New Mexico Tries To Keep Focus Against TCU

The final game of the year for New Mexico is against TCU who is near the bottom of the Mountain West standings.  The mess of Steve Alford vs. BYU's Jonathan Tavernari is in the past and they should be focused for this game.  Tonight is Senior NIght for the Lobos and their loan senior is Roman Martinez who is a key scorer for the Lobos.  A win tonight will guarantee the first seed in the MWC tournament next week, and if the Lobos want to get a shot at a two seed they must win big tonight -- that should not be a problem. Also, with a win tonight New Mexico would clinch its first outright conference title since 1994, when it won the Western Athletic Conference.

New Mexico is one of the hottest teams in the country with a 13 game winning streak.  There is no real reason for New Mexico to stumble tonight, they are 10-2 at home, but during their long winning streak they have had some tough games.  They beat Colorado State by only six, were taken to overtime against Utah, and only beat Air Force by three at home.  The common thread in those games was that the Lobos were held to under 70 in each in low scoring affairs.

If TCU is able to control the tempo and use the entire shot clock on their possessions with limited turnovers they might have a chance in this game.  That chance is very slim and Accuscore believes that TCU has a 15 percent chance to pull off the upset.

TCU will need leading scorer Ronnie Moss to have a big game to keep them in the hunt for the win tonight.  Moss averages just over 14 points per game, and the only other scorer of significance is Zvonko Buljan who averages 12 points and just under eight boards per game.  Defense will be the key for TCU to hang tough, last time the two played TCU was blown out by seventeen points.

New Mexico should be able to run over and through TCU with Darrington Hobson leading the way for the Lobos.  Expect some of the lesser Lobos to take advantage over the outmatched Horned Frogs.  One other player to watch is the loan Senior Roman Martinez to have a big game in his last home game at The Pit.