Saturday, February 28th, 9:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Moby Arena (8,745) -- Fort Collins, Colorado. Television: None. Home Record: UNM 14-2, CSU 6-8. Away Record: UNM 4-6, CSU 2-10. Neutral Record: UNM 0-2, CSU 1-1. Conference Record: UNM 9-4, CSU 4-10. Series Record: New Mexico leads, 63-41.

GAME NOTES: The New Mexico Lobos try to keep pace with the other top teams in the Mountain West Conference this weekend as they size up the Colorado State Rams at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. The Lobos head into this meeting with a 9-4 record versus the rest of the league, which has them tied with BYU for second place behind a Utah squad that has ripped off eight straight wins. On Tuesday night, the Lobos posted a strong 76-62 win versus TCU at home, giving the team two straight victories and five in the last six overall with meetings against Utah and Wyoming still on tap for next week before the conference tournament begins. As for the Rams, they were tagged with their fourth loss in the last five games on Wednesday night when the Wyoming Cowboys grabbed an 82-79 victory at Moby Arena. CSU is currently second-to-last in the MWC standings with just four wins and will close out the 2008-09 regular season this coming week at San Diego State. In terms of the all-time series, UNM has won four in a row versus the Rams and now owns a 63-41 advantage in the all- time series. The Lobos logged a convincing 68-50 win in the first meeting of the season in Albuquerque last month.

The Lobos started out slow against TCU earlier this week and then picked up the pace in the second half of the 14-point victory in Albuquerque. Daniel Faris made good on all 12 of his free-throw attempts on the night to finish with a team-best 20 points, followed by Tony Danridge and Chad Toppert with 17 and 12 points, respectively. The squad limited the visitors to a mere two offensive rebounds and forced the Horned Frogs into 17 turnovers in the meeting. Danridge, who is shooting close to 50 percent from the field this season, but just 26.1 percent behind the three-point line, is leading the program in scoring with 14.4 ppg. Faris comes up with 11.6 ppg and 6.1 rpg, adding a team-high 46 blocked shots along the way. As a team, the Lobos are converting 46.8 percent from the field and 39.4 percent beyond the arc to establish a scoring margin of 9.1 ppg this season.

Brandon Ewing hit a pair of crucial free throws with just over eight seconds remaining in regulation to give Wyoming some breathing room in the win over CSU on Wednesday night. On the Colorado State side, Andy Ogide was credited with 19 points, Andre McFarland 16 on 5-of-9 shooting beyond the arc, followed by Willis Gardner and Marcus Walker with 15 points apiece as the team cost itself a possible win with just 16-of-27 shooting at the charity stripe in front of the hometown crowd. Walker continues to be the top point producer for the Rams with his 16.0 ppg, but in doing so he is shooting 40.8 percent from the field and 35.7 percent behind the three-point line. Ogide accounts for another 10.5 ppg and is first on the squad with just over six boards per contest, but by no means does his effort in the paint excuse the fact that he has but 16 assists and 67 turnovers this late in the campaign.

With so much riding on these last few games the Lobos can't afford to overlook Colorado State. Expect them to take care of business, even on the road.

Predicted Outcome

New Mexico 74, Colorado State 65