New Mexico Travels to ‘Quiet’ SDSU
When the New Mexico men’s basketball team plays at home, its opponents are often intimidated by the atmosphere in the 18,000-seat arena known as “The Pit.” But when the Lobos go on the road, life is usually the pits for them.
New Mexico (11-5) has won just one of five road games this season. The Lobos will attempt to make it two for the road when they play San Diego State at 7:30 tonight in the Sports Arena.
In eight previous visits to San Diego, New Mexico has yet to win.
“Maybe it’s the atmosphere of leaving the confines of The Pit,” said Gary Colson, New Mexico’s coach. “We have 17,000 people at our home games, then we come here with 3,000 or 4,000 people. Our kids never seem to get excited about coming here. Our kids are spoiled by the attendance and excitement at home.”
New Mexico leads the Western Athletic Conference in home attendance, averaging 17,272 fans. The Aztecs are eighth in the nine-team conference, averaging 2,498.
At SDSU’s current pace, it will take seven homes game to draw what New Mexico attracts on an average night.
“It’s sort of like going to practice,” Colson said of playing in San Diego. “Sometimes, kids go to practice halfhearted. We play well at UTEP, BYU and Utah. We have trouble at Air Force and Hawaii.”
Air Force is last in WAC attendance and Hawaii is seventh. The three places where Colson said New Mexico plays well rank second through fourth in WAC attendance.
Though SDSU may have a home-court advantage over New Mexico because of small crowds, the attendance certainly doesn’t help SDSU at most games.
“It affects me, I know that,” said Dave Babcock, SDSU assistant coach. “That could be one reason we came out flat against USD (in an 81-64 loss). We had played at Arizona two nights before with 10,000 people going nuts. Then, we came here for the best game in town, and we only got 2,900. I’d say it’s a letdown.”
Neither the Aztecs nor Lobos can afford a letdown in tonight’s game, which is expected to draw about 2,500.
SDSU is 2-2 in the WAC and 3-11 overall. New Mexico is 3-1 in the WAC and is tied for first place with UTEP and Colorado State.
Aztec Notes The Aztecs, who won their first two WAC games at home, are coming off road losses against Utah and BYU. SDSU is hoping that Steffond Johnson, its 6-foot 8-inch center, may be able to play for the first time in 13 games since aggravating a lower back injury. . . . New Mexico had won three straight games before losing Saturday at Colorado State, 65-58. Two nights previous, the Lobos recorded their only road victory of the season against Wyoming, 47-45. . . . Johnny Brown, a 6-6 forward, leads New Mexico in scoring (18.5 average) and rebounding (7.3). He is the team’s only senior. Other Lobo starters are junior forward Mike Winters (6-8), freshman center Robert Loeffel (7-0), junior guard Kelvin Scarborough (6-1) and sophomore guard Paul Lawson (6-1). Winters and Scarborough are returning starters. . . . “I saw their game against Colorado State on TV,” Dave Babcock said of New Mexico. “To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed with them. They’re not strong inside. They have a 7-footer, but he’s not that tough. They’re not a great outside shooting team, which was their problem last year. What we need to do is stop Johnny Brown.”