Central Florida Knights at New Mexico Lobos
The Pit • Albuquerque, N.M.
Saturday, Nov. 22
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 124-92 on on Dec. 16, 1978, in The Pit

New Mexico continues its quick 3-game home stand Saturday, hosting Central Florida in the second round of the Cancun Challenge. Tip-off is 7:07 p.m., Mountain Time from The Pit/Bob King Court in Albuquerque. The game sponsor is 610 The Sports Animal.

The game will be televised live locally by KASY My50-TV with Scott Stiegler and former Lobo Hunter Greene. There is also live streaming via All Access on golobos.com.

New Mexico improved to 2-1 after Thursday's impressive 96-50 victory over Grambling State. It was win No. 600 for the Lobos in The Pit. They are 600-142 since the facility opened on Dec. 1, 1966.

UCF is 1-1 on the season following an 81-62 home win over North Carolina A&T and a 69-52 loss at Valparaiso on Tuesday.

New Mexico will take a short respite from the Cancun Challenge Monday when it entertains Cal State Northridge. The Matadors were 20-10 last year, advanced to the NCAA Tournament and are picked by many to win the Big West Conference this season.

After Northridge, the Lobos are off to the Yucatan Peninsula for the Thanksgiving break and the resumption of the Cancun Challenge. UNM meets Virginia Commonwealth, currently 2-0, on Saturday, Nov. 29, followed the next evening by either Drake or Vanderbilt.

All told, UNM is in a stretch of plaing 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.

LOBOS' GAMES FROM CANCUN ON CBS COLLEGE SPORTS
Both of next week's games in Cancun will be televised live over CBS College Sports. That's channel Ch. 274 on Comcast Cable in Albuquerque, channel 603 on DirecTV and channel 152 on Dish Network.

UNM meets Virginia Commonwealth Nov. 29 at 9 p.m. Mountain Time, then either Drake or Vanderbilt on Nov. 30. The consolation game starts at 6:15 MT, the championship game at 8:30 p.m.

LOBOS VS. CENTRAL FLORIDA / CONFERENCE USA
This is the second meeting against the UCF Knights. UNM won 124-92 on Dec. 16, 1978. Steve Alford is facing UCF for the first time in his head coaching career.

New Mexico is 89-69 against current members of Conference USA. Most of those games (139 of the 158) have been played against UTEP. UNM is 1-0 vs. East Carolina, 1-1 vs. Houston, 1-0 vs. Marshall, 0-2 vs. Memphis, 4-1 vs. Rice, 3-0 vs. SMU, 1-0 vs. Southern Miss, 75-64 vs. UTEP and 2-1 vs. Tulsa.

The Lobos host Southern Miss on Dec. 6 and UTEP on Jan. 6.

MORE ON CENTRAL FLORIDA
Central Florida was 16-15 last year, 9-7 in Conference USA, which was good for 4th place. With seven true freshmen and 11 total underclassmen, the Knights have one of the youngest squads in the country this season. Through two games in 2008-09, true freshmen have scored 43.6 percent of the team's points. Two of the squad's top-three scorers are rookies.

With an average age of 19.60, UCF is the fifth-greenest team in the nation. Denver (18.92) has the youngest squad, followed by Presbyterian (19.27), Saint Peter's (19.29) and Saint Louis (19.42).

Saturday's contest at New Mexico is one of 10 games for the Knights this season in which UCF will face a team that won at least 20 games in 2007-08.

The 2008-09 campaign is serving as the 40th season of men's basketball at UCF. The school's inaugural year of competition came in 1969-70 as a club team. The following season, UCF made the move to the NCAA Division II level. In 1984, the Knights began Division I competition.

Both team's head coaches have Big Ten Conference ties. UCF's Kirk Speraw played at Iowa and graduated in 1980.

Preseason all-conference senior guard Jermaine Taylor averaged 20.8 points an outing last year. He totaled 20 points against 18th-ranked Kansas State, scored 27 points at Nevada and recorded 30 points versus Connecticut.

Taylor connected on 79 3-pointers a year ago and shot 36.7 percent from deep, which ranked 15th in Conference USA and 94th nationally. He ranks seventh all-time at UCF with 162 treys.

Taylor scored at least 20 points on 20 occasions last season.

GRAMBLING STATE RECAP
Daniel Faris scored 18 points, leading five teammates who scored in double figures, as New Mexico took control early to beat Grambling State 96-50 on Thursday night.

Roman Martinez and Phillip McDonald each scored 15 for the Lobos, while Chad Toppert had 10 points, Dairese Gary had 11 and A.J. Hardeman 10. Faris, Martinez and Hardeman combined to shoot 17-of-23 from the floor.

UNM used an 18-3 run in the opening minutes and the Lobos never were threatened. New Mexico added a 17-3 burst just before halftime and led 49-18 at the break.

New Mexico's defense held Grambling State scoreless for three different stretches of at least three minutes in the first half.

Tony Danridge had a career-high eight assists for New Mexico, with all but one coming in the first half.

The Lobos shot 56.7 percent from the field, hitting 34-of-60, while limiting Grambling State to a 16-of-61 effort. New Mexico made 12-of-23 from 3-point range, with Martinez and Gary each hitting 3-of-4.

GRAMBLING STATE POSTGAME NOTES
• New Mexico wins its 600th game in The Pit...UNM is 600-142 all-time since The Pit opened on Dec. 1, 1966
• The Lobos have won 33 consecutive non-conference home games
• UNM is 2-0 all-time against Grambling State and 21-1 against current members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference
• New Mexico out-rebounded Grambling State 50-33, and has a rebound margin of +14.7 after 3 games
• Steve Alford is 114-10 in non-conference home games in his head coaching career, 12-0 while at UNM
• New Mexico has made a 3-pointer in 584 consecutive games; the last time it didn't connect was Jan. 3, 1991, going 0-8 against Colorado State
• The Lobos made 7 of their first 9 3-point attempts and finished the game at 52% (12-23)
• UNM had 25 assists on 34 made baskets

Senior Tony Danridge
• had a career-high 8 assists, 7 coming in the 1st half; his previous best was 6 against Utah on Jan. 13, 2007

Freshman Phillip McDonald
• 15 points and 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double and the first double-double by a Lobo freshman since Mark Walters had 23 points and 14 rebounds at Air Force on March 8, 2003

Senior Daniel Faris
• a team-high 18 points on 6 of 9 FGs and 6 of 7 FTs, plus 6 rebounds in 24 minutes

Junior Roman Martinez
• 15 points and 8 rebounds, making 6 of 8 FGs
• tied a career-high with 3 3-pointers

Senior Chad Toppert
• scored 12 points, making 3 of 7 3-pointers
• made 191 3s in his career, still No. 6 on the UNM career list; Kevin Henry is 5th with 197

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 334-193 (63%) career record in his 18th season as a head coach, 26-10 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

Prior to New Mexico, Alford spent eight seasons at the University of Iowa where he compiled a 152-106 record, including a school-record seven consecutive winning seasons and six postseason appearances. The Hawkeyes won two Big Ten Conference tournament titles (2001 and `06).

Prior to Iowa, Alford posted a 78-29 record in four seasons (1992-95) at NCAA Division III Manchester (Ind.) College and a four-year (1996-99) record of 78-48 at Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State). The Bears defeated Wisconsin and Tennessee to advance to the Sweet 16 of the 1999 NCAA Tournament before losing to top-ranked Duke in the regional semifinals. In 1997 Alford led the Bears to a 24-9 record (second in the Missouri Valley Conference) and a trip to the National Invitation Tournament.

Manchester advanced to the 1995 NCAA Division III championship game before suffering its first defeat in 32 games to place second in the nation. Alford was named Indiana Collegiate Conference coach of the year in 1993, 1994 and 1995 and his record was 74-13 over his final three seasons.