They say history repeats itself, whoever they are.

The University of New Mexico men's basketball team hopes the old saying is only partly correct.

Today at 4 p.m. in The Pit, the Lobos get a shot at rewriting history when they put their No. 15 ranking in this week's Associated Press poll on the line against an unranked, but dangerous San Diego State team.

"We were ranked 15th in the country a month ago going into the (San Diego State) game and they beat us
in their building," said UNM head coach Steve Alford, referring to a Jan. 5 Lobos loss in California. "And we dropped out of the rankings."

Of course, that 75-64 road loss to the Aztecs was followed four days later by a home loss to UNLV, but the Lobos did, indeed, fall out of both the AP and USA Today/ESPN coaches polls the following week.

Six consecutive Mountain West Conference wins later, the Lobos (20-3 overall, 6-2 MWC) find themselves in a familiar spot.

"Here we are four weeks later ranked 15th in the country again," said Alford, acknowledging the part of history that has already repeated itself before addressing the part his team hopes does not.

"We get to try to redeem ourselves a little bit. The first time around, ranked 15th playing San Diego State didn't work very well. Hopefully the second time around works a little better."

In the first game between the two teams, the MWC opener for both, UNM entered with a 14-1 record, riding arguably its best pre-conference performance ever.

But a brief second-half scoring run by the Aztecs put the game out of reach from the Lobos.

"I don't think (we were) overconfident," UNM senior wing Roman Martinez said of the Jan. 5 game. "I just don't think we were focused for conference play."

The Aztecs used their size to stifle the Lobos offense in the first meeting and won the battle of the boards 43-39.

While UNM shot just 28.6 percent from the floor in the second half of that loss, the 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward Malcolm Thomas was having his way on both ends of the court with game-highs in points (18) and rebounds (15).

"They out-toughed us," said Martinez, who had 12 points and three rebounds in the game. "They really did ... and we're trying to change that."

Still, the Lobos had their chances.

A Darington Hobson jumper with 14 minutes, 36 seconds remaining in the Jan. 5 game gave the Lobos a one-point lead at 46-45.

A 10-1 San Diego State run capped by a Thomas dunk with 10:17 left in the game gave the Aztecs a 55-47 lead and control of the game the rest of the way.

"We let them have one good run," Alford said. "We've been a team through 23 games this year we've stayed away from a lot of bad runs and we had a bad run at San Diego State."

While Alford was still talking about his team's youthful ignorance a month ago, almost wearing it as a badge of honor, he is now talking up the fact that his team has rattled off six consecutive league wins because of their ability to adapt.

"We've at least experienced this," Alford said. "We've experienced being ranked 15th in the country once before. And this team is pretty good at learning from mistakes. They've proven that all year."

• • •

Martinez, who averages 13.9 points per game this season, is six points away from becoming the 14th player in program history to have 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in his career.

Martinez, the lone senior on this year's Lobos team, sits at 994 career points and has 564 rebounds.

While he said it would be a great honor to join such exclusive company, he said individual achievement isn't on top of his list of priorities at the moment,

"I'm more focused on the team and winning a championship," Martinez said.

• • •

San Diego State announced earlier this week that 6-7 sophomore forward Timothy Shelton will undergo season-ending knee surgery. He has missed the last five games.

"He hurt us in Game 1," Alford said. "You just feel sorry for him. Big time talent. He's one of those guys that is a tireless worker. You never like anyone getting hurt or missing games."

Shelton came off the bench and had eight points, four rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block against the Lobos on Jan. 5.

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3060 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at grammerschoolblog.com.