Hotel hospitality policies do not extend to the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.
There, the UNM men's basketball team has dropped eight straight to BYU on its home court, and UNM isn't the only opponent to face the wrath of the Cougars on their home floor.
BYU produced a 53-game home winning streak from Nov. 18, 2005, until then-No. 6 Wake Forest defeated the Cougars on Jan. 3.
In last year's visit to the Marriott Center, UNM was annihilated 83-66 by the Cougars, and in 2007, the Lobos lost 70-49.
"BYU has a great history of winning. It's not hard to look past them. Especially on the road. They have great success against us," Roman Martinez said. "Even with J.R. (Giddens), the good team we had last year, they had their way with us. This is not going to be an easy game at all."
This season, BYU is 4-1 at home in conference play. The home rims have been baby soft for the Cougars, too. BYU is the most accurate shooting team in the nation, averaging 51.2 percent from the field.
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The Cougars lead the conference in points per game with 80.2 - 49.8 of those coming from the MWC version of the Big Three: Lee Cummard, Jonathan Tavernari and Jimmer Fredette.
"We have to contain the Big Three and get back into transition," Martinez said. "It is important for us to hold Cummard, Tavernari and Fredette. Just contain them and not let them go off."
But BYU will face a stingy Lobo defense. UNM has the best field-goal defense percentage in the conference, holding opponents under 40 percent per game.
In the last meeting between the schools, UNM snapped a six-game skid and defeated BYU easily in The Pit, 81-62.
The 62 points were the lowest of the year for the Cougars, as well as the 38.9 percent BYU shot from the field.
"I don't think they have changed much," head coach Steve Alford said. "They came (into The Pit) playing very well, and we had a good game against them. I give our defense a lot of credit in that regard. But this is a potent offense, and they do a good job with spacing. They are playing at home, so it will be a tremendous challenge for (our) defense."
After a six-point overtime loss to Utah in Salt Lake City, the Cougars have streaked to four straight wins and have won those games by an average of 21 points.
But the Lobos have won seven of 10 and are making a serious push for a conference-championship run. The winner of Tuesday's game will have the sole rights to third place in the MWC and will be one game out of first place in the conference.
"Now you are down to three weeks, and you don't know how these young guys are going to handle the pressure of being in a championship run," Alford said. "So, there is a lot of those things that get factored in, and we've really tried to keep them focused at the job at hand."
Men's basketball at BYU
Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Provo, Utah
