MAJERUS' PIT WOES CONTINUE AS LOBOS HOLD OFF THE UTES

In his fifth season as Utah's basketball coach, Rick Majerus has won in every WAC arena, except - The Pit.

Wednesday night, Majerus' Pit woes continued as host New Mexico (10-2 overall, 2-0 WAC) held off the Utes (7-4, 1-1), 64-61."This is the most difficult place of all to coach, because the players can't hear me," Majerus said. "I'm out of the game."

The fact that the Utes couldn't shoot in the first half also may have been a factor. Utah hit 10 of 31 first-half field-goal attempts, and that includes Keith Van Horn's five of nine. Guard Darroll Wright was the chief offender, forcing up several shots and connecting on just two of 12.

"In the first half, they didn't play like Utah," Majerus said. "They played like some other team."

If the Utes came into the game expecting Greg Brown, the 5-foot-7, 140-pound Lobo point guard, to come down to Earth after a 35-point performance against BYU on Monday, they were disappointed. Brown was once again the Lobos' chief offensive threat, scoring 22 points on eight of 15 from the field, despite attracting a lot of attention from the Utah defenders.

Majerus, for one, was impressed.

"That Brown's a good little player," the Utah coach said. "I'll do everything I can to nominate him for the Naismith Award (for the best player in the country under 6-foot)."

Early on, though, it looked like this was going to be the Van Horn Show. The Ute freshman scored his team's first nine points, and 11 of the first 13, on a variety of shots. Lobo coach Dave Bliss, asked who was assigned to guard Van Horn, said, "I'm not sure if anyone was on him. Didn't he score the first 11? I think Keith Van Horn is one of the best freshmen in the country. Who's Josh Grant?"

When New Mexico finally got around to guarding Van Horn, the Ute offense ground to a halt. Van Horn's last basket of the half came at the 12:17 mark and gave the Utes a 13-9 lead. Over the next 6:26, the Lobos outscored Utah, 18-2, behind 10 points from Brown and six from Marlow White.

At halftime, the Utes trailed 35-23, and if they hadn't been able to hear Majerus on the court, they were definitely hearing from him in the locker room.

"I was not happy with the shots they took in the first half," Majerus said.