Nobody is denying this season is a work in progress.

On and off the floor in the Pit.

The current edition of the famous arena — as well as its most popular tenants — were both unveiled to the public for the first time Tuesday night during the University of New Mexico’s 98-68 victory against New Mexico Highlands in a men’s exhibition basketball game.

The Pit’s $60 million renovation — which won’t be completed until November of 2010 — gave fans some extra challenges during the evening.

The Division II Cowboys did the same to the Lobos for 20 minutes.

UNM couldn’t shake the Cowboys during a stale first half, but the Lobos opened the second half with a 15-0 tear to ignite the anticipated blowout.

Co-captains — senior forward Roman Martinez and junior guard Dairese Gary — led the decisive surge.

“What I most liked, was going from one half to the other,” said third-year coach Steve Alford, who has just one senior on his roster. “I was interested to see how we’d play the second 20 as opposed to the first 20. The guys made some good adjustments on their own, especially defensively.”

The crowd of 11,465 did, too.

With a change in parking, no public restrooms in the arena and most of the concession stands outside, nobody was quite sure what to expect. University officials have said all along they know there are plenty of kinks to work out, but for the most part things seemed to go pretty smoothly Tuesday.

“It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be,” fan Leslie Wadley said. “The parking was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.”

As for using the portable bathrooms, longtime fan and booster Bob Turner said, “The lines weren’t bad, it was just dark in there. It wasn’t  bad, but it would just be nice to be able to see.”

UNM sports information director Greg Remington said Tuesday was “a gauge for the rest of the season. What was great, is that (general contractor) Flintco and a lot of the subcontractors were here to see everything. They are meeting (today) to address a lot of the issues.”

Highlands, led by senior Roman Andrade, a former Cibola star who had a team-high 20 points, trailed by just 39-33 at the half.

The Lobos soon settled into the game.

“He got on us; you know how coach Alford is, he’s a competitor,” said Gary, who had a team-high 20 points and five assists. “He’s always looking for that extra edge, he was telling us we’ve got to focus on every area of the game.

Alford also had a few things to say at the half to junior college transfer Darington Hobson, who started on Tuesday and is expected to be one of the Lobos’ leading scorers this season. Hobson had trouble getting going much of the first half, but the 6-7 forward showed why he was such a highly touted prep player coming out of Chicago with a nice no-look assist to Martinez with five minutes left in the first half. On the next NMSU possession, Hobson made an athletic steal and took it for a reverse slam for his first hoop.

“I think the first half, I was just kind of over-anxious and just exited to finally be on the court playing at the Pit,” said Hobson, who had 13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals. “In the second half, my teammates talked to me and coach Alford got on me at the half, and just told me to be a little bit more aggressive, play a little bit harder and take my time.”

Sophomore A.J. Hardeman had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Martinez added 10 points and four boards, and sophomore Phillip McDonald had 14 points.

BROWN BACK: UNM sophomore Will Brown, who was suspended by Alford for two weeks for academic reasons, will be reinstated to “playing status” today. Brown was allowed to practice with the team last week, but Alford said he wouldn’t play Tuesday.

“Will has done the things we wanted to see out of him in the classroom, so he will play in the scrimmage on Saturday at Arizona State,” Alford told the Journal.

NELSON REDSHIRT: Alford said that freshman walk-on Kevin Nelson, a  6-3 guard from Albuquerque Academy, will sit out the season as a redshirt. Nelson, the son of former Lobo All-American Ron Nelson, did not suit up for Tuesday’s game.

“We don’t have a lot of bodies, but we decided it would be in Kevin’s best interest to redshirt,” Alford told the Journal.

UNM has only 11 other players on its roster.