I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

In our first meeting with the Rams at home, we had a poor first half performance, followed by a dominating 2nd half. To get our 10th straight win in this game, we are going to have to avoid the first half doldrums on the road.

Cool shooting (36.7%) and horrible free-throw shooting (10-17) find us trailing by one at halftime 33-32. We began to warm up from the field towards the end of the 2nd half. Hopefully our usual trend of playing much better after halftime continues tonight.

Despite an off night for our big men offensively, and a poor performance on the boards in the 2nd half(34-46,12-17 for the game despite rebounds being about even in the first half), we manage to pull out a victory in the end. Pretty it wasn't, but a win is a win is a win.

Wilson had a mediocre game with just 3 pts, 1 ast, 2 rebs and 3 turnovers in 21 minutes.

Martin helped carry us offensively in the 2nd half and led us with 15 pts with 2 asts, 2 rebs

Stetson had 4 pts, 1 ast, 3 rebs, and a stl, but as usual did a little more than his stats line would indicate.

Mad Dog had 10 pts, 6 rebs and a stl

Inyo 4 pts, 8 rebs, and 1 stl.

Off the bench, Taylor had an uncharacteristicaly poor night from the field (1-7) but added 5 pts, 1 asts, 6 rebs, 1 stl (a huge one in the final minute), and 1 block. Durham added 7 pts. Guy had a solid game with 10 pts, 2 asts, 5 rebs, and 2 stls, and Thompson had a very good game at the point with 4 pts, 4 asts and no turnovers in 15 minutes.

Final:

UNM 62 Colorado St. 60

[CoachC]

Feb 11:Air Force won on the road last night remaining 2 games out with 2 games remaining.

[CoachC]

Feb 12: We move up one spot to 21st in the AP poll, 20th in the Coaches poll. Our RPI is at 19. Our final 3 games of the regular season are going to be tough ones.

[PointGuard]

Yes, there seldom are pretty wins on the road. But like you said, a win is a win. Nice going.

[CoachC]

thx, PG.

[CoachC]

The Cowboys are still trying to improve their resume for the post season, and have their sights set on this one. To get another road win and extend our winning streak to 11 we are going to have to play much better than we did in our last outing. Our defense needs to be better than it was against the Cowboys at home as well.

An unusually good first half for us at both ends, shooting 55% and holding them to 33%, gets us out to a satisfying 39-24 lead at the half.

Although we continued to shoot well in the 2nd half, our defense wasn't as good, and we also got a bit turnover prone. They were never able to amount enough of an attack to get back in the game however, never cutting the lead below 12.

Wilson had a career high 18 pts to lead us, along with 4 asts
Martin had 16 pts, 2 rebs 2 stls
Madic had 7 pts, 2 asts, 7 rebs, and a stl
Inyo 4 pts 3 asts, 3 rebs.

We had some strong play off the bench: Taylor had a double double with 12 pts, 10 rebs, and a block, Durham added 8 pts, Guy had another fine game off the bench with 8 pts, 4 rebs and 1 steal.

We clinch the regular season title with a fine road win and our 11th in a row. It's a shame we dropped that game early on at SD St.

Final:

UNM 78 Wyoming 58

[CoachC]

A capacity crowd on hand tonight for the final home game of the season and final conference game. It's Senior night for Terrance Taylor, Mark "Mad Dog" Madic, and Kareem Williams. Having clinched first and the Falcons having easily clinched 2nd, there is still a lot of pride on the line tonight. The Falcons are being considered a bubble team as an at large selection to the NCAA tourney, and badly want this win. On our part we want to keep the momentum going headed into the big game on Sunday.

We come out clicking on all cylinders, and with the crowd behind us making enough noise to bring rain to the desert, we storm to a 36-15 halftime lead.

In the 2nd half we came out shooting icy cold in the early going against their zone, allowing them to pull as close as 6 before we pulled away for good.

Wilson had an excellent floor game with 4 pts, 10 asts, 6 rebs and just 1 TOs in 26 minutes.

Martin added 6 pts,

Stetson did all the things that don't show up in the box score, but he did have 3 steals.

Madic enjoyed his senior night with 13 pts, 6 rebs

Jackson had 4 points, 8 rebs.

Off the bench, Taylor was magnificent again with a team high 17 pts, 7 rebs, and a block, Durham added 9, Guy did a little of everything with 2 pts, 2 asts, 3 rebs, and 2 stls, and Michael Thompson did a good job backing up Wilson with 4 pts, 2 asts, 2 rebs in 15 minutes.

Final:

UNM 61 AF 43

[CoachC]

Feb 19: We come to the state of Washington ranked 19th, 17th in the coach's poll with and RPI of 15. Once again Terrance Taylor does not get rewarded with player of the week.

[Wayne23]

Looks like you've got this team right where you want them to be, Coach. Way to go!

[CoachC]

The premier event of the Bracket Busters this season being televised nationally on ESPN. CollegeInsider.com currently projects us as a 4 or 5 seed in the Dance. A win here obviously amps our resume considerably. The Bulldogs like to run and like to score(75.6/g- 3rd nationally). They also play solid defense and in fact, have few weaknesses. The game will most likely be won by rebounds and turnovers. We need our A++ game tonight.

Very proud of our guys in the first half. Although we turned the ball over too many times (9) we rebounded well, shot well (50%) and totally disrupted their offense to keep the crowd out of the game. At the half we have a commanding 38-22 lead.

An outstanding team game. In the 2nd half, the Zags never pulled closer than 14, the crowd sat on their hands the whole game, and quite frankly they couldn't match our depth. A delicious end to a wonderful regular season.

Wilson was magnificent with 13 pts, 8 asts and 3 rebs.

Martin had 12 pts, 2 asts, 2 stls.

Stetson was invaluable in setting the tone for the game on the defensive end in the first half, and finished with 3 pts, 2 asts, 4 rebs and 5 stls, and you would have to triple all those stats to appreciate the game he played.

Madic was our leading scorer with 15 pts, 5 rebs

Inyo added 10 as we owned the paint on offense all game long.

off the bench, Taylor sent out an early notice that the paint was his on both ends of the floor. He had 9 pts, 3 asts, 9 rebs, but like Stetson, his stats didn't tell the whole story. Durham added 10 pts off the bench, and Guy and Tatum both played well of the bench as well.

We now have worlds of momentum headed into the conference tournament if we don't get overconfident.

Final:

UNM 81 Godzilla's younger brother 62