Jan. 12, 2010
Wednesday: Lobos vs. Utah, 8 p.m., The Pit/Bob King Court
On The Air: The Mtn (Comcast 276, DirecTV 616); Lobo Radio Network
Online: GameTracker, stats, game story on GoLobos.com
A new week brings a new start for New Mexico in its quest to win its first conference game of the season. UNM (14-3, 0-2 MWC) plays host to Utah (8-7, 1-0 MWC) Wednesday at 8:02 p.m. Mountain Time from The Pit / Bob King Court in Albuquerque. The game will be televised nationally on The mtn: channel 276 on Comcast in Albuquerque and 616 on DirecTV. The Lobos will be at Wyoming Saturday afternoon.
New Mexico looks to rebound from a week where it dropped consecutive conference games for the first time since late in the 2007-08 season. UNM fell 74-64 at San Diego State then 74-62 to UNLV, ending a 19-game home winning streak.
After a 12-0 start, the Lobos are 2-3 in their past five games. Never under current head coach Steve Alford have the Lobos:
1) lost 3 straight games or 3 consecutive conference games
2) started 0-3 in the MWC
3) lost consecutive games in The Pit
The last time UNM endured any of these situations was in 2006-07 when it lost its final five games of the season. That’s also the last time the Lobos started 0-3 in the MWC.
UNM has lost consecutive games for the first time 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. New Mexico has also dropped back-to-back MWC games for the first time since Jan. 26 – Feb. 2, 2008, at BYU and at UNLV.
After spending four weeks in the national rankings, the Lobos fell out of both top-25 polls this week. UNM received 59 points in the A.P. rankings, good for the 30th position, and 54 points in the coaches’ poll, or 27th.
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 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 4th in this year’s MWC preseason poll, Utah beat TCU 65-45 Saturday in Salt Lake City. The Utes are playing without 6-10 senior F Kim Tillie, who had knee surgery last week.
THE NEW MEXICO-UTAH SERIES – The last four games have been decided by a total of 10 points (2.5 avg.). The last seven have been decided by a combined 26 points (3.7 avg.), and four of those have gone into overtime – one requiring double OT.
It’s game No. 125 in a series that started Jan. 3, 1952. The Utes have a 78-46 lead, although it’s 7-4 in the Lobos’ favor the past 11 games. New Mexico has won the last 7 meetings in The Pit, including 77-71 last year. Utah’s last win here was in 2002.
NEW MEXICO-UTAH: EXPECT A VERY, VERY CLOSE GAME – The results of the past 7 games between New Mexico and Utah:
1-13-07 New Mexico 86-82 (OT) Albuquerque
2-24-07 Utah 93-91 (2OT) at Salt Lake
1-22-08 New Mexico 77-67 (OT) Albuquerque
2-23-08 New Mexico 72-71 at Salt Lake
3-13-08 Utah 82-80 (OT) Las Vegas (MWC Tour.)
1-31-09 Utah 69-68 at Salt Lake
3-3-09 New Mexico 77-71 Albuquerque
LAST YEAR IN ALBUQUERQUE – Tony Danridge scored a career-high 29 points, a fitting farewell on Senior Night, leading New Mexico to a 77-71 win over Utah. Daniel Faris had 16 points and 10 rebounds while New Mexico’s third senior, Chad Toppert, scored 12 points.
Luke Nevill scored 16 points for Utah but had just four points and one rebound after halftime. New Mexico led 36-34 at halftime but went on a 12-0 run midway through the second half to seize control. Faris drove on Nevill for a layup and Danridge added a turnaround jumper to stretch the lead to 60-47 with 8:05 to go.
Nevill, after drawing his third foul, grew frustrated. He picked up his fourth foul with 5:08 to go and fouled out after backing into Faris for an offensive foul with 3:41 remaining. The Utes cut the deficit to 64-58 on Shaun Green’s 3 with 2:43 left and it was 66-61 after Tyler Kepkay made a three-point play with 2:01 remaining. UNM went 11-for-14 from the line to seal it.
LAST YEAR IN SALT LAKE CITY – Lawrence Borha made a baseline jumper with 11 seconds left to lift Utah to a 69-68 victory. Borha scored 15 points to lead the Utes, while Luke Nevill and Luka Drca each added 11. The Lobos called timeout to set up a potential game-winning play after Borha’s basket, but Ramon Martinez lost control of the ball and teammate Chad Toppert threw up an airball after a scramble.
Daniel Faris scored 18 points to lead the Lobos, who failed in their bid to win back-to-back games at Utah for the first time since 1972-73. New Mexico shot 54 percent and held Utah to 40.1%.
The Lobos took a 64-58 lead with 5:32 remaining after Roman Martinez nailed his 4th 3-pointer of the half At that point in the game, UNM was 13 of 16 from the floor in the second half. It got tougher down the stretch, though, as the Lobos missed 7 of 9 shots, the front end of a 1-and-1 and committed two turnovers in the final 5:32.
A BRIEF LOOK AT THE 2009-10 LOBOS – The Lobos lost their top three scorers in graduating seniors Tony Danridge (14.9), Daniel Faris (12.1) and super-sub Chad Toppert (10.8). They were also three of UNM’s top-four rebounders, meaning New Mexico lost 51% of its scoring and 40% of its rebounding.
UNM returns six lettermen in Will Brown, Nate Garth, Dairese Gary, A.J. Hardeman, Roman Martinez and Phillip McDonald. One redshirt returns in freshman Curtis Dennis.
For the first time since 1985-86 (Johnny Brown), the Lobos have just one senior in Roman Martinez. There are only two juniors in Gary and junior college transfer Darington Hobson. The remaining seven players are all freshmen and sophomores.
UNM AMONG THE NATION’S YOUNGEST TEAMS – According to a survey by the University of Central Florida media relations office, only three schools have fewer upperclassmen than New Mexico in 2009-10. St. Louis and Washington State have one player in their junior-senior class while Toledo lists two. UNM, George Mason, UCF and Wyoming have three. There are 346 schools in NCAA Div. I this year. The Lobos have one senior (Roman Martinez), two juniors (Dairese Gary and Darington Hobson), four sophomores and four freshmen on their 11-man roster in 2009-10.
NOTES TO KNOW BEFORE WEDNESDAY’S GAME
The Lobos have enjoyed three straight sellouts 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
UNM has shot just 35.5% (38-107) in its first two MWC games…the past 6 games, the Lobos are shooting 38% (127-335) from the field and 29% (31-108) from 3-point
New Mexico had second-half leads of 46-45 last week against both San Diego State and UNLV, but had trouble making shots down the stretch…UNM was just 5 of 19 (26%) from the floor after taking the lead over SDSU at the 10:45 mark, and 4 of 12 (33%) the final 14:36 after getting the 1-point advantage over UNLV…in the 2nd half against San Diego State and UNLV, the Lobos converted only 17 of 54 FGs (31%) and 4 of 24 (17%) attempts from 3-point
The Lobos are 11-0 this season when scoring 70 or more points, but 3-3 with less than 70, including three straight losses
UNM is 6-0 this season when Roman Martinez leads the team in scoring and 5-0 when Darington Hobson leads, but 3-3 when anyone else leads
UNM is 4-1 this season against teams that have been ranked at some point this season: wins over Cal, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Dayton, and a loss to UNLV
It Has Never Happened, But…junior guard Darington Hobson leads New Mexico in scoring (16.4), 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 (8.2) and fewest turnovers per game (11.0)