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They’ve been called gritty. They’re battle-tested. They find different ways to win.
Now the Lobos have some wiggle room.
With a two-game lead in the Mountain West Conference race, the No. 15 New Mexico men have put themselves in a strong position as they chase another conference crown. They stand at 4-0 in conference play, their best start in league play since 1991-92, when UNM was a member of the Western Athletic Conference.
UNM (17-2 overall) scored another key win Wednesday night with a 66-61 victory over Colorado State. The Lobos built a 22-point lead in the second half, which proved critical when the Rams assembled a late rally. UNM also endured CSU’s rebounding prowess, which is among the nation’s best.
After the game, Rams coach Larry Eustachy said UNM “out-toughed” his team and “played really hard for long periods.” UNM coach Steve Alford said he was honored by the compliment and he is “extremely pleased” with his squad.
“To start this thing and have a 4-0 lead on everyone in the conference, we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the conference,” Alford said.
Up next is one of UNM’s biggest threats for the conference crown: San Diego State, tapped in the preseason to win the MWC. Following losses to UNLV and Wyoming a week ago, the Aztecs bounced back with a 78-57 win at Nevada.
Following Wednesday’s action, San Diego State (15-4, 3-2) sits at No. 2 in the league standings. Wyoming, Colorado State, UNLV, Boise State and Air Force are all 2-2 in conference games. Both Nevada and Fresno State have losing conference records.
Only the Lobos have won every game thus far, and they’ve done it despite ranking no higher than third in the MWC in any statistical category. UNM is third in free-throw percentage (73.7 percent), fifth in scoring defense (61.6 points per game), sixth in scoring margin (plus 7.4 per game), seventh in scoring offense (69.1 points per game) and eighth in field goal percentage (41.3 percent)
But the conference record is the stat that matters most.
“We realize we have a two-game lead on everybody else in the conference right now,” UNM senior forward Chad Adams said. “We’re just trying to finish out. We want to stay undefeated, obviously, as long as we can in conference.”
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SDSU, unranked in the AP poll, looks to give UNM its first conference defeat of the year. The Aztecs feature one of the league’s best players in junior Jamaal Franklin. The MWC Preseason Player of the Year averages 17.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game.
His 7.9 defensive boards per game lead the conference.
As a team, SDSU scores an average of 71.2 points per game, has outscored its opponents by an average of 11.1 points and makes 44.2 percent of its shots from the field. Like New Mexico, the Aztecs play stout defense, surrendering 60.2 points per game.
Opposing teams have shot 38.7 percent against them.
Saturday will be UNM’s second road conference game of the season.
Alford said the Viejas Arena in San Diego is a challenging venue to play, as all MWC locations are. SDSU is 8-1 in home games, while the Lobos are 4-1 in road games. “It’s very tough, but all of our places are,” Alford said. “That’s what makes this league special and a lot of fun to coach in. All the environments in this league are very good, and San Diego State is one of upper echelon as hard as it is to play there.”
UNM has star power of its own, especially with the way Tony Snell has played lately. The junior guard scored 61 points over the last three games, the most he’s had in any three-game stretch. His 23 points against CSU are his highest total against an MWC opponent.
Senior guard Jamal Fenton provided a spark off the bench. On Wednesday he put up nine points for the second straight game, hitting all six free throw attempts against CSU after going 4 of 15 in the previous 12 games.
The Lobos still have three of the top 15 scorers among MWC players with junior guard Kendall Williams (14.1 per game), Snell (12.6 per game) and sophomore center Alex Kirk (11.8 per game).
Defense has been key as well. Since conference play began Jan. 9, UNM kept three MWC foes under 65 points. The Lobos surrendered 74 points to Boise State, but that game went to overtime and the Broncos have the highest scoring offense in the MWC. UNM has won 11 games decided by single digits this year.
