The Utah-New Mexico Rivalry

Now this was a rivalry.

Thinking back on our series against the Lobos, I recall one tough game after another. Often one of the teams -- if not both -- were exceptionally good. Even ranked. But that never seemed to matter. Wins in this series always came the hard way.

I have fond memories of playing these guys in the 'ol Fieldhouse. In particular were a couple times in the late-1960s when Bob King brought some top-10 Lobo teams to town. In 1967, we staged a big comeback from 11 points down to beat the #9 Lobos, 66-64. They had a guy named Mel Daniels who seemed to score at will and snag every other rebound. But it was Walt Simon's desperation running hook shot at the buzzer that earned the upset for us.

The next year was the fight. New Mexico was ranked #5 and played suffocating defense against us. Jeff Oktel got ejected for punching and Lyndon MacKay fouled out seconds later. It looked grim. The crowd was rowdy. Fans were throwing ice and debris onto the court. So I called Don Denson and Ron Cummingham in off the bench and they led the comeback. Both of them hit big shots down the stretch when the outcome was still in doubt. Merv the Magician was huge as well -- finishing with 20 points. Final score: Utah 71, Lobos 64.

Playing in the Pit was another matter. My first game there we won by two; but that was the only win I would get there.

THE SOUTHWESTERN ROAD SWING

When UTEP joined the WAC in the late 1960s, the southwestern road swing to Albuquerque and El Paso became a regular feature of the conference schedule. One game was played on Thursday and the other on Saturday. The Pit -- and later the UTEP Special Event Center -- were two of the most intimidating environments in the west; so no one ever expected the Utes to come home with two wins. One out of two would have been acceptable. We got swept both times I coached it.

Utah didn't win a game on this trip until 1976. And they didn't win both games until 1980 when they had Tom Chambers, Danny Vranes and Karl Bankowski. The first stop that year was against UTEP. Danny Vranes forced overtime with a game-tieing dunk and Tom Chambers hit the winning layup with four seconds left in OT. Then to Albuquerque where Utah scored the last six points of the game to beat the Lobos by three.

The next year it was more of the same. Utah was 14-1 and ranked #15, but that didn't faze the opposition. They fought Don Haskins' Miners tooth and nail for a slim second-half lead before slowing down the tempo and forcing the Miners to foul. Utah hit its free throws and escaped with a hard fought 69-64 win. Two nights later in the Pit, the Lobos caused 24 Utah turnovers. Utah caught up midway through the second-half and it was a battle down the stretch into overtime. Danny Vranes took over in OT to finish with 24 points (including 12-12 FTs) and Tom Chambers added 23.

When Utah left the WAC, this tradition ended. In all, the Utes went 0-2 fourteen times, and split the trip eleven times.

In thirty years, Utah went 2-0 on the trip a grand total of five times.

THE 1997 WAC TOURNAMENT
Utah's greatest win against the Lobos came in the 1997 WAC Tournament.  Remember this?


THE FINAL YEARS
The final years of the rivalry were as good as ever and involved some major heroics. Who could forget Andrew Bogut's 24pt/20reb performance in 2005 in the Pit? Or Lawrence Borha's baseline jumper with 11 ticks left to win in 2009? And, of course, 2011 when Chris Hines drilled the buzzer-beater to win our last trip in the Pit?

And lots of close calls. Simply review the series results over the last few seasons:

2004-05
Albuquerque	Utah	69	New Mexico	58
Salt Lake City	New Mexico	65	14Utah	54
Denver	New Mexico	60	Utah	56
2005-06
Salt Lake City	Utah	64	New Mexico	49
Albuquerque	New Mexico	64	Utah	53
2006-07
Albuquerque	New Mexico	86	Utah	82 OT
Salt Lake City	Utah	93	New Mexico	91 2OT
2007-08
Albuquerque	New Mexico	77	Utah	67 OT
Salt Lake City	New Mexico	72	Utah	71
Las Vegas	Utah	82	New Mexico	80 OT
2008-09
Salt Lake City	Utah	69	New Mexico	68
Albuquerque	New Mexico	77	Utah	71
2009-10
Albuquerque	New Mexico	74	Utah	57
Salt Lake City	12New Mexico	68	Utah	65 OT
2010-11
Salt Lake City	Utah	82	New Mexico	72
Albuquerque	Utah	62	New Mexico	60

We haven't played New Mexico since we left the MWC in 2011. We can all agree Utah is on to bigger and better things now. Still, I wouldn't mind it one bit if the Lobos happened to show up on our non-conference schedule sometime in the future.