University of New Mexico men's basketball head coach Steve Alford announced the Lobos' non-conference schedule today. Highlighting the early season slate are trips to Creighton, San Diego and Texas Tech, the Cancun Challenge in Cancun, Mexico, and home games against Ole Miss, UTEP and Oral Roberts. The Lobos will also take on their in-state rival, New Mexico State, in a home-and-home series.

On paper and based on results from last year, UNM's 2008-09 schedule looks to be one of the best in a long time. Of the Lobos' 15 non-conference games for the upcoming season, 13 will be against opponents with winning records last year, 10 match-ups will be against 20-game winners, while two others won 19. Only two schools had losing records while eight advanced to postseason play. Another statistic of note is that only two of UNM's non-conference opponents were ranked outside of the top 150 RPI at the end of the 2007-08 season and eight were in the top 100.

"We have put together a very good schedule for the upcoming season," stated Alford. "There are some difficult tests early in the year that should help get our guys ready for a tough run through the Mountain West Conference. The Cancun Challenge will be a fun trip for the program against some excellent competition, but it is the nine games in The Pit we are really excited about. We also want to make sure The Pit is full every game and again remind everyone to wear their Lobo red."

The Lobos are slated to play six games away from The Pit for the first time since the 1987-88 season and just the second time since the building was opened in 1966. It is the third year in a row the Lobos have gone on the road for at least five games in the non-conference season.

Here are the thumbnails on the 2008-09 non-conference opponents. The RPI rating is from NCAA.com.

Friday, Nov. 14 - Southeast Missouri State
12-19 (7-13 - 9th OVC)...final RPI of 287...first meeting between the two schools.

Sunday, Nov. 16 - at Creighton
22-11 (10-8 - 4th MVC)...advanced to 2nd round of the NIT...final RPI of 45...Lobos won two previous meetings during the 1966-67 and 1967-68 seasons.

Cancun Challenge, The Pit - Albuquerque, N.M.
Thursday, Nov. 20 - Grambling
7-19 (7-11 - 7th SWAC)...final RPI of 322...UNM won 87-61 in 1987 in The Pit.

Cancun Challenge, The Pit - Albuquerque, N.M.
Saturday, Nov. 22 - Northern Arizona
21-11 (11-5 - 2nd Big Sky)...final RPI of 112...UNM won 81-70 in The Pit in 2004.

Monday, Nov. 24 - Cal State Northridge
20-10 (12-4 - T1st Big West)...tied for 1st place in the Big West regular season at 12-4...final RPI of 99...Lobos lead series 3-0 with wins in 1969, '76 and '94.

Cancun Challenge, Cancun Mexico
Saturday, Nov. 29 - Virginia Commonwealth 24-8 (15-3 - 1st CAA)...won the Colonial League regular-season title at 15-3...lost in the first round of the NIT...final RPI of 54...first meeting with VCU.

Sunday, Nov. 30 - Drake or Vanderbilt

Drake
28-5 (15-3 - 1st MVC)...won the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season (15-3) and tournament titles...lost to Western Kentucky 101-99 on a buzzer-beater in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament...final RPI of 11...Bulldogs lead series 2-1, including a win in the 1986 Lobo Invitational title game.

Vanderbilt
26-8 (10-6 - 3rd SEC East)...lost to Siena in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament...final RPI of 17...Commodores lead series 3-0, including an 87-71 victory in the championship game of the 1986 Silversword Classic in Maui.

Saturday, Dec. 6 - Southern Miss
19-14 (9-7, T4th CUSA)...final RPI of 116...UNM won 53-51 in Albuquerque in 1950.

Wednesday, Dec. 10 - at San Diego
22-14 (11-3 - 3rd WCC)won the West Coast Conference Tournament title...beat UConn in 1st round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Western Kentucky...final RPI of 87...Lobo won 57-47 last year in The Pit.

Saturday, Dec. 13 - Ole Miss
24-11 (7-9 - 3rd SEC West)...lost to Ohio State in semifinals of the NIT in New York...final RPI of 46...Lobos lost 85-77 last year in Oxford...this will also be the Lobo Men's Basketball Alumni Day.

Wednesday, Dec. 17 - Oral Roberts
24-9 (16-2 - 1st Summit)...won the Summit League regular season (16-2) and tournament titles...lost to Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA Tournament...final RPI of 43...first meeting with ORU.

Saturday, Dec. 20 - at Texas Tech
16-15 (7-9 - T7th Big 12)...final RPI of 92...Lobos won 80-63 last year in The Pit.

Tuesday, Dec. 23 - New Mexico State
Tuesday, Dec. 30 - at New Mexico State
21-14 (12-4 - T1st WAC)...tied for Western Athletic Conference regular-season title at 12-4...final RPI of 142...Lobo lost 71-62 at the Pan Am Center, but won 83-69 in The Pit.

Tuesday, Jan. 6 - UTEP
19-14 (8-8 - T6th CUSA)...lost to Utah in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational...final RPI of 114...Lobos 86-85 in overtime last year in El Paso.

More Bullets on the Non-Conference Schedule

• Creighton - 22-11
• Northern Arizona - 21-11
• Cal State Northridge - 20-10
• VCU - 24-8
• Drake - 28-5 or Vanderbilt - 26-8
• San Diego - 22-14
• Ole Miss - 24-11
• Oral Roberts - 24-9
• New Mexico State (twice) - 21-14

• Cal State Northridge - Tied for Big West regular season title
• VCU - Won the Colonial Athletic Association regular season title
• Drake - Won the Missouri Valley regular season and tournament titles
• San Diego - Won the West Coast Tournament title
• Oral Roberts - Won Summit League regular season and tournament titles
• New Mexico State (twice) - Tied for the WAC regular season title

• Drake - 11 or Vanderbilt - 17
• Oral Roberts - 43
• Creighton - 45
• Ole Miss - 46
• VCU - 54
• San Diego - 87
• Texas Tech - 92
• Cal State Northridge - 99
• Northern Arizona - 112
• UTEP - 114
• Southern Miss - 116
• New Mexico State (twice) - 142