Let bygones be bygones: Arizona Wildcats reestablish series with regional foe New Mexico

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The Pit, formally known as the Wisepies Arena now, is the home of the New Mexico Lobos (Flickr creative commons photo)

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Former Arizona coach Lute Olson vowed to “unequivocally” end the Wildcats’ series with New Mexico after a controversial loss at The Pit in 1999.

Almost 16 years later, the series between the old Border Conference and WAC rivals will resume with a home-and-home arrangement in 2016 and 2017. Arizona will host on Dec. 17, 2016, and will go to The Pit (now formally called the Wisepies Arena) in Albuquerque on Dec. 16. 2017.

In the last game between the teams at The Pit on Jan. 16, 1999, New Mexico point guard John Robinson II took the inbound pass, raced downcourt and threw a pass to teammate Damion Walker under the basket. Walker shot over the outstretched arms of Arizona freshman Michael Wright for the game-winning shot.

Replays show the game clock may have started a fraction of a second late on the inbound pass, allowing New Mexico additional time to get the ball down the court.

New Mexico won the last game of the series played at McKale Center on Dec. 21, 1999. The 70-68 loss to the Lobos — on another last-second shot — ended Arizona’s 37-game home winning streak. ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla was New Mexico’s coach.

New Mexico was one of the few regional non-conference opponents that challenged Olson’s program at Arizona since he arrived in 1983. The Lobos were 5-5 against him, including wins in three of the last four games of the series.

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A pretty angry Lute Olson explains it this way in @SteveRivera95 archived piece here on that crazy finish at the Pit: http://t.co/bJGGQNuRlV

— Bruce Pascoe (@BrucePascoe) May 11, 2015

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The 1996 loss at The Pit, when I covered Arizona for The Arizona Daily Star, was the only time I saw Olson take off his jacket in anger during a game. Olson was called for a technical foul with 3:25 left in the first half when Mike Bibby was knocked to the floor by Kenny Thomas with no foul called.

Who can forget the 61-59 loss at The Pit in 1988 when Arizona was ranked No. 1 for the first time? Arizona, which never led, had four shots to tie or win in the final 42 seconds but missed them all.

The series revival between Arizona and New Mexico is a good move by Sean Miller and Greg Byrne, both of whom have made it a point to schedule quality regional non-conference opponents such as UNLV, UTEP, New Mexico State, Texas Tech and BYU in recent years.

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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He has also written articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.