March 10, 2012
Recap |
Final Stats |
Quotes |
AP Photo Gallery 
New Mexico Basketball Postgame Notes
2012 Mountain West Tournament Championship
Saturday, March 10, 2012
(2) UNM vs. (1) San Diego State *** Las Vegas, Nev.
* New Mexico (27-6) beats No. 18/21 San Diego State (26-7) by a count of 68-59 to win the Mountain West Conference tournament championship in Las Vegas
* UNM never trailed tonight
* New Mexico takes a 5-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament
* It’s the Lobos’ 4th conference tournament title (1993, ’96, ’05, `12) and 2nd in the MW (2005, `12)
* Since Feb. 15, UNM has won 4 straight games against ranked opponents, two apiece against San Diego State and UNLV…only 1 of the games was at home, vs. UNLV on Feb. 18
* New Mexico makes its 13th NCAA tournament appearance, and the 2nd in the past 3 years under 5th-year head coach Steve Alford…UNM is 7-13 all-time in the NCAA Tournament since its first appearance in 1968
* Including neutral sites, the Lobos are 13-4 away from The Pit this season
* New Mexico has won 27 games for the 3rd time in school history and the 2nd time in head coach Steve Alford’s 5 seasons at UNM
* Fourth-year seniors A.J. Hardeman and Phillip McDonald are now 101-36 in their careers at New Mexico, the most wins by scholarship Lobos
* New Mexico has won 64 straight games – 58-0 under Steve Alford – when allowing less than 60 points…the last loss was Feb. 22, 2006, a 51-46 setback against Air Force
* New Mexico was 20-27 from the line tonight and was 66-81 (82%) from the stripe in 3 MW Tournament games
* UNM is 26-1 this season when holding the opponent to less than 70 points, but 1-5 when allowing 70 or more
* UNM has made a 3-point FG in 691 consecutive games…the last game without a 3 was Jan. 3, 1991 at Colorado State (0-for-8)
Head coach Steve Alford
* wins his 3rd conference tournament title (also 2001 and ’06 Big 10 with Iowa)
* 433-228 in his 21st season as a head coach, 125-45 in his 5th year at New Mexico
* At least 22 wins in all 5 seasons at New Mexico, and an average of 25 wins per season
* 5-4 in all Mountain West tournament games at UNM
* 58-0 when UNM allows less than 60 points
* 39 straight wins and 51-1 overall when UNM scores 80 points or more
Senior F Drew Gordon
* MVP of the MW Tournament with 46 points and 32 rebounds in the 3 games
* 12 points and 12 rebounds tonight in 37 minutes for his 17th double-double of the season and 30th of his UNM career
* 361 rebounds this season, the 3rd best single-season total at UNM…the school season record is 375 by Tom King in 1960-61…King also has the 2nd-best total at 374 in 1959-60
* Tied with John Teel (1955-58) for 9th place all-time at UNM with 634 rebounds…averaged 10.7 rebounds in 59 career games as a Lobo
Sophomore G Tony Snell
* scored all 14 of his points in the 1st half on 5-6 FGs, including 4-5 from 3-point
* 39 points in the MW Tournament after 17 points the previous 4 games
* 9 of 22 from 3-point in the tournament
G Kendall Williams
* 14 points on 3-6 FGs and 8-12 FTs…12 FT attempts ties a career high
Sophomore G Demetrius Walker
* came off the bench to score 7 points on 7 of 8 FTs
* 38 points in 3 MW Tournament games on 19 of 22 FTs
Freshman G Hugh Greenwood
* 7 points and he tied a career high with 10 rebounds; also had 10 boards at Boise State
Senior G Phillip McDonald
* 8 points off the bench on 3-6 FGs and 2-3 from 3-point
* tied with former teammate Roman Martinez for 6th all-time at UNM with 205 career 3s
* No. 24 all-time at UNM with 1,140 career points
Senior F A.J. Hardeman
* 6th all-time at UNM with 100 career blocks; had 1 tonight