Stakes are high as high-noon showdown in the Pit brings to a close SDSU, UNM rivalry

The end of an era — the end of the best rivalry in the 27-year history of the Mountain West — comes in a high-noon showdown in the Pit on Saturday.

Two teams with the most Mountain West championships (nine regular season, five tournament titles for San Diego State; five regular season and five tournament titles for the UNM Lobos) square off, both in control of their own destinies for another league title.

UNM (21-7, 12-5 Mountain West) and San Diego State (19-8, 13-4 MW) tip off at noon in a sold-out game being broadcast on CBS Sports.

"Rivalries come from the same two teams playing each other with stakes," said UNM first-year coach Eric Olen, who coached the past 21 years at UC San Diego, in the shadow of the Mountain West empire being built by SDSU coaches Brian Dutcher and Steve Fisher.

"That's happened a lot in this matchup. And there's some stakes here for us (on Saturday)."

And with Aztec's coach Dutcher already confirming his team will not schedule nonconference games at elevation after SDSU leaves the Mountain West to join the Pac-12 next year, this could be the last dance, at least for the foreseeable future.

So, on the eve of the final regular season game between the two, the Journal decided to revisit the best game between the two played in the iconic arena dug 37 feet into New Mexico soil.

And with apologies to the Feb. 25, 2023, Lamont Butler buzzer-beater in the Pit — a full month before his Final Four buzzer-beater cemented his legacy in college hoops lore — the Journal is sticking with the game that checked in at No. 8 in a January 2025 column that ranked the best of the first 1,000 men's basketball games played in the venue.

'We weren't going to get punked'

In February 2010, the Lobos had one thought in mind when the San Diego State Aztecs paid a visit to the Pit.

"They had a squad. I remember when we were down in San Diego (in January), when they beat us, we all felt like we kind of got punked," Lobo legend point guard Dairese Gary told the Journal on Friday night, thinking back to that magical 2009-10 season.

"That was the biggest thing — we felt like we went there and they just ..." he paused, still getting a little worked up about the 74-64 loss in Viejas Arena that the Lobos suffered on Jan. 5, 2010.

"I remember the coaches were just really upset, not even at the loss, just how we lost. ... And when they came to the Pit, just going into that game and we wanted to be tougher. Win, lose or draw, we just knew weren't going to get punked that game. I remember us talking about that."

Gary and his teammate from that team Darington Hobson still talk about that season plenty. And they talk about their games with San Diego State.

"Why it was so important, and why I remember the significance is because they tapped us pretty good back in San Diego playing at their place," Hobson said.  

It wasn't just that the Lobos, entering Mountain West play that season with a 14-1 record and a national ranking opened league play with a loss to the Aztecs. They realized that game how badly they matched up with that San Diego State team — a classic Fisher/Dutch mold of too much size and rebounding and defense and toughness and .... you get the point — at every position. 

And in that loss, Hobson got the business end of a lot of that SDSU physical play, hitting just 4-of-17 shots and finishing with 12 points, three assists and four turnovers. 

"When they came back to the Pit, it was a little personal for me. I wanted to get some get back because we knew that wasn't us," Hobson said. "That wasn't how we play."

Not most of that year, that's for sure. That year's Lobos team went 30-5, won the Mountain West championship, finished the regular season ranked in the Top 10 in the country, and was a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

But of those five losses, two came at the hands of the Aztecs — one in January and a second in the Mountain West Tournament.

And 16 years later, Gary and Hobson both talk of the respect they have for the Aztecs roster of guys like Kawhi Leonard, Malcom Thomas, D.J. Gay, Billy White and more.

The rematch in the Pit was Feb. 6, 2010.

And little did anyone know at the time, but it would turn into one of the best games that 60-year old arena has ever been host to.

UNM, a team picked fifth in the preseason media poll despite being the defending Mountain West champion (the Lobos in 2009 were co-champions along with Utah and BYU), was still very much playing for a championship when the Aztecs came to town for the rematch.

And Hobson would arguably have the game of his college career.

First, the silky-smooth 6-foot-7 wing drained a 55-foot buzzer beater at halftime.

Then, the Lobos led by 10 with four minutes left to play when, despite Gary hitting six free throws down the stretch — usually enough to ice a 10-point lead — the Aztecs rattled off a 3-point barrage that brought them within two points.

"They weren't shooting like that all game — all season if I remember right," Hobson said. "I even think the scouting report was to let the shoot."

Well, they did. And when SDSU's D.J. Gay, who hit a 3 with 7.6 seconds left in regulation to pull within one point at 77-76 (UNM would then hit one of two free throws to go up 78-76 just a second later), rose up for a would-be game-winner with three seconds left in the game, Hobson wasn't going to let it happen again.  

The Pit roar was broken by the shriek of a referee's whistle. 

"He fouled him," Gary remembers of seeing Hobson foul Gay on the jumper. 

"It was a bad call," Hobson recalls. "Well, maybe a 50-50 call. I know he pump faked and got me in the air and then jumped into me. ... You know in hindsight, I remember sitting there thinking it was a good foul because he wasn't going to make all three free throws and I didn't want him shooting that 3 after they had just come down and hit three or four in a row."

Gary had a different memory of the initial thoughts of the foul. 

"(Gay) was a good free throw shooter," the point guard recalls thinking, "So when he missed one, I saw something I never saw before in Darington's eyes. That was when I knew he was a pro. He thought that foul lost us the game. And when they gave us just a little bit of hope, (Hobson) wasn't about to let it slip away again. He took over."

Gay hit two of three free throws to force overtime. 

"I told the guys before the overtime, I told Neal (former UNM assistant coach Craig Neal, who drew up the offense) and my teammates, 'I got this. Don't worry about it, I got it.'"

He did. 

In the extra frame, Hobson scored eight of UNM's 10 points, poetically sealing the game with two free throws in the final seconds of an 88-86 overtime victory. The eventual Mountain West Player of the Year finished the game with 29 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three steals and zero turnovers.

"We talked about how special his talent is and what a big-time player he is," former Lobos coach Steve Alford said after the game. "Sometimes, those big-time players have big-time days, and this was one of them."

Said Hobson on Friday night talking to the Journal, "That was hands down the funnest game I've ever played in. And if you look at it, that was what got me rolling to winning (MW) Player of the Year. I had hit a bit of a wall, and the game got me going. I know I had the block (his famous game and regular-season championship-sealing blocked shot on the road at BYU on Feb. 27, 2010) that may have sealed it, but it was that (SDSU) game in the Pit that got me rolling again to be in a position to win it."

The Lobos went on to cruise to the 2010 title and a round of 32 exit from the NCAA Tournament. Hobson won player of the year and turned pro. 

The Aztecs finished third that season in the league, won the MW Tournament and had a first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament as an 11 seed.

'It's awful'

Hobson said he has become friends with several players on that SDSU roster through the years and has so much respect for the way they played, the matchup nightmare they were and the way they brought the best out of him. 

And knowing Saturday may be it for the rivalry, well, that's not sitting well.

"I think it's awful. I think it's terrible. It's trash," Hobson said. "It's a tragedy, honestly, just for that rivalry, because it was a healthy rivalry. It wasn't disrespectful or we hate them, or they hate us. ... It's sad, because it was a healthy rivalry, and it brought out the best basketball on both teams."

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.