Grambling State Tigers at New Mexico Lobos
The Pit • Albuquerque, N.M.
7:07 p.m. (M.S.T.)
Radio: KKOB 770 AM, www.770kkob.com, Lobo Radio Network
Online: GameTracker and Live Broadcast Via All Access on GoLobos.com
Television: My50-TV
Series History: UNM leads 1-0
Last Time: UNM won 87-61 on on Dec. 19, 1987, in The Pit

New Mexico opens a 3-games-in-5-day home stand Thursday, entertaining Grambling State in the first round of the Cancun Challenge. Tip-off is 7:07 p.m., Mountain Time from The Pit/Bob King Court in Albuquerque. The game will be televised live by KASY My50-TV. Thursday's game sponsor is 610 The Sports Animal.

New Mexico is 1-1 after last Sunday's tough 82-75 loss at Creighton. UNM had a 16-point lead with a little more than 10 minutes remaining and was up 72-63 with 3:39 left. Grambling State opens its season Tuesday at Louisiana Tech.

UNM will host Central Florida Saturday in the second round of the Challenge before heading to Cancun for the Thanksgiving break. The Lobos meet Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday, Nov. 29, followed the next day by either Drake or Vanderbilt.

Before heading to Cancun, New Mexico plays host to Cal State Northridge on Monday.

All told, the Grambling State game begins a stretch of five contests in 11 days. It's a busy opening month for the Lobos as they have seven games in a 17-day period from Nov. 14-30.

LOOKING FOR NO. 600 IN THE PIT
New Mexico enters Thursday's game looking for its 600th win in The Pit. UNM has a 599-142 record since the first game was played on Dec. 1, 1966. A look at the Lobos' landmark wins in their home arena:

No. 1 - Dec. 1, 1966 - beat Abilene Christian, 62-53
No. 100 - Feb. 14, 1974 - beat Arizona State, 89-72
No. 200 - Nov. 26, 1982 - beat New Mexico Highlands, 122-84
No. 300 - Jan. 5, 1989 - beat BYU, 88-84
No. 400 - Nov. 17, 1995 - beat Simon Fraser, 81-67
No. 500 - Nov. 23, 2001 - beat Pacific, 85-66

32 VICTORIES AND COUNTING IN NON-CONFERENCE HOME GAMES
New Mexico has won 32 consecutive non-conference home games, currently the 6th-longest run in the nation. UNM's last home loss was to 5th-ranked Wake Forest 81-64 on Dec. 22, 2004. The current list:
1. Duke - Nov. 23 vs. Montana - 62
2. Sam Houston State - Nov. 20 vs. North Texas - 44
3. Michigan State - Dec. 7 vs. Bradley - 35
4. Arkansas - Nov. 20 vs. UC-Davis - 34
Texas A&M - Nov. 18 vs. Stephen F. Austin - 34
6. NEW MEXICO - Nov. 20 vs. Grambling State - 32
7. Utah State - Nov. 25 vs. Weber State - 30
Pittsburgh - Nov. 21 vs. Akron - 30
9. Missouri - Nov. 30 vs. Oral Roberts - 29
10. Nebraska - Nov. 22 vs. Arkanas-Pine Bluff - 26

MORE ON GRAMBLING STATE
Grambling State was 7-19 last year. Three starters return, including 6-7, 240-pound senior forward Jamal Breaux, who was named the 2008-09 SWAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year by the league's coaches and sports information contacts. The Tigers were picked to finish sixth in the annual preseason conference poll.

Breaux finished the 2007-08 campaign averaging 7.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists. A relief pitcher on the Tiger baseball team during the offseason, Breaux had seven games with double-digit scoring and four games with double-digit rebounding.

Earning second team preseason honors was forward Andrew Prestley, who is the team's top returning scorer from last season with 10.4 points per game. Prestley also averaged four boards per contest and shot 48 percent from the field.

Rick Duckett, formerly of the University of South Carolina and a previous NCAA Division II South Atlantic Coach of the Year, starts his first year as head coach. A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Duckett brings a wealth of experience to Grambling State. In eight years as a collegiate head coach, Duckett compiled an impressive 150-75 mark at Fayetteville and Winston-Salem State universities. While at Winston-Salem from 1998 to 2001, Duckett posted a 74-18 ledger that included three NCAA Division II Tournament appearances, three 20-win seasons, two CIAA Tournament Championships and two CIAA tournament Coaches awards. With the opportunity to acquire valuable knowledge about the game of basketball from legendary Basketball of Hall Famer and former Winston-Salem head coach Clarence "Big House" Gaines, Duckett finished his tenure at WSSU with the top winning percentage (80%) in school history.

Duckett began his coaching career working as an undergraduate assistant at North Carolina where he was on the staff of Basketball Hall of Famer Dean Smith and also worked with current UNC head coach Roy Williams as the duo coached the school's junior varsity team during the 1979-80 season.

LOBOS, ALFORD VS. GRAMBLING STATE AND THE SWAC
New Mexico has a 1-0 lead in the series against Grambling State, winning 87-61 on Dec. 19, 1987. UNM is 20-1 against current members of the Soiuthwestern Athletic Conference. The lone loss was 73-67 to Texas Southern in The Pit on Nov. 28, 1994.

Steve Alford is meeting Grambling State for the first time in his head coaching career. He is 4-0 against the SWAC, 1-0 vs. Alabama State and 3-0 against Texas Southern.

SEASON TICKETS INCREASE
Lobo fans have purchased 10,395 season tickets for 2008-09. That's the highest total in four years. UNM sold 10,598 in 2003-04. The number was 10,094 last year.

CREIGHTON RECAP
P'Allen Stinnett hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final two minutes to give Creighton its first lead since the opening minutes, and the Bluejays pulled away for an 82-75 win over New Mexico on Sunday.

Stinnett scored 21 of his career-high 30 points in the second half, and Booker Woodfox had 23 of his 26 in the final 20 minutes for the Bluejays.

The Lobos led by as many as 16 points in the second half and by 10 with 4:34 left.

Creighton outscored New Mexico 19-3 over the final 3:23.

Tony Danridge had 23 points for New Mexico, with Roman Martinez adding 15 and Dairese Gary 14.

CREIGHTON POSTGAME NOTES
• UNM led 72-63 with 3:39 left before CU went on a 17-0 run to put the game out of reach
• New Mexico shot 48.3% for the game compared to Creighton's 46.3%...UNM also had the rebounding edge at 39-28...however, the Lobos were guilty of 20 turnovers to 13 for the Bluejays
• It was rare for a Lobo team to out-shoot and out-rebound an opponent and lose the game...last year, New Mexico was 21-1 when it shot better than its opponent and 17-3 when it gathered more rebounds
• Only four games last year did UNM have as many as 20 turnovers, and it was 1-3 in those contests...the Lobos averaged just 12.22 turnovers a year ago, 2nd fewest in the MWC and 27th nationally
• Senior Daniel Faris grabbed a career-high eight rebounds for the second time this season and the seventh time in his career
• Senior Tony Danridge was one point shy of his career-high with 23 points...he was 10-13 from the field, hitting his first four shots and six of his final seven, 1-1 from 3-pt. range and 2-2 from the FT line...the 10 FGs tied a career-high
• Junior Roman Martinez had another solid output with 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals

NOTES TO KNOW
• The Lobos are 75-1 in The Pit when scoring 100 points
• Steve Alford is 113-10 in non-conference home games as a collegiate head coach

UNM HEAD COACH Steve Alford
Steve Alford, 43, is in his second season in charge of Lobo hoops and his 18th year as a collegiate head coach. He was named UNM's 19th head coach on March 23, 2007.

Alford, who has never been an assistant coaching is his career, has a 333-193 (63%) career record in his 18th season as a head coach, 25-10 at New Mexico. His teams have qualified for postseason play 12 times, produced 14 winning seasons and reached 21 wins on nine occasions. Alford's maiden voyage at New Mexico was something to behold:

• A 24-9 record, tying the school mark for wins during the regular season and a 9-win improvement from the previous year

• most wins by a New Mexico head coach in his rookie season

• 8-6 on the road after an 8-43 mark in five seasons before Alford arrived at UNM

• a +7 in conference victories, the 2nd-greatest jump of all-time