Jan. 4, 2010
New Mexico at San Diego State Game Notes
Day/Date: Tuesday, Jan. 5
Time: 8:32 p.m. MST
Location: Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl (12,414) San Diego, Calif.
Records: New Mexico 14-1 (10-0 home, 3-1 road, 1-0 neutral; San Diego State 11-3 (7-0 home, 4-3 road)
Radio: 770 KKOB / Lobo Radio Network (Scott Galetti and Scott Didrickson) with air time at 8 p.m.
TV: The mtn. (Rich Cellini and Dave Bollwinkel)
Comcast Albuquerque 276
DirecTV 616
Live Stats: GoLobos.com / GameTracker
Series: 65th meeting, UNM leads 37-27
Last Meeting: Feb. 21, 2009…UNM 75, SDSU 49 at Albuquerque
Next Up: Saturday, Jan. 9 vs. UNLV (12-2), 2 p.m., VERSUS…UNLV at BYU Wednesday
No. 15/14 New Mexico begins defense of its Mountain West Conference title Tuesday, visiting a formidable San Diego State team in the league opener for both schools. The Lobos (14-1, 0-0 MWC) and Aztecs (11-3, 0-0 MWC) tip-off at 8:32 p.m. Mountain Time from Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl on the SDSU campus. UNM has been int the top-25 the past four weeks.
The game will be televised nationally on The mtn; channel 276 on Comcast in Albuquerque and 616 on DirecTV.
New Mexico is 14-1 after a rugged 68-66 decision over a very good Dayton team last Friday in The Pit, where the Lobos have won 19 straight.
UNM was picked to finish 5th in last year’s MWC race, but tied BYU and Utah for the MWC title at 12-4. The Lobos were picked to finish 5th again in 2009-10, but have been one of the nation’s surprise teams to date. New Mexico broke into the top-25 rankings on Dec. 14 and started 12-0 before losing at Oral Roberts on Dec. 23.
San Diego State, which did not have a senior its starting lineup in last Thursday’s 89-54 victory over Pomona-Pitzer, is 11-3. The Aztecs’ losses have all been on the road to St. Mary’s, Pacific and Arizona State. SDSU has won 12 straight home games and is 21-1 in its last 22 at Viejas Arena.
San Diego State leads the MWC and is among the nation’s leaders in scoring defense (59.6 ppg), FG% defense (39.1%), rebound margin (+8.4) and offensive rebounds (14.1). The Aztecs have 4 players averaging more than 10 points a game led by Billy White’s 12.6 ppg. White also leads the MWC in FG% at 61.7%.
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NEW MEXICO-SAN DIEGO STATE SERIES
UNM has a 37-27 lead in a series that started Jan. 2, 1976, although SDSU has won 6 of the past 8. Last year, the Aztecs won 81-76 in San Diego while the Lobos took a 75-49 decision in The Pit. San Diego State has a 19-11 lead in games played in San Diego, but a narrow 6-5 advantage in Viejas Arena. The winning team has reached 70 points in each of the past 14 games.
COMMON OPPONENTS THIS YEAR
The two teams each went 2-0 against San Diego and Northern Arizona. The Lobos won at San Diego 82-78 on Dec. 9 and whipped Northern Arizona 96-57 on Dec. 16. San Diego State beat San Diego 69-62 in overtime on Dec. 2 and blitzed NAU 89-48 on Nov. 28.
LAST YEAR 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 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. 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.
The Lobos jumped to a 16-5 lead, but 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.
LAST YEAR IN ALBUQERQUE
Tony Danridge scored 25 points in a 75-49 win over San Diego State, which failed to overcome the early loss of forward Billy White. The Lobos recorded their largest victory over SDSU since a 78-49 win in 2000. The game also was a season-low in points for San Diego State. San Diego’s Kyle Spain, who did not start either half because of an illness, led the Aztecs with 18 points.
In the game’s first minute, White collided with New Mexico’s Roman Martinez. White did not return to the bench until late in the first half, limping on crutches with his left knee heavily wrapped. White had entered the game hitting his last 19 shots over the previous two-plus games.
Still, the game was tight with New Mexico holding a 31-29 lead after Spain hit a three-pointer with 2:25 left in the first half. The Lobos, though, closed out the half with a 9-0 run, capped by an three-pointer from Martinez with one second left. Danridge and Martinez combined for 30 of New Mexico’s 40 points at the break.
San Diego State came within 45-38 at five minutes into the second half, but New Mexico responded with an 18-4 run for the win.
LAST YEAR’S RUN TO THE TITLE
Picked to finish 5th in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll, the Lobos won their final five games of the regular season to tie BYU and Utah for the MWC championship at 12-4. Just two years removed from a 4-12 league mark and losing in the MWC Tournament play-in game, New Mexico claimed its first conference crown in 15 years, since winning the 1994 Western Athletic Conference championship. Steve Alford was named MWC Coach of the Year.
After a 73-62 loss at BYU on Feb. 17, the Lobos were 7-4 in the MWC and knew they had to run the table to give themselves a chance at a championship.
The Lobos beat San Diego State at home 75-49 in arguably their most complete game of the season. That was followed by a 76-62 home win over TCU.
Trailing at Colorado State by five points with 13 seconds left in regulation, the title chase was in serious jeopardy. However, UNM pulled out a dramatic 81-79 triumph in double overtime.
A roof-raising sellout crowd of 18,018 and senior Tony Danridge’s career-high 29 points willed UNM to a 77-71 victory over league leader Utah. It was Danridge elevating his game again four days later, scoring another 29 as the Lobos escaped Laramie with a 74-73 decision over Wyoming and a share of the crown.
UNM HISTORY IN THE MWC
New Mexico has a 75-73 overall record in Mountain West Conference play, but is 23-9 under current head coach Steve Alford.
The Lobos are 53-21 in The Pit and 22-52 on the road. UNM was 7-37 in league road games in six seasons before Steve Alford became New Mexico’s head coach, but has gone 9-7 the past two seasons. A look at UNM in MWC play and in MWC road games:
MWC All MWC Road YEAR W L W L COACH PLACE 2000 9 5 4 3 Fran Fraschilla 3rd 2001 6 8 2 5 Fran Fraschilla T5th 2002 6 8 1 6 Fran Fraschilla 6th 2003 4 10 0 7 Ritchie McKay 7th 2004 5 9 0 7 Ritchie McKay T5th 2005 10 4 3 4 Ritchie McKay 2nd 2006 8 8 2 6 Ritchie McKay 5th 2007 4 12 1 7 Ritchie McKay T8th Totals 52 64 13 45
2008 11 5 5 3 Steve Alford 3rd
2009 12 4 4 4 Steve Alford T1st
Totals 23 9 9 7
LOBOS IN MWC OPENERS
New Mexico has a 5-5 record in MWC openers, but it has lost 5 of the past 7. The Lobos have a 3-7 mark in MWC lid-lifters on the road. They had lost six straight road openers from 2002-07 before prevailing at Wyoming 99-92 in double overtime in 2008. UNM lost at UNLV last year, 60-58.
NOTES TO KNOW BEFORE TUESDAY’S GAME
After a 10-year hiatus from the national rankings, the Lobos are ranked for the 4th week in a row…before the loss to Oral Roberts, UNM was No. 13 in the Associated Press poll and 12th in the ESPN/USA Today rankings
New Mexico is in the rankings for the first time since the 1998-99 season when it spent every week in the polls and got as high as 11th
UNM is 4-1 away from home this season…dating to last year, the Lobos are 5-2 in their last 7 true road games and 6-3 in the past 9, including neutral sites
UNM has held its last two opponents (Texas Tech and Dayton) to season-lows for FG%…the Red Raiders shot 41% (25-61) while the Flyers were held to 33.9% (21-62)
UNM has held its last 5 opponents to 24.3% (25-103) accuracy from 3-point, lowering the season number to 30.6%
UNM is 4-0 this season against teams that have been ranked at some point this season: Cal, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Dayton
Statistically, and maybe surprisingly, the Lobos have been a little better offensively in road games than they have been at home:
Record FG% 3FG% PPG Home Games 10-0 44.3 35.7 79.7 Away Games 4-1 47.1 45.5 82.4
New Mexico has won 19 straight home games and is 49-2 in its last 51 non-conference games at The Pit…the last loss was 73-60 to UTEP on Jan. 6, 2009…the 19-game streak is tied with Western Kentucky for the 6th-longest current string in the nation…Kansas is 1st at 50
Head coach Steve Alford is guiding a ranked team for the first time since 2005-06 when Iowa got as high as No. 12
It’s Never Happened, But…Junior guard Darington Hobson leads New Mexico in scoring (16.8), rebounding (8.1) and assists (4.5)…assists have been tracked since 1969 and never has one UNM player led in all three categories for an entire season
New Mexico leads the MWC in 3-point FGs per game (8.5), fewest turnovers (10.7 pg) and assist/turnover ratio (1.4), and is 2nd in scoring offense (80.6 ppg) and 3-point FG pct. (38.8%)
Under Steve Alford, New Mexico is 29-1 when scoring 80 or more points…the only loss was 82-80 to Utah in overtime in the quarterfinals of the 2008 MWC Tournament in Las Vegas…UNM is 29-0 when holding the opponent under 60 points
The Lobos have won 36 straight games when allowing less than 60 points, and they are 55-2 in such games since 2004-05…the last loss was 51-46 at Air Force on Feb. 22, 2006