The men’s basketball game against Wyoming this weekend is on “Old School Saturday.”
The Lobos (19-4, 5-2 MWC) will wear old-school style uniforms to honor the school’s history and traditions of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.
Senior forward Drew Gordon said he liked the uniforms.
“It’s different,” he said. “It’s actually the first time I’ve worn a throwback or anything like that in my college career, so it should be interesting.”
The jersey design incorporates the color turquoise and includes an outline of the state of New Mexico with an old-school Lobo Louie and the Sandia Mountains inside the outline.
The Lobos will sport the new uniforms riding a four-game winning streak that has put them in control of their own destiny in the MWC, as they stand just one game behind San Diego State, currently in first place.
“We’re a better basketball team right now going into the second half of the season,” head coach Steve Alford said.
The Lobos opened their conference schedule in Laramie and beat Wyoming 72-62. UNM then lost the next two at the hands of the Aztecs and UNLV.
After starting 1-2 in the conference, Alford issued the team a now-infamous 13-day challenge, to toughen them up — and it worked.
UNM went 4-0 in those two weeks getting home wins against Colorado State and TCU, and road wins against Air Force and Boise State.
The Lobos won each game by a margin of 28.3 points.
Now at 5-2, Alford said that, more than anything, the challenge created a complete team.
“The thing I’ve been most impressed with over this four game stretch is, we can go to our bench and we’re losing nothing,” Alford said.
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The Lobo bench was instrumental in the victory over the Cowboys, outscoring Wyoming’s bench 22-4. But it has stepped up as of late, scoring 42 points against both Colorado State and Air Force.
In their last meeting, the Lobos scored 72 points, the most any team has put up against the Cowboys (18-5, 4-3 MWC).
UNM also recorded the highest shooting percentage (.523), 3-point field goal percentage (.571) and free-throws attempted (22) of any team Wyoming has faced this season.
This time around, the Lobos will be healthy. They welcome back freshman guard Hugh Greenwood, who did not play in the last meeting because of an ankle injury, and senior forward A.J. Hardeman, who was coming off an illness.
“This is the most health we’ve had on our team, top to bottom, since the year started,” Alford said.
The healthy Lobos will need every player to take on a confident Cowboy team, which is coming off an upset win at home against No. 11 UNLV.
Alford said his team can make improvements, but likes the position it is in to make a conference title run.
“It’s one thing to be picked, it’s one thing to go through nonconference, and it’s another thing once you get into league play, to be playing your best basketball,” Alford said. “And we’re playing pretty good basketball.”
Men’s Basketball vs Wyoming
SATURDAY, 1:30 p.m.
THE PIT
