by Phil Parker
Daily Lobo
The Lobos head to Colorado Springs on Saturday for a rematch with Mountain West Conference leader Air Force.
UNM's checklist for the game appears daunting:
l Avenge a brutal 26-point loss suffered last month when the Falcons thoroughly dominated the Lobos at The Pit.
l Snap a road-losing streak that has stretched to 23 games. UNM has not won on the road in more than a year.
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l Beat Air Force at Clune Arena, which seats just less than six thousand fans. The Falcons have won 11 straight at home.
Air Force was the preseason pick to finish dead last in the MWC, but the Falcons are tops in the standings with a 7-1 conference record. They are 17-3 overall.
The name of the game for the Falcons this year has been defense. They are the best defensive team in the country, giving up just 48.8 points per game.
Their defense will test the Lobos, who are averaging 72.3 points per game this year. UNM has also averaged almost nine 3-pointers a game so far this season, on 38 percent shooting from behind the arc. The Falcons have allowed just three treys per game to their opponents, and have held opposing 3-ballers to 27.2 percent accuracy.
On offense, Air Force is leading the conference in threes made per game, and they have turned the ball over just 11 times per contest. The team's turnover margin is plus 6.1 per game, also first in the MWC.
So the Lobos will have to get their offense moving, which hasn't been a problem lately for star forward Danny Granger. Sporting a freshly shaved head in the Lobos' last game against Wyoming, Granger scored 30 points with an array of hard drives and fadeaways.
Granger will look to continue his hot play this weekend against a defense that held him to 15 points, six below his season average, in the teams' last meeting.
Also fresh in the UNM players' minds may be the boos that rained down on them from the normally supportive crowd at The Pit during last month's loss. That was the first sell-out crowd to attend a game at The Pit in more than two years.
In what was an extremely ugly loss, the Lobos shot only 37 percent and hit just three of their 15 3-point attempts. UNM also had 17 turnovers in the game.
At 4-4, UNM is tied for third in the conference behind Air Force and Utah. To make any kind of run for the top, the Lobos must win on the road. Four of their last six contests are away from The Pit, and this weekend's game is the start of a three-game road swing for the squad.
The Lobo men will play at Brigham Young on Saturday, Feb. 21 and at Utah on Monday, Feb 23.
