by Vanessa Strobbe
Daily Lobo
The struggle of the 2005-06 men's basketball team had Lobo fans howling for help.
Luckily, a band of superheroes on the team came to the rescue.
Junior guard J.R. Giddens and senior forward Aaron Johnson have come up with alter egos for themselves - Superman and Batman, respectively.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The dynamic duo has led the Lobos to a 4-0 start after runaway wins over Abilene Christian, Sacramento State, Colorado and Kansas State.
Johnson said he realized it was going to be fun at UNM when he first played with Giddens.
"Last year, I realized J.R. could fly," he said. "He showed me on the court. He has similar powers to Superman. Then we realized that I have powers like Batman, so we decided to come together and be the superheroes to get the program back where it needs to be."
UNM has averaged 91.8 points through its first four contests. It has been 25 years since the Lobos scored at least 90 points in each of their first three games of the season.
On the defensive end, the Lobos have held their first four opponents to an average of 57.2 points and a 32.8 shooting percentage.
Last year's team finished 17-13 overall and 8-8 in the Mountain West Conference.
Johnson said the difference between the two seasons comes down to having fun on the court.
"Last year, the game was made a business," he said. "This year, we just go out and play basketball for what it is - a game. We all love each other on the team, and we play like we would play if no one was watching."
But people are watching.
In the past 40 years, The Pit has averaged 15,659 fans a game. The 2005-2006 season attendance average was 13,387.
Now climbing, 14,320 fans attended Tuesday's game against Kansas State.
Sophomore forward Daniel Faris said the difference between this year and last year comes down to one man - Giddens.
"He's an extremely talented player," Faris said. "Having someone like that on the team makes everything a lot easier. He gets everyone else open shots because defenses are worrying about him so much."
Defenses are swarming him for a reason. Giddens is averaging 20.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
However, the transfer from Kansas is quick to give others credit for the team's success.
"The turnaround of this team started the day after the loss at the MWC Tournament last season," Giddens said. "The next day, we were conditioning, and since then, we have conditioned three times a week. Everybody has made tremendous individual improvements this summer. We've done this all together, and we get in what we put out."
Head coach Ritchie McKay said Giddens is the team's go-to guy, but the Lobos' newfound depth is the main factor in the team's success.
"We're a lot deeper with a lot more players who can play significant minutes and not have a drop-off," McKay said.
Johnson said everybody on the team contributes.
"We're all superheroes from different places trying to keep criminals from beating us," he said.
Eight superheroes from the bench are averaging a combined 41.3 points a game, which is 45 percent of the team's scoring.
Nonstarters Faris, Chad Toppert, Jeffrey Henfield, Ryan Kersten and Darren Prentice are each averaging between 6.3 and 8.3 points per game and shooting 51 percent from 3-point range. Together, they account for 38 of the team's 80 assists.
Giddens said the stars of the team have to rely on the role players as well.
"We pull some 'X-Men United' stuff," Giddens said. "We combine all of our powers to keep a victory every night. Not one guy - not Superman, not Batman - can do it by himself. We need each other."
With eight newcomers, the team still has some uniting to do.
Giddens said the team is thirsty to gel and put everything together in order to reach its potential.
"Our team is like when you first learn that you can jump really high and do crazy dunks," Giddens said. "You have so many things that you can do, but you just don't know which ones to do at which times. That's our team. We don't yet know how to harness our ability and focus it on the court."
Once the team has gained experience and established itself on the road, the Lobos are expecting some national attention, McKay said.
"I think if we keep getting better every day and continue to improve, we'll be on the national map," he said. "Whether it happens in December, January or February, it doesn't matter. We're going to have to take it a day at a time."
Johnson said the team's goal is to win a national championship.
"We believe in ourselves, and we set our goals high," he said. "If you're not out there to win a national championship, then what are you out there for?"
The MWC preseason media poll selected the Lobos to finish fifth in the conference, a rank Giddens said he pays no attention to.
"People will make predictions, but those people don't practice for us or shoot our jump shots for us," he said. "We control our own destiny, no matter what is prewritten in the books. As long as we go out and work hard and use our powers, we can rewrite history."
