Dec. 28, 2009
New Mexico-Texas Tech Game Notes
Tuesday: Texas Tech at Lobos, 7 p.m., The Pit
On The Air: CBS-C (TV); 770-AM KKOB / Lobo Radio Network
Online: Game story, stats, game notes on GoLobos.com
Friday: Dayton at Lobos, 7 p.m., The Pit
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Is it possible that Steve Alford’s 12-1 Lobos are looking at three straight Pit sellouts? Well, for sure Tuesday’s Encounter of the Top 25 Kind with Texas Tech has no empty seats available. Dayton (Jan. 1) and UNLV (Jan. 9) are fast approaching “sold out” status.
Maybe the best thing to offer GoLobos.com fans is a few tips on how to obtain seats for the hottest show in town rather than offer a scouting report on 10-1 Texas Tech.
OK, here’s the tip for tickets: Click on the handy link. Now, you are on your own. Here’s a quick scouting report on Tech:
— Possibly the best team UNM has faced to date.
— Has two awesome guard/wing types in John Roberson (14.5) and Mike Singletary (15.4).
— Probably has the best bench UNM has faced to date.
— Is ranked No. 20 and No. 24 in the two collegiate polls of favor.
— Is coached by Pat Knight, a guy (like Alford) who cut a lot of his permanent basketball teeth chewing on lessons spit out by a guy named Bobby Knight.
Yeah, this has the makings of a Pit Classic. Hope you have a seat!
“Its going to be an athletic, tough, physical game,” said Lobo junior Dairese Gary. “(Tech) is going to be ready for us and the crowd is going to be amazing.”
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LOBO TICKETS! |
The Lobo/Red Raider brawl goes down as a non-conference tussle and both teams have more important conference games looming down the road. The Lobos in the Mountain West. The Raiders in the Big 12.
The game also is a match that hits hard in the three “Rs” department: RPI, Respect and Recruiting. The winner here should get a sweet bump in RPI and national respect, although the loser won’t be seriously damaged. In addition, both programs work the fertile recruiting grounds in Texas. There are some bragging rights here.
You also have the Alford/Knight sidebar. Sure, it’s not the same as when student (Alford) went against teacher (Bob Knight), but it does provide an interesting dynamic.
“When I was playing, it was `coach Knight, coach Knight’ and Pat was in (middle school) when I played at Indiana,” said Alford. “But I still follow Texas Tech more than I follow any other division one school at that’s because of the Knight family and because I have a former teammate, Stew Robinson, who is on that staff.”
Alford played for Bob Knight at Indiana where the Lobos coach was a two-time All-American and a national champion. Pat took over for dad at Texas Tech and Pat is in his second season as the head Raider. Pat was an assistant to his father for nine seasons at Indiana and at Texas Tech.
He told The Associated Press that his first year at Tech was awkward because he was fighting to figure out exactly what his style should be as a head coach. In a way, that was to be more like his father than less like his father when it came to discipline and raising his voice.
So far, in 2009-10, Pat’s system is working just fine. His team is more run-and-gun, but likes to rely on in-your-face defense. “They get into you (on defense),” said Alford. The younger Knight obviously will go “zone” more than his father. Tech’s 10-1 mark includes a win over then-No. 12 Washington and an 85-83 road loss to a solid Wichita State team.
“Tech is a team that’s deep and it’s the best bench we have played against,” said Alford. “Their offense is running at a little bit different pace than ours is. They are screening better. They cut harder. We’ve had some slippage in our pace.”
The Lobos saw some slippage against Creighton in The Pit, but UNM escaped with a come-from-behind 66-61 win. The Lobos weren’t crisp at Oral Roberts and lost 75-66. The Lobos also slipped in the national polls: down to No. 17/19.
“These two games (Tech & Dayton) are really going to help us moving forward,” said Alford, not talking about in the rankings, but referring to battling two quality opponents prior to the MWC wars.
The Lobos are paced in scoring by Darington Hobson with a 16.6 average followed by Roman Martinez at 15.8 and Phillip McDonald at 11.7. Gary averages 10.0 points and 3.1 assists. Hobson is UNM’s leading rebounder at 7.8 followed by A.J. Hardeman at 6.3 and Roman Martinez at 5.8.
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“Its going to be an athletic, tough, physical game. Tech is going to be ready for us and the crowd is going to be amazing.” |
The Lobos have a solid five coming off the bench in Curtis Dennis, Chad Adams, Nate Garth, Jamal Fenton and Will Brown.
“We got a lot of guys who can shoot the basketball,” said Alford. “Our bigger issue is what we do at the other end.”
That defensive end probably is a key for both UNM and Tech. Both these teams can shoot and both like up-tempo basketball. The victor Tuesday might be the team that maintains focus the longest on defense.
“Our defense has to win games for us,” said Gary.
That’s definitely a truth for UNM’s next four games. There probably are a few MWC teams that UNM can simply outgun. That might not be the case for the next four games: Tech, Dayton, San Diego State and UNLV.
In case you want to catch some of this run-and-gun action in The Pit, there are still tickets left for Dayton and UNLV. But not many.
Game Note: One of the strongest New Mexico ties on the Tech team is assistant coach Bubba Jennings, a former New Mexico Player of The Year from Clovis High. Jennings, who once scored 75 points in a game for Clovis, is a former Clovis teammate of ex-Lobo Nelson Franse. Jennings also was a conference POY for Tech.