1997–98 New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team

1997–98 New Mexico Lobos men's basketball
1997–98 New Mexico Lobos men's basketball
NCAA tournament, Second round
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
	Mountain
Ranking
Coaches	No. 21
AP	No. 18
Record	24–8 (11–3 WAC)
Head coach	Dave Bliss (10th season);
Home arena	University Arena
	Seasons ← 1996–97 1998–99 →

1997–98 WAC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Mountain
No. 7 Utah	12	–	2	.857	30	–	4	.882
No. 18 New Mexico	11	–	3	.786	24	–	8	.750
Wyoming	9	–	5	.643	19	–	9	.679
Colorado State	8	–	6	.571	20	–	9	.690
UNLV †	7	–	7	.500	20	–	13	.606
BYU	4	–	10	.286	9	–	21	.300
UTEP	3	–	11	.214	12	–	14	.462
Air Force	2	–	12	.143	10	–	16	.385
Pacific
No. 15 TCU	14	–	0	1.000	27	–	6	.818
Fresno State	10	–	4	.714	21	–	13	.618
Tulsa	9	–	5	.643	19	–	12	.613
Hawaii	8	–	6	.571	21	–	9	.700
SMU	6	–	8	.429	18	–	10	.643
San Diego State	5	–	9	.357	13	–	15	.464
Rice	3	–	11	.214	6	–	22	.214
San Jose State	1	–	13	.071	3	–	23	.115

† 1998 WAC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1997–98 New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team represented the University of New Mexico as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. The Lobos were coached by head coach Dave Bliss and played their home games at the University Arena, also known as "The Pit", in Albuquerque, New Mexico. New Mexico finished 2nd in the WAC Mountain division regular season standings and lost to UNLV in the WAC Tournament championship game. The Lobos received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as No. 4 seed in the South region. After defeating Butler in the opening round,^[2] New Mexico was bounced in the round of 32 by Syracuse, 56–46,^[3] to finish with a 24–8 record (11–3 WAC).

Roster[edit]

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	3	Lamont Long	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	So
F	4	Kenny Thomas	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Jr	Albuquerque, New Mexico
F	22	Clayton Shields	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Sr	Baytown, Texas
G	32	David Gibson	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	—	Sr

Head coach

Dave Bliss

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[4]

Schedule and results[edit]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Nov 11, 1997*	No. 11	USC	W 98–76	1–0	University Arena Albuquerque, New Mexico
Nov 19, 1997*	No. 11	New Mexico State	W 80–79	2–0	University Arena Albuquerque, New Mexico
Nov 21, 1997*		Texas Southern	W 90–67	3–0	University Arena Albuquerque, New Mexico
Nov 22, 1997*		Arkansas State	W 61–51	4–0	University Arena Albuquerque, New Mexico
Nov 29, 1997*		San Jose State	W 86–57	5–0	University Arena Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dec 6, 1997*	No. 8	vs. No. 15 UCLA Wooden Classic	L 58–69	5–1	Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim Anaheim, California
Dec 9, 1997*		at New Mexico State	W 62–59	6–1	Pan American Center Las Cruces, New Mexico
Dec 20, 1997*		Texas Tech	W 81–62	7–1	University Arena Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dec 29, 1997*		Holy Cross	W 112–61	8–1	University Arena Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dec 30, 1997*		Yale	W 69–44	9–1	University Arena Albuquerque, New Mexico
Jan 3, 1998*		Air Force	W 92–59	10–1	University Arena Albuquerque, New Mexico
Jan 5, 1998*		TCU	W 98–77	11–1	University Arena Albuquerque, New Mexico
WAC tournament
Mar 5, 1998*		vs. Tulsa Quarterfinals	W 60–59	22–6	Thomas & Mack Center Las Vegas, Nevada
Mar 6, 1998*		vs. No. 13 TCU Semifinals	W 80–73	23–6	Thomas & Mack Center Las Vegas, Nevada
Mar 7, 1998*		at UNLV Championship game	L 51–56	23–7	Thomas & Mack Center Las Vegas, Nevada
NCAA tournament
Mar 13, 1998*	(4 S) No. 18	vs. (13 S) Butler First Round	W 79–62^[2]	24–7	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Mar 15, 1998*	(4 S) No. 18	vs. (5 S) No. 21 Syracuse Second Round	L 46–56^[3]	24–8	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=South.

^[5]

Rankings[edit]

^[6]

References[edit]

^ sports-reference.com 1997-98 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary
^ ^a ^b "New Mexico Center Overwhelms Butler". The New York Times. March 14, 1998. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Syracuse Does Everything but Shoot Well in Victory". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1998. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
^ "1997–98 New Mexico Lobos Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
^ "1997–98 New Mexico Men's Basketball Schedule". University of New Mexico Athletics. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 1064–1065. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1] sports-reference.com 1997-98 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary

[butler-2] "New Mexico Center Overwhelms Butler". The New York Times. March 14, 1998. Retrieved June 19, 2022.

[syracuse-3] "Syracuse Does Everything but Shoot Well in Victory". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1998. Retrieved June 19, 2022.

[4] "1997–98 New Mexico Lobos Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 19, 2022.

[5] "1997–98 New Mexico Men's Basketball Schedule". University of New Mexico Athletics. Retrieved June 19, 2022.

[ESPN-6] *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 1064–1065. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e New Mexico Lobos men's basketball
Venues	Carlisle Gymnasium (1928–1957) Johnson Gymnasium (1957–1966) The Pit (1966–present)
Rivalries	New Mexico State
Culture & lore	Lobo Louie
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24