The 1996–97 New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team represented the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

as a member of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

during the

1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November 1996 and concluded in the 64-team 1997 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, whose finals were held at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Arizona Wildcats ear ...

. The Lobos were coached by head coach

Dave Bliss David Gregory Bliss (born September 20, 1943) is an American basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Oklahoma, Southern Methodist, New Mexico, and Baylor of the NCAA Division I, as well as Southwestern Christian of t ...

and played their home games at the University Arena, also known as "The Pit", in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. New Mexico finished 3rd in the WAC Mountain division regular season standings and lost to Utah in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament. The Lobos received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as No. 3 seed in the East region. After defeating Old Dominion in the opening round, New Mexico was bounced in the round of 32 by

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

, 64–63, to finish with a 25–8 record (11–5 WAC). The top four scorers (career) in school history played on this team – Charles Smith, Kenny Thomas, Lamont Long, and Clayton Shields.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, WAC tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament

Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 New Mexico Lobos Men's Basketball Team New Mexico Lobos men's basketball seasons

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

Lobos Lobos is the headquarters city of the Lobos Partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It was founded on 2 June 1802 by José Salgado. Background Located from Buenos Aires, Lobos is a fertile agricultural area known mainly because of the d ...