Pit stop in New Mexico for UT awful, 77-58

New Mexico blasted the Vols 77-58 in The Pit, the infamous den of noise that sits within a long 3-pointer of America's most celebrated highway.

The Vols have now lost 15 of their 17 most recent ventures outside of Thompson-Boling Arena.

Unlike most of their previous road losses, this one couldn't be blamed on bad defense. At least not completely.

Tennessee's offense was abysmal in the first half. The Vols shot 26.1 percent and scored a whopping 17 points, and yet still played tenacious defense.

They warmed up to 59.1 percent the second half, yet the longer the final 20 minutes went on, the more UT's defense deteriorated. The Lobos (10-1) shot 64 percent the second half.

At 4-4, Tennessee is digging itself in a deep pre-SEC hole as far as any NCAA tournament hopes are concerned.

The Vols had only one reliable weapon against the Lobos. Freshman Chris Lofton, playing his first true road game, fired in 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 5-of-5 from 3-point range.

"I just shoot when I think I can make it,'' said Lofton. "This atmosphere in The Pit was great.

"It's not like high school.''

Scooter McFadgon added 16 points, but was 5-of-13 overall and 1-of-8 from 3-point range. His first field goal came with 14:13 to play.

C.J. Watson's first field goal never came. He was 0-of-4 and got his only three points at the free-throw line.

Brandon Crump would have also had an oh-fer, but he was saved by a goal-tending call on the Lobos with 9:24 left to account for his only two points.

Crump's front-court starting mate, Jemere Hendrix, fouled out scoreless.

"That was the biggest difference in the game,'' said UT coach Buzz Peterson, "their front court to ours.

"Our front court got outplayed extremely bad. Your starting two have got to give you more than two points.''

New Mexico's starting two gave the Lobos 31 points, 20 by Danny Granger and 11 by David Chiotti.

Crump went without making a field goal of his own accord for the first time since his freshman year.

"I guess they were just too physical for us inside,'' Peterson said. "It's not that we didn't have our opportunities.

"We were hunting (Crump) down. I saw the guys trying to look for him.''

With Lofton throwing in shots from everywhere, Tennessee managed to cut a 12-point halftime deficit to 38-34.

A McFadgon 3-point shot that would have made it a one-point game rimmed out and the Lobos exploded with a 18-4 run to go up 56-38 with 8:18 to play.

The Vols got it back to 63-54 with 4:42 left, but New Mexico scored the next 10 points.

By that point, not even Lofton could rescue the Vols.

"Chris plays with a lot of pride and a lot of heart,'' Peterson said. "He's the kind of young man you like to have around.

"We just need to be a little more aggressive as a team. We've got to be tougher, that's it - play with heart and play with pride.''

The Vols' offense never found any semblance of efficiency or rhythm through the first 20 minutes. Two of their six baskets were desperation 3-pointers to beat the shot clock.

Consequently, New Mexico was able to not only survive its own cold shooting - 36.7 percent - but to ease out to a 29-17 lead at the half.

Tennessee, meanwhile, shot 26.1 percent in the first half and got a grand total of one basket out of its three go-to scorers - Crump, McFadgon and Watson. The one basket, furthermore, was a breakaway dunk by McFadgon after a steal, not a product of the offense.

Despite the struggles, Andre Patterson's transition basket gained a 13-13 tie with 8:43 on the clock.

However, the Vols would manage only one more field goal the rest of the half, a trey by Lofton at the 6:23 mark.

The Lobos slowly but surely chugged through a 16-4 run to take control by intermission.

Big Man Hunt: Tennessee is searching far and wide for a big man to possibly add to the Class of 2005 in the spring.

Brian Morris, a 6-foot-7, 260-pound senior from Portland, Ore., held off signing in November after UT and Georgetown showed interest. Morris had offers from Xavier, Fresno and SMU.

Jack Jenkins, a 6-7, 240-pound forward at Daytona Beach Community College is also on UT's radar screen. Jenkins played one season at William & Mary before transferring to junior college.

UT has reportedly scouted 6-9 Theryn Hudson of Lavergne, Tenn., and 6-8 Horace Dixon of Mauldin, S.C.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276.