Wyoming and New Mexico meet in "The Pit" on Wednesday

Wednesday night will mark the 112th meeting in basketball between the Wyoming Cowboys and New Mexico Lobos, and it will also mark the 40th time the two teams have played one another in one of college basketball's most famous arenas "The Pit" in Albuquerque. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m., Mountain Time.

Wyoming has enjoyed its share of success in "The Pit", having won there 14 times. If the Cowboys are able to defeat the Lobos this week, they would tie BYU for the most wins by a Lobo opponent in "The Pit" with 15.

Wyoming enters Wednesday's game 12-12 overall and 5-6 in the Mountain West Conference. UW is tied with Utah for sixth place in the conference race. The Pokes trail New Mexico by one game in the conference race. The Lobos are 6-5 in the MWC, and 15-9 overall.

The Cowboys lead the overall series between the two long-time rivals, having won 61 times while UNM has won 50. Since the two teams joined the Mountain West, Wyoming leads in the MWC series 10-3. UW has won three of the last six times it has played in Albuquerque, but New Mexico has won the last two meetings on their home court. The Cowboys defeated the Lobos earlier this season in Laramie by a score of 77-70.

Freshman guard Brandon Ewing has scored 172 points in conference games this season, and is averaging 15.6 points per game in conference play to rank No. 5 in the MWC. He needs only 11 more points to break the MWC freshman scoring record in conference games only. That record is held by former Utah Ute Andrew Bogut, who scored 182 points in conference play when he was a freshman in the 2003-04 season.

Another milestone that is in reach for two Wyoming Cowboys is the 500 career points. Senior Justin Williams will enter Wednesday's game with 499 career points. Junior Steve Leven has scored 484 points in his two-year Wyoming career.

There will be no television coverage of Wednesday's game, but the Cowboy Sports Network will, as always, broadcast the game on radio over its 25-station network. Wednesday night's broadcast will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The Cowboys' next game will be on Saturday, Feb. 18 versus BYU in Laramie. The BYU game on Saturday will tip off at 3 p.m., Mountain Time, and will be televised by SportsWest TV and carried on KTWO-TV of Casper, Wyo.

 

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Mark Walters scored 12 points to carry a lethargic New Mexico offense that sputtered and stumbled to a 47-45 win over Wyoming on Wednesday night.

New Mexico (16-9, 7-5 Mountain West) won its fourth straight but it wasn't pretty. The Lobos shot 38.8 percent, hit just 3-of-14 on 3-pointers and nearly squandered a 10-point lead in the final 4:41 when their only points were a pair of free throws.

Wyoming (12-13, 5-7) got 17 points from Steve Leven and 18 rebounds from Justin Williams, but the Cowboys' problems on offense outdid New Mexico. The Cowboys hit just 15-of-51 shots (29.4 percent) and their 45 points was a season low.

Leven and freshman guard Brandon Ewing, averaging 12 points a game, were a combined 5-of-24 from the field, with Ewing going 1-for-10. Williams, second nationally with 116 blocked shots, didn't have one against New Mexico, only the second time this season he has failed to get a block.

Still, the Cowboys had a chance until the final buzzer.

With New Mexico missing shots and making turnovers, the Cowboys cut a 45-35 deficit with 4:41 left to 46-44 with 34.7 seconds remaining on Leven's bank shot.

New Mexico center David Chiotti hit one of two free throws with 25.6 seconds left and the Cowboys set up Leven for a 3-pointer. Leven, who hit three 3s in the game, couldn't shake defender Kris Collins and his off-balance 3-pointer with six seconds left came up short.

Wyoming got a final chance after Lobo guard Tony Danridge missed the front end of a one-and-one with 2.6 seconds remaining.

Collins fouled Ewing in backcourt to prevent the Cowboys from getting off a 3-point attempt. Ewing hit the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, but Walters tipped the ball out of bounds as time expired.

 

Ritchie McKay may have completed just three seasons at the University of New Mexico, but he was born and raised on the rich tradition of Lobo basketball. In fact, like many UNM fans, McKay grew up with powerful visions of Cherry and Silver glory that were fostered by his late father, Joe McKay, a standout player for New Mexico from 1960-63. While the younger McKay completed his playing days and began his promising coaching career in the Pacific Northwest, the University of New Mexico has always been in his heart.

McKay learned about the proud legacy of Lobo basketball beginning with his father's days playing at a packed Johnson Gymnasium under legendary head coach Bob King.

Attending his first college game as a 12-year-old, McKay cheered on the nationally-ranked Lobos as they battled Cal State Fullerton in a 1978 NCAA Tournament game in Tempe, Ariz. Now after 18 years of coaching, McKay is guiding the University of New Mexico men's basketball program back to national prominence.

The 40-year-old McKay was named the 18th head men's basketball coach at the University of New Mexico on March 28, 2002. McKay's first season was all about rebuilding - rare for a program that had just three losing seasons in the previous 40 years. Due to circumstances before he arrived and injuries after he took over, McKay was in command of a squad that featured just eight scholarship players for most of the year. While the 10-18 record was tough to swallow, McKay enjoyed coaching a hard-working group that featured the nation's leading scorer in guard Ruben Douglas and a cast of underclassmen who showed up to play every game and improved as the season progressed.

It was clear to Lobo fans that McKay instilled much-needed stability into a program that endured more than its share of issues before he took over the reins. McKay's refreshing philosophy was welcomed by his team, and the result was an infusion of trust and respect between coach and player.

The Lobos continued to show progress in McKay's second season, posting a 14-14 record and having very competitive showings against top-flight competition. The Lobos led late against Texas Tech before falling in the final minute. UNM also put a scare into No. 6 Wake Forest on the road before falling by nine.

The Lobos did knock out a pair of big home wins over BYU and Utah, as well as taking down San Diego State, Colorado State and Wyoming in The Pit.

The 2004-05 season was definitely a breakout year for McKay and the Lobos. Picked to finish fourth in the Mountain West Conference in the preseason poll, UNM roared to a 14-2 start, ending a nasty 29-game road losing streak along the way.

Everything looked rosy entering Mountain West Conference play until do-everything forward Danny Granger went down with a knee injury on Jan. 8. Sidelined for three road games, the Lobos stumbled to three straight losses and a 1-3 conference record.

Granger returned in late-January and so did New Mexico. The Lobos went 12-1 down the stretch, including a second-place finish in the regular season of the MWC. The 10-4 conference record is UNM's best in seven years.

New Mexico popped No. 13 Utah at home, ending the Utes' 18-game winning streak. UNM then rolled through the MWC Tournament, defeating a nationally-ranked Utah team again in the championship game and securing the school's first NCAA Tournament appearance in six years.

Finishing 26-7, McKay far and away enjoyed the best season of his head coaching career. The Lobos recorded the second-most wins in school history and posted a 12-win improvement from 2003-04, a number surpassed by only two other schools, one of those being national champion North Carolina.

The 2004-05 Lobos won more games than McKay's first two UNM teams combined and the nine-game winning streak last winter is the longest of his career. Most impressive was a five-game victory run away from The Pit, the longest such skein by a Lobo team in 27 years.

McKay is now a solid 50-37 in his three years at New Mexico.

In nine years as a head coach, McKay has a career record of 133-128, including two-year stints each at Portland State, Colorado State and Oregon State.

McKay logged a 37-23 (.627) record at Colorado State, which included a 1999 National Invitational Tournament berth. The Rams defeated Mississippi State and in-state rival Colorado, before losing to eventual tournament champion California.

The 1999-2000 season featured the first year of play for CSU in the Mountain West Conference, and the Rams finished with an 18-12 record and a fourth-place finish. A pair of victories over nationally-ranked opponents - the first time that had happened at Colorado State in a decade - and capturing the title of the second annual Pearl Harbor Classic in Hawaii were some of the highlights of the season. College Hoops Insider magazine noticed the success of the 2000 Rams and tabbed McKay as its MWC Coach of the Year.

Before arriving on the Colorado State campus in 1998, McKay served as the head coach at Portland State University. He was actually at PSU for three years, but spent the first season of 1995-96 developing a program that had been dormant for 15 years. McKay led the program to nine victories in the school's first season (1996-97) since the early 1980s.

After that initial season at Portland State, McKay was named one of six finalists for the Clair Bee Award, given annually to the coach with the most influence and innovation on the game of basketball. The other two finalists were Dean Smith of North Carolina and Mike Krzyzewski of Duke.

The 1997-98 PSU team followed with a 15-12 mark and a third-place finish in the Big Sky Conference.

McKay's coaching career began in 1988 as a graduate assistant at the University of Washington. He followed with stops as an assistant coach at Queens College in North Carolina (1989-90) - where he worked for current Colorado State head coach Dale Layer - Seattle Pacific (1990-91), Bradley (1991-93), and back to Washington (1993-95).

His coaching travels also included serving as an assistant to Jim Molinari at the 1997 World University Games in Italy where the USA captured the gold medal.

Now at the helm of the team he adored as a child, McKay has high hopes for the continued success of New Mexico basketball. Armed with an intense work ethic and unwavering devotion to the well-being of the program, McKay is eager to once again show the people of Albuquerque and the nation the power of Lobo pride.

"I'm very confident in myself and my staff, and what we can do with a basketball program." said McKay. "Having grown up with the tradition of Lobo basketball and knowing the success that former coaches have had with this program, I think we have a blueprint that will lead to success. Everyone will be proud to see the program where hopefully, it will stay, and that's the NCAA Tournament. I think fans are going to be really proud of what they see from Lobo basketball."

McKay earned his bachelor of arts degree in Athletic Administration from Seattle Pacific in 1987. A stellar player for the Falcons, McKay left the program as the school's single-season and career recordholder for steals, and he was third in career assists. He still holds the school record with 10 steals in a 1987 game against Pacific Lutheran.

McKay is married to the former Julie Summers. The couple has two sons, Luke and Gabriel, a daughter, Ellie, and a niece, Chelsea.