, UNM was up 55-35. At one point, TCU was 1-of-11 from the 3-point line.
POSTGAME NOTES FROM FORT WORTH
UNM snapped TCU’s 9-game home winning streak
New Mexico shot 57.1% from the floor, including 70.6% (12-17) in the 2nd half…the Lobos started the game making 8 of their first 10 field goals and started the 2nd half by making their first 5 tries
The Lobos had their 2nd-best 3-point percentage in school history, 78% (7-9), while holding TCU to just 14% (2-14), an opponent low and the Horned Frogs worst this season
TCU came into the game leading the MWC in FG percentage in conference games at 48.1%….UNM held the Horned Frogs to 37.5% (15-40) accuracy
UNM-TCU LAST YEAR AT THE PIT – J.R. Giddens scored 25 points and Jonathan Wills had six during a 19-0 run to open the second half as New Mexico beat TCU 64-48. The Lobos held the Horned Frogs scoreless for the first 6:27 of the second half to notch their fourth consecutive conference victory and improve their homecourt record this season to 15-1. Henry Salter had 13 points for TCU. Willis hit a 3-pointer and three free throws as New Mexico took a 45-23 lead after its early second-half run. The Horned Frogs used an 11-0 spurt to close within 47-38 midway through the second half but got no closer.
POSTGAME NOTES FROM SAN DIEGO STATE
New Mexico ended a 3-game losing streak to San Diego State in The Pit, while handing the Aztecs their worst loss of the season
For the 4th time in 6 conference home games, New Mexico held an opponent to its lowest point total of the season
The 26-point victory margin is UNM’s largest over SDSU since a 78-49 win in Albuquerque on Feb. 26, 2000
The Lobos ended the 1st half on a 9-0 run to take a 40-29 halftime lead
UNM connected on its last 6 shots of the 1st half, shooting 54% (14-26) in the first 20 minutes
Senior Tony Danridge (16) and junior Roman Martinez (14) combined for 30 of the Lobos’ 40 points in the 1st half…they made 11 of 14 FGs, 4-6 from 3-point by Martinez, and 4-5 FTs by Danridge
UNM shot 50% (26-52) from the floor, 63% (10-16) from 3-point and 87% (13-15) from the FT line…5 different Lobos made a 3-pointer
New Mexico’s starting five scored 63 points, making 21-37 FGs (57%), 8-12 from 3-point (67%), 13-15 FTs (87%), plus 16 assists and just 4 turnovers
New Mexico had a 35-25 rebounding edge…the Lobos were outrebounded by San Diego State 31-27 Jan. 21 at Cox Arena
The winning team in this series has reached 70 points in each of the past 14 games
Senior Tony Danridge
a game-high 25 points, 1 short of his career-high set against UNLV on Feb. 7
16 points in the 1st half on 6-7 FGs and 4-5 FTs
averaged 21 points a game in his last 4 games
Junior Roman Martinez
17 points on 6-9 shooting from the floor and 5-8 from 3-point
tied a career-high by making 5 3s
14 points in the 1st half on 5-7 FGs and 4-6 from 3-point
scored UNM’s first 8 points of the game on a pair of 3-pointers
Sophomore Dairese Gary
scored 9 points, plus 5 assists and 1 turnover in 23 minutes
has 20 assists and 3 turnovers in the last 5 games
Senior Chad Toppert
8 points, giving him 993 for his career
2 of 3 from 3-point, connecting on his 250th career 3 in the first half
Senior Daniel Faris
just 2 points, but a game-high 10 rebounds for his team-high 4th game this season with double-figure rebounds…20 rebounds the past 2 games
3 blocks for the 2nd straight game to pass Danny Granger for 7th place on the Lobos’ career list with 92
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 349-202 (63%) career record in his 18th season as a head coach, 41-19 at New Mexico. His teams have qualified for postseason play 12 times, produced 14 winning seasons and reached 21 wins on nine occasions.