Howling With The Lobos: There’s no place like home

Dorothy had it right; there’s no place like home. The saying is fitting for the New Mexico Lobos men’s basketball team, who pounded San Jose State, 92-60, Wednesday night to improve to 4-2 at home in Mountain West Conference play.

Keith McGee is loving the friendly confines of The Pit as well. Last week in a win over San Diego State, McGee scored a then career high 19 points. After being held to just nine points in Saturday’s loss to Nevada, McGee set a new career high with 20 points in Wednesday’s win.

It’s a tale of good news and bad news for the Lobos for the rest of the season. The Lobos improved to 11-13 overall with the win, and are 5-7 in conference, and with six games remaining they split them with half at home, and half on the road. The good news is two of their last three road games are with Wyoming, and San Jose State, both at the bottom of the conference. So, on paper the Lobos can improve on their 1-5 conference road record. Added up with the theory that the Lobos can win at home, and the Lobos could get as good as the fourth seed in the MWC tournament. Oh, that’s the other bad news; the tournament isn’t in Albuquerque, and that’s not good news for a team who has just four road/neutral wins this season.

Lobo fans should feel a little optimistic, as this is beginning to look a lot like the way last season ended, and the Lobos then ended with a trip to the MWC championship game. Maybe a repeat can help cool fans’ opinions of Coach Weir.