ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Creighton could have picked an easier place to make a last-chance stab at posting a marquee nonconference win.

Few visiting teams emerge from The Pit, New Mexico’s legendary arena, with a victory. The Lobos have won 81 percent of the 765 games played in The Pit since the building opened in 1966. Seven of the 621 wins have come this season as New Mexico has run its home-court winning streak to 16, eighth longest in the country.

The Lobos have had six longer streaks in the building, including a school-record 41 straight from Feb. 10, 1996, to Feb. 26, 1998. Since Steve Alford took over the program to start the 2007-08 season, New Mexico is 39-4 in The Pit.

“It’s a special place,’’ Alford said. “It sits a mile high and it’s 37 feet deep. It’s almost always sold out. It’s just a fun place to play.’’

Not if you’re 4-5, as Creighton is, and facing the surprise team from the first month of the college basketball season. Alford’s team, with just one senior on the roster, has run off 11 straight victories and vaulted into the No. 19 spot in the national rankings.

“This is a big challenge for us,’’ Creighton coach Dana Altman said. “Their arena is very tough to play in and they’re on a high. They’re ranked for the first time in a long time and undefeated. This will be by far our toughest game so far.’’

When Creighton announced its schedule last summer, tonight’s 8 o’clock game was one of a half-dozen nonconference contests that provided the Bluejays with a chance to garner some national attention. But Creighton has squandered that opportunity, losing at Dayton and George Mason and going 0-3 on a neutral court in the Old Spice Classic.

One of the losses in Orlando was to a Michigan team that was ranked 15th at the time. Dayton also was ranked when the Bluejays visited in November and fell 90-80 to the No. 21 Flyers.

Creighton hasn’t played three ranked nonconference teams in November and December since 1965. The last time the Bluejays faced three rated nonconference opponents was in the 2001-02 season, but two of the meetings came in March when they faced Florida and Illinois in the NCAA tournament.

Altman and his players admit that their failure to make more of this season’s opportunities leaves them disappointed.

“I didn’t know what our record would be at this point, but I just thought we’d be further along as a basketball team,’’ Altman said. “You guys (reporters) focus a lot on wins and losses, and they’re obviously very important.

“But I’m also focused in on where we’re at as a ballclub and what facets of the game we’re improving on. As a coach, I’m focused on what we have to do to get better. We’re just making the progress as fast as we need to, and so we weren’t able to take advantage of those opportunities.’’

That’s not something the Bluejays can afford to dwell on, junior center Kenny Lawson said.

“Anytime you lose, it’s disappointing,’’ he said. “But Coach has been telling us that we can’t look back. What’s in the past is in the past, and you can’t control that.

“All we can control is what’s in the future and what we do the next day in practice. We’ve had a couple disappointing losses, but there’s nothing we can do about that. We just have to continue to fight, and hopefully the present will have a better conclusion to it.’’

Creighton’s inability to finish off games has been one of its shortcomings. The Bluejays were within four points of Dayton with two minutes to play but wound up losing by 10. They led Michigan by five with four minutes to play but needed a buzzer beater to send the game into overtime, where they lost by seven.

They faded in the stretch against Iona, allowing the Gaels to post an eight-point win. And after leading for almost all of the second half at George Mason, Creighton gave up five points in the final 18 seconds — two on a technical foul on Altman — to allow the Patriots to pull out a 75-72 win.

Sticking close enough to the Lobos to have a chance at the end will be a huge challenge tonight for the Bluejays. New Mexico is winning by an average of 17 points per game, and the Lobos have steamrolled seven opponents at home by an average of 23 points.

Altman has never taken a team to The Pit, but he was in the building in 1983 when North Carolina State won the national championship on a buzzer-beating shot.

“That’s the last time I’ve been in The Pit,’’ he said. “It’s an imposing venue.’’

That word is getting around to his players. Creighton assistant Brian Fish coached in the building when he was a member of the Texas Christian staff. Graduate assistant Mike Jones played there for TCU.

“Coach Fish was telling me that it’s going to be louder and bigger than Dayton,’’ Creighton freshman Ethan Wragge said. “And I thought Dayton was a loud place.

“Playing teams like this is good for us. We know what we have to do, and we’ll just have to do it on Saturday.’’

• NOTES: A win tonight would be just Creighton’s third in 66 games against a ranked team on the road. Overall, the Bluejays are 18-115 all-time against teams ranked in the Associated Press poll. ... Tonight’s game is part of the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge. ... The series features nine games between the two leagues in each of the next four seasons. The Valley leads this season’s series 3-2. ... One key to tonight’s game: New Mexico has outscored its 11 opponents 215-132 in points off turnovers. Creighton is minus-28 in points off turnovers in its five losses this season.

Contact the writer:

679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

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