Jan. 8, 2010
Day/Date: Saturday, Jan. 9
Time: 2:05 p.m. MST
Location: The Pit / Bob King Court (14,586) Albuquerque, N.M.
Records: New Mexico 14-2 (10-0 home, 3-2 road, 1-0 neutral); UNLV 12-3 (7-1 home, 3-1 road, 2-1 neutral)
Game Sponsor: Route 66 Casino Hotel, 100.3 The Peak and Hot 95.1
Radio: 770 KKOB / Lobo Radio Network (Scott Galetti and Scott Didrickson) with air time at 1:30 p.m.
TV: Versus (Tim Neverett and Blaine Fowler)
Comcast Albuquerque 37
Dish Network 151
Live Stats: GoLobos.com / GameTracker
Series: 39th meeting, UNLV leads 24-14
Last Meeting: Feb. 7, 2009…UNM 73, UNLV 69 (OT) at The Pit
Next Up: Wednesday, Jan. 13 vs. Utah (7-7, 0-0 MWC), 8:02 p.m., The Mtn…Utah vs. TCU Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
It’s matinee time Saturday as No. 15/14 New Mexico hosts UNLV. It’s the Lobos’ Mountain West Conference home opener. UNM (14-2, 0-1 MWC) and UNLV (12-3, 0-1 MWC) get underway at 2:05 p.m. Mountain Time from The Pit / Bob King Court in Albuquerque. The game has been a sellout (14,586) since mid-day on Monday, guaranteeing the third straight packed house for the first time since six in a row during the 1993-94 season.
The game will be televised nationally on Versus; channel 37 on Comcast in Albuquerque and 151 on Dish Network. Versus is not on DirecTV.
New Mexico looks to rebound from Tuesday’s 74-64 loss at San Diego State. After a 12-0 start, the Lobos are 2-2 in their past four games.
UNM has not lost consecutive games in more than a year, since Jan. 3 and 6, 2009. The Lobos fell at UNLV 60-58, then at home to UTEP, 73-60. The last time New Mexico dropped back-to-back MWC games was Jan. 26 – Feb. 2, 2008, at BYU and at UNLV.
The Lobos have won 19 straight home games, including 9 in a row over MWC competition. The average victory margin in those nine wins is 17.9 points. UNM’s last conference loss in The Pit was 70-69 in overtime to BYU on Feb. 26, 2008.
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 for the first time in 11 seasons on Dec. 14 and started 12-0 before losing at Oral Roberts on Dec. 23.
Picked to finish 3rd in this year’s MWC preseason poll, UNLV was clipped 77-73 at No. 25 BYU on Wednesday. Head coach Lon Kruger started three juniors and two sophomores against the Cougars. UNLV is an impressive 6-2 away from the Thomas & Mack this season.
The Runnin’ Rebels’ only other losses were to Kansas State at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas and to Southern Cal in the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu on Christmas Day. Kansas State is ranked 11th in this week’s A.P. poll while USC is 10-5 and has won eight of its last nine.
NEW MEXICO-UNLV SERIES – UNM and UNLV meet for the 39th time. UNLV has a 24-14 advantage, has won 5 of the past 7 meetings overall and is 13-5 against the Lobos since 2002. New Mexico has a 10-7 lead in The Pit and has won 3 of the past 5, including a 73-69 overtime decision a year ago.
The teams played a two highly-competitive games last year, with a combined 23 ties and 21 lead changes in the two games. The biggest lead for either team in the two games was 8 points (12-4) by UNLV in The Pit. UNM was just 5 of 29 from 3-point last year vs. UNLV.
LAST YEAR IN ALBUQUERQUE – Tony Danridge scored five of his career-high 26 points in overtime as New Mexico beat UNLV 73-69. Danridge’s driving bank shot with five seconds left broke a 69-69 tie for the Lobos. Wink Adams led UNLV with 18 points but went scoreless in overtime.
Danridge, who never sat in the second half or overtime, scored New Mexico’s first 11 points after halftime. He had 24 of his points in the second half and overtime combined. The Lobos missed their first 12 3-pointers before Chad Toppert connected at the 7:40 mark in the second half. UNM finished 2-of-17.
LAST YEAR IN LAS VEGAS – Tre’Von Willis had 15 points to lead the Rebels to a 60-58 victory against New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference opener for both schools. UNLV trailed 52-50 with 4:23 to play before going on an 8-1 run to take the lead for good. Willis had six consecutive points in the rally as the Rebels won their eighth straight game.
New Mexico’s Jonathan Wills hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds to play to cut the deficit to 58-56. But Willis connected on 2-of-4 fouls shots to seal the victory. The Lobos had a chance to take the lead or tie the game in the final seconds, but Chad Toppert missed an open 3-point attempt and Tony Danridge could not convert a short follow.
Joe Darger had nine points and 10 rebounds for UNLV, and Rene Rougeau added nine points and seven rebounds. New Mexico got a game-high 19 points from Daniel Faris. Danridge had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Lobos, and Nate Garth added nine points.
The game saw the lead change 11 times and the score tied 11 times. The biggest lead for either team was 5 points.
UNM’S HISTORY IN THE MWC – New Mexico has a 75-74 overall record in Mountain West Conference play, but is 23-10 under current head coach Steve Alford.
The Lobos are 53-21 in The Pit and 22-53 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 9-8 the past two-plus seasons.
HOBSON ONE OF 30 FINALISTS FOR WOODEN AWARD – The Los Angeles Athletic Club’s John R. Wooden Award Committee announced Jan. 4 that University of New Mexico junior guard Darington Hobson is one of 30 candidates for the John R. Wooden Award, the nation’s most coveted college basketball honor. Composed of the players who will compete for this season’s player of the year award, the midseason list is based on individual excellence and team record during the first half of the season.
Hobson currently leads the Lobos in scoring (16.5), rebounding (8.1), assists (4.4) and minutes played (31.8). Hobson and BYU’s Jimmer Fredette are two of 10 players selected to the midseason Top 30 who were not on the preseason list.
The national ballot, which will be selected in March, will consist of approximately 20 players chosen by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board Committee. Players selected to the national ballot will have to be certified by their university as making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA.
More than 1,000 voters, comprised of sports media members and college basketball experts from across the nation, will cast their votes to determine both the 10-member All-American team and Player of the Year. In late March, the 10-player Wooden Award All American Team will be announced.
NOTES TO KNOW BEFORE SATURDAY’S GAME
Including Saturday’s game vs. UNLV, the Lobos will have their third straight sellout of 14,586…the last time UNM packed it for three consecutive games was six in a row during the 1993-94 season…capacity at that time was 17,964
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 the 6th-longest current string in the nation
The Lobos have won 9 straight MWC home games with the victory margin in those games an impressive 17.9 points
In its last 2 home games, UNM held 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)
New Mexico has shot just 38.2% (109-285) from the floor the past 5 games, lowering the season accuracy to 44.6%…3-point shooting over that span is 30% (27-90)
UNM is 4-0 this season against teams that have been ranked at some point this season: Cal, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Dayton
It’s Never Happened, But…junior guard Darington Hobson leads New Mexico in scoring (16.5), rebounding (8.1) and assists (4.4)…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 (10.9 pg) and assist/turnover ratio (1.4), and is 2nd in scoring offense (79.6 ppg) and 3-point FG pct. (38.7%)