There was a lot of talk this week about the renewed rivalry between Arizona and New Mexico, with the Wildcats and Lobos restarting a series that Lute Olson ended back in the late 1990s.
There’s just one problem — the two programs are in much different places right now.
Arizona is good, even when its beset by injuries. New Mexico is a work in progress.
It took nearly six minutes on Tuesday night for the Lobos to even score their first points.
At one point, a disgruntled Lobos fan chanted, “We want Alford!” at UNM coach Craig Neal. That would be Steve Alford, Neal’s predecessor at New Mexico who is now coaching the No. 2-ranked UCLA Bruins.
Tuesday marked the teams’ first game since 1999. The UA will travel to Albuquerque to complete the home-and-home series next year, and it would make sense for the series to continue beyond that.
So what happened?
New Mexico won a game the 1999 game by 1 point because, as UA coach Lute Olson adamantly argued, the scoreboard operators at “The Pit,” UNM’s arena, didn’t start the clock right away. The Lobos, gifted the extra time, hit a last-second shot to prevail.
After the game, Olson said: “We’ve just got to wipe this off. ... If I were the officials, I would be ashamed. It was on national TV, so it will be out in front of everybody. It’s just disgusting to see this — to see kids being taken advantage of, but that’s what ‘The Pit’ is all about.”
Soon after, Olson ended a series that had been played since 1917. Arizona held true to the ban until Sean Miller arrived.
