The
University of New Mexico finished the first half of its Mountain West Conference season
Tuesday night with an 86-57 victory over Wyoming that featured the
UINM's rock solid defense. The Lobos held the usually
hot-shooting
Cowboys to their lowest scoring total of the year, and did some pretty
fancy shooting of their own to put away the 29-point win.
New Mexico now is 14-9 for the
season and 5-3 in MWC play. Wyoming fell to 14-8 and 3-5.
And there's bad news for New Mexico's conference
opponents. The
Lobos' defense, already the best in the league, is getting
better.
Coach Steve Alford said his team has been working hard in practice, and
continues to improve defensively.
"I'm very pleased with our
team," Alford said. "To hold (Wyoming) to 35% shooting (and) 57
points
-- their lowest of the season -- is huge."
The Lobos'
good defense went hand-in-hand with some very good offense. UNM
hit 30
of 58 field goal attempts for 51.7%, which included cashing in half of
their 22 three-point shots. Alford also lauded his team for
turning
the ball over just eight times, compared to 14 turnovers for
Wyoming.
"It was just a really good performance by a lot of guys tonight,"
Alford said.
Senior Chad Toppert led New
Mexico's
scoring with 17 points. The Cowboys opened with a man-to-man
defense,
and when they swiched to a zone, Toppert began raining threes on
them.
The Lobos were up by just three points when Toppert (aka "The Zone
Buster") hit three treys in a row. That put UNM comfortably ahead
by
29-14 and the Lobos cruised home from there.
Toppert
finished the night with 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. He was aided
and
abetted by three teammates in double figures. Roman Martinez
scored 15
points and snared five rebounds. Tony Danridge had 11 points,
several
of them on acrobatic slam dunks, plus six rebounds and three
assists.
Post Daniel Faris also scored 11 points, and had a game-leading eight
rebounds.
Wyoming's scoring was paced by
senior guard
Sean Ogirri with 16 points. Afam Muojeke (pronounced uh-FAM moo-JEK-ee
for you aspiring sportscasters) and Brandon Ewing each pitched in 13.
Ewing, a senior guard leading the MWC in scoring
with an 18.2
points per game average, wore three different Lobos like another game
jersey. UNM guards Dairese Gary, Nate Garth and Jonathan Wills
took
turns guarding Ewing, effectively throttling a big part of the Cowboys
offense.
Gary said after the game that
Ewing, known for
"trash talking" to his opponents, became increasingly frustrated but
never stopped talking. But Gary said Ewing's comments weren't
obscene
or over-the-line insulting. "Mostly, he just made me laugh," said
Gary. That'll happen when your team is comfortably ahead.
Statistically the Lobos won virtually every
battle. The teams were
almost even at the free throw line, with UNM hitting on 15 of 17 and
Wyoming netting 14 of 19. The Lobos outrebounded their taller
opponents 36-25, and one of the results was outscoring the Cowboys in
the paint , 32 to 16. New Meixco also scored 16 of its points off
Wyoming's 14 turnovers.
The crowd of 13,081 went home
happy, and so did the Lobo statisticians who gleefully noted that the
win marked the fourth home game in a row that UNM held its opponents to
their lowest scores of the season. And the stats-keepers also had
good
news about the Lobos' offense: all five of the team's MWC wins
have
been by a winning margin of 21.6 points.
Finally, from
the "No teammate is forgotten Dept.," New Mexico's two walk-on
freshmen, Chris Johansen and Dione Williams, have not been completely
ignored. They have played a grand total of three minutes so far,
but
the two guards were featured in living color on the UNM game program
Tuesday night.
New Mexico remains at home to
begin the
second half of the MWC season, hosting UNLV at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb.
7. The Lobos almost upset the Runnin' Rebels in Las Vegas, losing
that
road game by just 58-60. Wyoming will host Utah in a 2 p.m. game
on
Saturday.
NOTES AND QUOTES PROVIDED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW
MEXICO
New Mexico Men’s Basketball Postgame Notes
Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009
The Pit / Bob King Court, Albuquerque, N.M.
Final Score: New Mexico 86, Wyoming 57
Records: New Mexico 14-9, 5-3 MWC; Wyoming
14-8, 3-5 MWC
•
New Mexico’s five MWC wins have been by 25, 19, 17, 18 and 29, an
average winning margin of 21.6 points…UNM is 6-0 when scoring 80+
points this season and 8-0 when winning by 16 or more points
•
New Mexico held Wyoming to season-lows in points scored (57) and field
goals made (17)…the Cowboys 20 points in the first half is their lowest
total in any half this season
•
New Mexico is shooting 50.8% (125- 246) from the floor the past five
games… UNM has made 77.2% (149-193) of its free throws the past 8 games
•
UNM made 11-of-22 3-pointers tonight…the Lobos are now shooting 43.8%
from 3-point in MWC games and 45.9% in the last seven league games…the
overall season percentage is now 39.4%
• New Mexico improved to 5-0 when committing
fewer than 10 turnovers…the Lobos committed only eight on the night
•
The Lobos outscored Wyoming 30-10 the final 10:51 of the first half,
hitting 11 of 15 FGs…seven of those were 3s, five by Chad Toppert
• The Lobos improve to 11-2 in the Pit and
4-0 in the conference at home this season
• The Lobos have won 28
straight games when allowing less than 60 points and are 49-2 in such
games since 2004-05
•
New Mexico has won three in a row over Wyoming and 5 of the past 6…the
Lobos have won six in a row over the Cowboys in The Pit
•
In four career games against UNM in The Pit, Wyoming’s Brandon Ewing
has scored 26 points on 8-41 FGs and 5-20 from 3-point range
• The Lobo bench outscored the Cowboys 37-7
Senior Chad Toppert
• Game-high 17 points, 15 in the first half,
on a season-high 6 FGs made…14th game with 10+ points this
season…UNM is 4-0 when he leads them in scoring and 11-3 when he scores
in double digits
• He has averaged 17.6 points in his last 3
games against Wyoming
• Matched season-high with five 3-pointers,
all in the first half… 8-12 on 3-pointers in the past two games
• Shooting 52.8% (19-36) from 3-point range
in conference games
Senior Daniel Faris
• 11 points, all in the second half,
including UNM’s first seven points coming out of the locker room at
halftime
• Game-high 8 rebounds
• 43 points (17-27 FGs)
and 24 rebounds in the past three games
• 5-5 on FTs…Perfect from the free-throw line
for the third time this season and fifth in career (min. 4 attempts)
• 2 blocks for 12th game this
season with multiple blocks
Senior Tony Danridge
• 3 dunks moving into fifth all-time for
career dunks with 72
• 11 points for 19th game in
double figure scoring this season
• Shooting 84 percent (38-45) on FTs the past
eight games
Junior Roman Martinez
• 15 points on 5-10 FGs, 3-5 3-pointers while
picking up five rebounds…14th game in double figure scoring
• The Lobos are 9-1 when he plays more than
30 minutes
Freshman Nate Garth
• Scored
all seven points in the span of 1:10 in the second half
• Five assists for 10th game with
5 or more assists