2009–10 New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team

2009–10 New Mexico Lobos men's basketball
Mountain West Regular Season Champions
NCAA Tournament, Second Round
Conference	Mountain West Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#16
AP	#8
2009–10 record	30–5 (14–2 Mountain West)
Head coach	Steve Alford (3rd Year)
Assistant coach	Craig Neal (3rd Year)
Assistant coach	Wyking Jones
Assistant coach	Ryan Miller
Home arena	The Pit 14,586

	Conf				Overall
2009–10 Mountain West Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#8 New Mexico	14	–	2	.875	30	–	5	.857
#17 BYU	13	–	3	.813	30	–	6	.833
UNLV	11	–	5	.688	25	–	8	.758
San Diego State†	11	–	5	.688	25	–	9	.735
Colorado State	7	–	9	.438	16	–	16	.500
Utah	7	–	9	.438	14	–	17	.452
TCU	5	–	11	.313	13	–	19	.406
Wyoming	3	–	13	.188	10	–	21	.323
Air Force	1	–	15	.063	10	–	21	.323

† 2010 MWC Men's Basketball Tournament winner As of March 20, 2010; Rankings from AP/Coaches Poll

The 2009–10 Division I University of New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team represented the University of New Mexico as a member of the Mountain West Conference. The Lobos were coached by third-year head coach Steve Alford and played their home games at The Pit, newly renamed from its previous official name of University Arena, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Lobos finished the season 30–5, 14–2 in Mountain West play to capture the regular season championship. They advanced to the semifinals of the 2010 Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament before being defeated by eventual champion San Diego State. They received an at–large bid to the 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, earning a 3 seed in the East Region. They defeated 14 seed Montana in the first round before being upset by 11 seed Washington in the second round to end their season.

2009–10 University Arena renovations

The University of New Mexico Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs outlined details of the $60 million renovations to University Arena (The Pit).^[1] Some of the items included in the presentation were the addition of 60,000 square feet (5,600 m²) of new space, the expansion of the concourse, the addition of 40 luxury suites and 300 club seats to the mezzanine level and the new state-of-the-art locker room facilities for Lobo men's and women's basketball. Krebs stated, "Our goal is to create the best collegiate basketball venue in the nation."

The design process followed the completion of the Program Document for The Pit, which was used to guide the planning and design. The focus of the design, guided by Molzen-Corbin & Associates, was to maintain and improve the fan experience but not change The Pit. The planning committee was charged with keeping The Pit intimate, respecting its history, keeping the mystique of the arena, maintaining great sight lines and the current bowl seating mix and embracing new technology.

The project is expected to be completed in time for the 2010–2011 basketball season. During construction the home games will still take place at University Arena and will have no impact on the 2009–10 season.^[1]

Roster

**2009–10 Roster**
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	High School/Last College
A.J. Hardeman	00	F	6' 8"	225	Sophomore	Del Valle, Texas	Del Valle High School
Darington Hobson	1	G/F	6' 7"	205	Junior	Las Vegas, Nevada	College of Eastern Utah
Curtis Dennis	3	G	6' 5"	195	Freshman	Bronx, New York	Findlay Prep
Chad Adams	4	G/F	6' 6"	190	Freshman	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Highland High School
Dairese Gary	5	G	6' 1"	205	Junior	Elkhart, Indiana	Concord High School
Kevin Nelson	10	G	6' 0"	175	Freshman	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Albuquerque Academy
Nate Garth	11	G	6' 2"	180	Sophomore	Sacramento, California	Hamilton High School, TN
Jamal Fenton	13	G	5' 9"	170	Freshman	Houston, Texas	Cesar E. Chavez High School
Will Brown	15	F	6' 9"	235	Sophomore	Dallas, Texas	Woodrow Wilson High School
Phillip McDonald	23	G	6' 5"	200	Sophomore	Cypress, Texas	Cypress Springs High School
Román Martínez	30	F	6' 6"	185	Senior	El Paso, Texas	Montwood High School
Matt Staff	41	F	6' 9"	220	Freshman	Houston, Texas	Memorial High School

Lobo Coach Steve Alford

Rankings

Main article: 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking Movement
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week.
Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Final
AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	19	13	19	15	NR	NR	23	15	15	12	10	8	8	8
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	17	12	17	14	NR	NR	NR	23	19	15	12	10	8	10	16

2009-2010 Schedule

Source:^[2]

Date	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance)
Exhibition
11/03/2009*		New Mexico Highlands	W 98–68		The Pit (11,465)
Regular season
11/14/2009*		UC Riverside	W 67–51	1–0	The Pit (11,871)
11/17/2009*		at New Mexico State (Rio Grande Rivalry)	W 97–87	2–0	Pan American Center (8,469)
11/20/2009*		Nicholls State (World Vision Classic)	W 83–59	3–0	The Pit (11,095)
11/21/2009*		Louisiana Tech (World Vision Classic)	W 81–52	4–0	The Pit (11,311)
11/22/2009*		Miami (Ohio) (World Vision Classic)	W 85–60	5–0	The Pit (10,986)
11/27/2009*		at Hawai'i	W 83–71	6–0	Stan Sheriff Center (5,256)
12/02/2009*		California	W 86–78	7–0	The Pit (13,549)
12/05/2009*		New Mexico State (Rio Grande Rivalry)	W 75–58	8–0	The Pit (14,586)
12/09/2009*		at San Diego	W 82–78	9–0	Jenny Craig Pavilion (1,873)
12/12/2009*		vs. #16 Texas A&M	W 84–81	10–0	Toyota Center (7,757)
12/16/2009*	#19	Northern Arizona	W 96–57	11–0	The Pit (13,091)
12/19/2009*	#19	Creighton (MWC-MVC Challenge)	W 66–61	12–0	The Pit (14,333)
12/23/2009*	#13	at Oral Roberts	L 66–75	12–1	Mabee Center (5,869)
12/29/2009*	#19	#20 Texas Tech	W 90–75	13–1	The Pit (14,586)
01/01/2010*	#19	Dayton	W 68–66	14–1	The Pit (14,586)
01/05/2010	#15	at San Diego State	L 64–74	14–2 (0–1)	Viejas Arena (7,558)
01/09/2010	#15	UNLV	L 62–74	14–3 (0–2)	The Pit (14,586)
01/13/2010		Utah	W 74–57	15–3 (1–2)	The Pit (13,501)
01/16/2010		at Wyoming	W 70–68	16–3 (2–2)	Arena-Auditorium (6,146)
01/20/2010		at Air Force	W 73–50	17–3 (3–2)	Clune Arena (2,156)
01/23/2010		Colorado State	W 82–64	18–3 (4–2)	The Pit (13,707)
01/27/2010	#23	#12 BYU	W 76–72	19–3 (5–2)	The Pit (14,586)
01/30/2010	#23	at TCU	W 73–57	20–3 (6–2)	Daniel-Meyer Coliseum (4,827)
02/06/2010	#15	San Diego State	W 88–86 ^OT	21–3 (7–2)	The Pit (14,586)
02/10/2010	#15	at #23 UNLV	W 76–66	22–3 (8–2)	Thomas & Mack Center (18,044)
02/13/2010	#15	at Utah	W 68–65 ^OT	23–3 (9–2)	Jon M. Huntsman Center (9,933)
02/17/2010	#12	Wyoming	W 83–61	24–3 (10–2)	The Pit (14,586)
02/20/2010	#12	Air Force	W 59–56	25–3 (11–2)	The Pit (14,586)
02/23/2010	#10	at Colorado State	W 72–66	26–3 (12–2)	Moby Arena (4,303)
02/27/2010	#10	at #13 BYU	W 83–81	27–3 (13–2)	Marriott Center (22,644)
03/03/2010	#8	TCU	W 73–66	28–3 (14–2)	The Pit (14,586)
2010 MWC Men's Basketball Tournament
03/11/2010	#8	vs. Air Force (Quarterfinals)	W 75–69	29–3	Thomas & Mack Center (NA)
03/12/2010	#8	vs. San Diego State (Semifinals)	L 69–72	29–4	Thomas & Mack Center (NA)
2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
03/18/2010*	#8 (E 3)	vs. (E 14) Montana (First Round)	W 62–57	30–4	HP Pavilion (15,427)
03/20/2010*	#8 (E 3)	vs. (E 11) Washington (Second Round)	L 64–82	30–5	HP Pavilion (16,044)
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 "University Arena Renovations". Archived from the original on 24 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
↑ "2009-10 UNM Lobos Schedule". Archived from the original on 26 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-02.

New Mexico Lobos men's basketball

Venues	Carlisle Gymnasium (1928–1957) Johnson Gymnasium (1957–1966) The Pit (1966–present)

Rivalries	New Mexico State

Culture & lore	History Lobo Louie

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16