Now is not the time for February failures - not with March Madness a few weeks away.
But you don't have to tell Steve Alford's Lobos that.
On Saturday, the UNM men's basketball team (16-10 overall, 7-4 Mountain West Conference) will face San Diego State (18-6 overall, 8-3 MWC).
The Lobos will come back to The Pit, where they're undefeated this season, to face a San Diego State team that has beaten UNM at home three straight times.
Saturday's matchup couldn't come at a more critical juncture. As league play winds down, Saturday's bout has MWC regular-season title implications.
"If you're a competitor, you love challenges like this," Daniel Faris said. "They're going to give us their best shot. This time of season, if you have a chance to play for a conference title, that's something special. We're going to have to find a way to win. That's what it comes down to."
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UNM's loss to BYU on Tuesday didn't help.
While the Lobos played passionately in a 73-62 defeat to the Cougars, Alford said the Lobos didn't display basketball savvy.
"I loved our intensity. I loved our energy, (but) it wasn't our best 40 minutes of concentrating," Alford said. "It wasn't our best 40 minutes of how intelligent you have to play."
After losing to BYU, the Lobos have four conference losses and find themselves two games out of first place in a five-team race.
The Lobos have lost to Utah, BYU, SDSU and UNLV. All those teams are ahead of UNM in the MWC standings. Still, the Lobos split contests with BYU and UNLV. They'll need to do the same with Utah and SDSU if UNM wants to have a chance at a regular-season crown.
"Five losses - that's too much help to get," Alford said. "I think it's going to be hard if you lose five games to have a share of a championship. If you're after a championship, and that's obviously what we're after every year we go into things, we've lost as many league games as we can."
Still, UNM will need Philadelphia-Eagle-like luck. UNM can't count on winning five straight or Utah dropping many of its five games. And right now, UNM will not only need to beat SDSU, but they'll need to catch the Utes off guard on March 3 and hope Luke Nevill and company catch a couple other haymakers.
But UNM can't get caught looking ahead. SDSU is well-rested.
"We've (had) a week off, which is good - get the sick guys healed and back and rest some of the guys who need it," SDSU's Steve Fischer told GoAztecs.com. "We will take a deep breath and get ready for the Lobos."
UNM will need to keep Kyle Spain (14.3 points per game) and Lorrenzo Wade (14.2) cuffed, in spite of Wade's attempt to gain favor with the Lobos' defense.
"New Mexico does such a great job defensively, and they make it really hard for everyone," Wade told the Las Vegas Sun. "Defense wins basketball games, and I would have to say that I'm most impressed with New Mexico based on what they've done with the guys they have."
Alford was putting on his own back-scratching rendition on Thursday.
"I think this is the best team in our league," he said. "If there's one team that's whipped us pretty good in league play, it's San Diego State. Now, we made a game of it late (in San Diego). It was a heck of a comeback, but they beat us in a lot of ways. So, they've got our greatest respect."
SDSU has certainly looked the part. In the last meeting on the West Coast, Spain and Wade blew up for a combined 51 points, and 31 of those came from Spain. The Lobos mounted a comeback, drawing within two twice, but couldn't pull out the win. SDSU won, 81-76.
Faris said Spain and Wade can't be the source of SDSU's offensive pyrotechnics on Saturday, especially considering what Wade did to the Lobos last year at The Pit. Wade scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half, and San Diego State rallied from a 14-point first-half deficit to beat New Mexico 72-67.
"They have some talented players that can single-handedly take over a game and change the tide," Faris said. "As they go, their team goes. If we can try to shut them down, make things difficult for them, that's going to help, and (it will) fuel our transition game."
If anyone is going to ground Spain and Wade, Faris said it will be Tony Danridge.
"I know Tony's going to do a good job guarding Spain or Wade, whichever one coach decides to put him on," he said. "But it's going to be a team effort. We have to try and help him. They like to do a lot of isolation plays."
The million-dollar question is, How will the Lobos bother Spain and Wade enough to get the win?
"We want to not let them get in positions where they're effective with the ball," Faris said.
But, Faris added, "(That) is pretty much all over the court."
