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Maybe coach Don Flanagan ought to transplant 18,000 hostile fans into The Pit to replace the friendly ones expected to show up.

Maybe he should pipe in some angry crowd noise. Pay a heckler to sit behind the UNM bench.

Or maybe Flanagan could put The Pit on wheels - sort of like a parade float - and relocate it to San Diego or Salt Lake City.

For Flanagan, the worst of all specters is - gulp - playing at home.

UNM is mired in a three-game slump at The Pit against Mountain West Conference foes. Of the Lobos' nine losses this season, six have come in The Pit, once a nearly invincible fort of protection.

"I don't know about this team," Flanagan said. "They seem to handle the adversity of playing on the road better than they handle the energy of their home crowd."

Flanagan has a theory about his team's recent woes at home.

"I think they are too worried about not playing well and disappointing their fans," he said.

The team's most recent Pit loss was a 41-38 setback to struggling Brigham Young. The Cougars had lost their previous two games by a combined 54 points.

UNLV, tonight's foe, comes to The Pit riding a four-game losing streak.

"BYU came in struggling and we made them not struggle anymore," Flanagan said. "So I'm not sure I want to face another team that is struggling."

Flanagan has a theory about that, too. MWC teams seem to give their best effort when they are playing the Lobos, he said.

"The main thing is . . . we've been successful for a long time so everyone wants to beat the Lobos," Flanagan said. "Nobody takes us lightly.

"I've watched BYU play San Diego State and I didn't see nearly the same intensity. I've watched TCU play UNLV and didn't see near as much effort. Then they play us, and it's a different team."

Of course, his own team appears to be a different team at home of late.

"At the beginning of the season we were playing with a lot of confidence (at home). All of the sudden, we lost a couple of games, and that confidence wasn't there anymore."

The problem area for the Lobos has been on offense, where the team has struggled to make many baskets, home or away. UNM is shooting 37 percent from the field and shot a dismal 16 percent from the field in the second half against BYU.

Defensively, Flanagan says his Lobos are playing the best of perhaps any of his past teams. They are holding foes to 52.8 points per game, sixth best in the nation.

"We just have to get over the hump and score some points," Flanagan said.

UNM sophomore point guard Amy Beggin said the team's focus is on improving in the final 10 regular season games in preparation for the MWC tournament.

"We have to start playing well again," she said. "We're not worried about the tournament right now. We just need to get better."

Leading scorer Dionne Marsh, who has drawn double- and triple-teams from opposing defenses throughout the season, said the shooting slump has been more of a mental block.

"We've just got to continue to keep shooting, knowing they're going to fall," she said. "There's still time for us to get this turned around."