Postgame Notes - New Mexico vs. UTEP (NIT) - March 15, 2010

March 15, 2011

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New Mexico vs. UTEP – Postgame Notes
2011 National Invitation Tournament
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 – Albuquerque, N.M.

• New Mexico beats UTEP 69-57 in the first round of the NIT…UNM improves to 22-11 overall
• UNM will play at Alabama in the 2nd round of the NIT…the Lobos and Crimson Tide will be meeting for the first time
• UNM is 18-19 all-time in the NIT (14-6 in The Pit) and has won 10 straight NIT games in The Pit…the last loss here was in the 1989 quarterfinals, 66-65 to St. Louis
• UNM has won 20 consecutive non-conference home games…the last loss was to UTEP (73-60) on Jan. 6, 2009
• New Mexico used its 9th starting lineup of the season tonight with sophomore G Jamal Fenton making his first Lobo start
• All nine Lobos scored in the 1st half
• The Lobos had a 41-26 rebounding edge (12-4 on the offensive glass) and have out-rebounded their opponent in 14 straight games…UNM’s 4-man bench out-rebounded UTEP’s 5-man reserves 12-3
• The Lobos have won 50 consecutive games when allowing less than 60 points…the last loss was 51-46 to Air Force on Feb. 22, 2006…New Mexico is 43-0 under Steve Alford when allowing less than 60 points
• New Mexico led 34-30 at halftime…the Lobos are 18-2 when leading at the half this year…the only losses were at Dayton (led 38-32, lost 76-73 in 2 OT) and to Utah at home (led 33-31, lost 62-60)
• UNM is 16-1 this season when holding the opponent to 5 or fewer 3s…UTEP was 3 of 16 from 3-point tonight

Head coach Steve Alford

• 406-221 record in his 20-year coaching career
• 98-38 in his 4th season at New Mexico, an average of 24.5 wins
• 4-6 in his career in the NIT, 2-2 while at New Mexico
• 2-1 in his career against UTEP
• 53-19 in non-conference games at UNM
• 37-2 in non-conference games in The Pit

Junior F Drew Gordon

• 18 points and 9 rebounds in 33 minutes
• Averaging 13.9 rebounds the past 8 games

Freshman G Kendall Williams

• Team-high 18 points, tying a career high with 8 FTs made
• 388 points on the season, 2nd-most by a UNM freshman and the 8th-best total by a freshman in the Mountain West Conference
• Still tied with Phil Smith (1981-84) for most steals by a Lobo freshman with 47

Junior G Phillip McDonald

• Finished with 12 points, 10 in the 2nd half, on 3-4 FGs from 3-point
• His first 3 of the 2nd half ended a UNM scoring drought of 5:50, from 14:32 to 8:42
• His three 3s were also responsible for a 9-2 Lobo run as the UNM lead went from 45-41 to 54-43
• UNM is 13-2 this season and 41-6 in his career when he makes 2 or more 3-pointers in a game

Sophomore G Jamal Fenton

• Made his 1st career start in his 65th career game at UNM
• Finished with 8 points and tied a career high with 6 assists
• 39 points the past 4 games, an average of 9.8 ppg

Freshman F Cameron Bairstow

• 2 points, 3 rebounds and a career-high 2 assists in 8 minutes
• Came into tonight’s game with 5 assists for the season