HAPPY 50TH
New Mexico celebrates five decades of Pit basketball with a win over Abilene Christian
Larry King remembers well the day the Pit was born.
He’s oldest son of Bob King, who was the father not only of six children but also of Lobo basketball in the minds of most who know the history of the University of New Mexico. Larry King says the arena dug 37 feet into the Albuquerque ground may not be exactly as he remembered it as a boy, but it’s still a special place.
“No, it doesn’t look the same to me,” said Larry King, one of three of the King siblings on hand Wednesday night with their mother, Sharel, to be honored before Wednesday night’s game celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening of the iconic venue.
“I liked it a little better back
then. The fans were a little louder, more into it maybe. But it’s still a great place for basketball. That will never change.”
As UNM hosted visiting Abilene Christian — the same opponent that broke in the Pit against Bob King’s Lobos on Dec. 1, 1966 — it was the Pit, not the game, that was the main attraction.
And, like it was 50 years ago, the Lobos beat the visiting Wildcats by the same margin — 64-55. It was 62-53 a half century ago.
“We do have a special place here, and I think sometimes we don’t appreciate it,” said Lobos coach Craig Neal, who admitted he and his team may have been a little nervous and anxious to play in the game with so many former players on hand.
While the 1966 game drew an announced crowd of 12,020, Wednesday night’s crowd was announced at 11,154.
About three dozen former Lobo players were honored on Bob King Court at halftime, including three who played in that 1966 game — Ron Nelson, Keith Griffith and Ron Becker.
Then, after the players were brought onto the court and cheered, so too were about three dozen fans who either themselves have held season tickets since that first game in the Pit or have inherited them from family.
The halftime ceremonies were out of sight of the Lobo players. But Neal said the pregame build-up on social media, coverage in the Journal in recent days and even seeing all the former players lined up the Pit ramp when the team went to the locker room with a 35-28 lead may have caught up with the team.
“They see all that,” Neal said. “It might have been a little added (pressure) for them, but I wanted them to know the history of this place and I talked to them about it. I told them, I said ‘Guys, it’s not going to mean anything to you right now, but you’re going to play in a history game tonight and you’re going to play in an iconic building.’”
Despite injuries to two starters — Sam Logwood did not play and Tim Williams played just 16 minutes — the Lobos (5-2) still kept ACU (3-3) at arm’s length most of the game and did so with defense. UNM held ACU to 41.7 percent shooting and forced 14 turnovers.
The Lobos had three players score in double figures — Elijah Brown (13 points, nine rebounds), Obij Aget (12 points) and Xavier Adams (10 points in a season-high 20 minutes).
“I was thinking to myself earlier before the game ... to say that we get to play on the 50th anniversary is a real big deal to us,” said Adams. “We really appreciate everybody that came out. It’s an honor and a blessing to be a part of the Pit on the 50th anniversary.”
INJURIES: Logwood and Williams are both questionable for UNM’s game Saturday at Illinois State.
Logwood hurt his right quadriceps in Sunday’s loss to Dayton in the Wooden Legacy in Anaheim, Calif.
Williams (eight points, zero rebounds in 16 minutes) got hit in the neck early in Wednesday’s game and was later tested and cleared to return, but the coach decided against it.
“Tim Williams is going to have to take a battery of tests,” Neal said.
In Logwood’s spot, sophomore Dane Kuiper started and finished with four points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal in 16 minutes.