It wasn’t the Pit as we know it, but it will do for now. Hey, it’ll have to.

The 2009-10 New Mexico Lobos played their first game at the under-renovation Pit, burying New Mexico Highlands 98-68 in a second-half avalanche. The men’s college basketball exhibition game counts on neither team’s record.

It did count, however, as a welcome respite from all the off-the-field drama created the past month within the football program.

It counted as a sometimes-disturbing, sometimes-encouraging, often-tantalizing look at the Lobos.

And it counted as a preview of what this transition season in the Pit will offer — and what it won’t.

The disturbing: a first half during which it wasn’t always easy to tell apart the Division I team and its Division II visitors, except by the color of their uniforms. The Cowboys outscored the Lobos 10-4 in the final four-plus minutes before intermission, trimming UNM’s lead to six.

Equally disturbing in its own way: a trip to a portajohn after dark. Even knowing that completion of the Pit restrooms is in the next construction phase, I expected something more sophisticated than a row of portapotties.

The temperature at halftime Tuesday night was a balmy 51. Come January, they won’t need a freezer for the Popsicles in the open-air concession area.

The encouraging: the 15-0 run with which the Lobos opened the second half. Junior point guard Dairese Gary and junior-college transfer forward Darington Hobson led the way.

“We had more turnovers than assists in the first half,” UNM coach Steve Alford said. “But we ended up with 14 turnovers and 19 assists, which is good.”

Also encouraging: fans won’t have to wait in the cold for long, whether they’re visiting the concession stands or the restroom areas. There was little or no waiting Tuesday night for a crowd of 11,465, even on the more-populated west side.

Tantalizing: the talents displayed by Hobson, the 6-foot-7 transfer from the College of Eastern Utah.

Hobson, an all-court, do-everything player in the mold of ex-Lobo Danny Granger, quietly fashioned a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) against Highlands. No, NMHU isn’t UNLV or BYU; Hobson will have to get more physical and more aggressive as the competition improves. But the necessary skills are there.

Equally tantalizing: visions of the 2010-2011 Pit.

Will this season’s inconveniences be worth the wait? Consider that the Pit, constructed in 1966, had become obsolete as a site for men’s NCAA Tournament games. Consider that the original building’s minimalist exterior had never done justice to the unobstructed sight lines within.

Yes, it will be worth the wait.

Can the same be said for the 2009-10 Lobos?

Center A.J. Hardeman showed a nose for the ball Tuesday in achieving his own double-double (10 and 10); his fellow sophomore post, Will Brown, was to come off suspension today. True freshman Matt Staff is miscast as a low-post player, and it likely will be up to Brown and Hardeman to give UNM a presence inside.

“I thought A.J. was much more confident (than last year),” Alford said. “He’s had a very good summer; he’s gotten stronger.

“At halftime, if we challenged them on anything, it was on board play, because that’s gonna be an issue all year long. I thought in the second half we did a nice job.” If Alford is this team’s commanding officer, Gary (20 points, five rebounds, five assists) is its drill sergeant.

“I thought Dairese was a huge key in the second half,” Alford said. “Those are the types of games we’re gonna have to have out of Dairese this year.”

So, yes, it’s a disturbing, encouraging, tantalizing mix: team and arena under construction.

The arena’s on schedule.

The team? To be continued.