UNM basketball fans, meet your new Pit. Still “a mile high and louder than …”, University Arena will have fans’ ears ringing even more with a state-of-the-art sound system.
Even after a 30-win season and a trip to the NCAA tournament, the UNM men’s basketball team still can’t get any respect. The Lobos were picked to finish third in the 2010-11 Mountain West Conference preseason poll, behind BYU and San Diego State. By now, junior guard Phillip McDonald said he expects the Lobos to be picked third in the conference.
Overtime was just fine for the No. 25 UNM women’s soccer team. Senior Kate Wyrick, in her last Lobo home game, scored the golden goal three minutes into the second overtime, giving the Lobos a 1-0 victory over No.
Mr. Gary, here is the key to the Lobo-mobile. There is no doubt that UNM point guard Dairese Gary is in the Lobos’ driver’s seat this season. But how about this nod for Gary heading into his fourth and final year at UNM: a National Player of the Year candidate and first-team All-Mountain West Conference. Gary said his teammates and coaches push him every day to become the best basketball player he can be. “Coach Alford is kind of tough,” he said.
Forget The Pit renovations; there is a renovated team on south campus. UNM women’s basketball is constructing a plan to get back into the NCAA tournament after a two-year hiatus in the WNIT. Head coach Don Flanagan said he is optimistic about what he has seen in preseason workouts. “Returning players have come back in good shape,” he said.
By nature of her name, Amanda Best is best known for the big, red glasses she flaunts in her UNM women’s basketball team mug shot. One could say it’s kind of her trademark. When asked at Tuesday’s Lobo women’s basketball media day why she wasn’t wearing her big, red glasses, Best confessed her negligence. “I forgot them,” she said. Around the Rudy Davalos basketball facility, Best is known for her humor.
After being on the road for six straight games, the No. 25 UNM women’s soccer team threw out the welcome mat for San Diego State. But on Friday, the visitors were met with an inhospitable result, and the Lobos topped the Aztecs 2-1 at the UNM Soccer Complex.
It was a Sunday to forget for the UNM men’s soccer team. The Lobos (4-4-2) came up short against Air Force 3-2, giving up three goals in less than a six-minute span at the UNM Soccer Complex — this after losing 1-0 to Denver at home Friday. At one point, the Falcons scored two goals in 38 seconds. “I am a little bit shocked to be honest,” head Coach Jeremy Fishbein said.
LAS CRUCES — By the grace of God, it mercifully ended without any need for overtime. After Lobo quarterback Brad Gruner unfurled a gaggle of errant passes on the UNM football team’s final drive, and a last-gasp, intended-for-who-knows-who ball was intercepted, New Mexico State had its first win of the season. It was a 16-14 meat-grinding victory that made the seeing wish they were blind and the living wish they were dead under the lights at Aggie Memorial Stadium on Saturday. “One that will sit in our craw for the next two weeks,” head coach Mike Locksley said, when addressing the media outside of the visitors’ locker room.
LAS CRUCES — It was judgment day for two of the statistically worst football teams in the country, and New Mexico State survived. The UNM football team dropped to 0-6 overall in a 16-14 loss to NMSU (1-4) at Aggie Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
It’s college football at its finest. The UNM football team (0-5) travels south to Las Cruces to face in-state rival NMSU (0-4) on Saturday in a game nationally considered to be the Gaffe Bowl. But ignore the statistics and rankings, because the hatred between the Aggies and the Lobos has blossomed this week leading up to the annual game. “I have a winning record down there, and that’s how I would like to keep it,” middle linebacker Carmen Messina said. And throw UNM and NMSU’s winless records out the window, especially for Lobo players, because, for now, 2010 is a one-game season. The Aggies pulled out a 20-17 victory in Albuquerque last year.
It was a matter-of-fact declaration from an honest-to-the-bone coach: “If they stop believing in DeWayne Walker, then it’s time to do what you got to do.” The condensed version: If they don’t believe in me, they might as well fire me. Yet despite a comparative record to UNM head football coach Mike Locksley, NMSU head coach DeWayne Walker does not have the same amount of visible detractors.
Bad breaks and bogies made for a frustrating finish for Sam Chavez and the UNM men’s golf team Saturday. The Lobos petered in the final round of the 56th Annual William H.
And the beat goes on. In front of an announced crowd of 22,511, UTEP (4-1) outlasted the UNM football team, 38-20, Saturday at University Stadium. “Right now, we are just not a very good football team,” head football coach Mike Locksley said.
Everybody wanted to be like Mike on Friday. With 24 seconds left in the first overtime, defender Michael Reed dribbled past three defenders on the left wing and found midfielder Michael Green in the box for the go-ahead goal, giving the Lobos a 2-1 victory over UNLV at the UNM Soccer Complex. “I got the ball, and I just went at them,” Reed said.
The UNM volleyball team tallied its sixth win in seven matches last Friday. The Lobos, 10-6 overall and 2-1 in Mountain West Conference action, blazed past UNLV in a three-set sweep at Johnson Center. Head coach Jeff Nelson was all praises after the 3-0 victory. “The win was a team effort,” he said.
Housed. The UNM volleyball team cruised Thursday with a 3-0 win over Air Force in Mountain West Conference volleyball action. After being away from Johnson Center the past two weeks, the Lobos swept the Falcons in three sets for their first MWC win of the season. The Lobos dropped a 3-0 decision at San Diego State in their conference opener last week. Head coach Jeff Nelson said it was pleasant to see UNM return to its winning ways. “We knew (the Falcons) were going to come out hard and put up a fight,” he said.
Welcome home, Lobos. Yet the only thing hitting close to home on south campus after four losses is wondering if the UNM football team will regroup against powerful UTEP (3-1) on Saturday. The Lobos, who have been beaten by a combined average of 56.3 points, hope to round out UNM’s Homecoming week with their first win. Lobo head coach Mike Locksley said it’s another opportunity for his young team to grow. “Every week we have shown some sparks of success,” he said.
If the UNM men’s soccer team took one small step with its nonconference schedule this season, its making one giant leap to reclaim what the Lobos rightfully owned for four years: the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title. The MPSF restructured the league into two four-team divisions, but that doesn’t matter to the Lobos.
The UNM men’s soccer team suffered a cataclysmic knock Saturday. Senior defender and midfielder Ryan Farquharson suffered a season-ending injury in the Lobos’ 1-0 loss to Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. Farquharson broke his right leg, putting a damper on his Lobo career. Head coach Jeremy Fishbein said it was a disturbing sight. “(He) snapped his leg in two,” Fishbein said.
Solutions by The State News
