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For Lobos past and future, for players on the court, for the first-year head coach and — maybe especially — for the fans, University of New Mexico basketball is fun right now.

"It's hard not to find a lot of good things to say about this team," head coach Steve Alford said after the Lobos used a 19-0 second-half run to wax TCU 64-48 Saturday night. "We're having a lot of fun."

How could they not be?

The Lobos have 20 wins for the 21st time in program history. It's the ninth time an Alford-coached team has hit the mark.

By stomping TCU, UNM capped a week of revenge games. It started by beating San Diego State on the road Wednesday to knock the Aztecs a game back in the standings and pay back a January loss at The Pit.

The Lobos also owed TCU, which was down 18 points in the second half of the teams' first matchup, in Fort Worth last month, before rallying to win by two on a Ryan Wall 3-pointer with less than two seconds left. Wall had played at UNM under coach Ritchie McKay before transferring. The game-winner was his only points that night.

Saturday night, Wall's one shot attempt was an air ball from a foot behind the 3-point line that earned a merciless cascade of taunts and chants from The Pit faithful.

The good-times aura at University Arena got a karmic boost from two fans in particular.

Danny Granger arrived at The Pit at halftime and was introduced to the crowd before taking a seat behind the scorers' table. The ex-Lobo-turned-Pacers'-leading-scorer wore a diamond studded "33" around his neck and what had to be the nicest watch on any wrist in attendance.

Granger flew in from the NBA's All-Star festivities in New Orleans for a night in Albuquerque.

"I had some people to talk to," he said, "and I definitely wanted to catch the game."

Granger hadn't watched the Lobos live this season, but said he's been following their progress closely from home.

Also at The Pit was Highland High School's Chad Adams, who picked that night to verbally commit to play for UNM. The 6-foot-5 junior swingman is averaging 17 points and 8.5 rebounds this season.

As the Lobos' present celebrated a big win, past and future connected in the locker room.

"It was funny," said Highland coach Danny Brown, who was there with Adams. "We went up to the locker room. . . after the game and Danny Granger was there and Chad talked to him.

"I was looking at them and I just thought it was funny. I've always thought Chad was like a mini version of Granger. Their games are similar, and they even kind of look alike."

Brown said Adams, once he bulks up some, will be a "good three (small forward) or four (power forward) for UNM: a swing player who can do a lot of things."

Granger was probably lucky he missed the first half, a slog of scoreless stretches and turnovers. The Lobos managed four points in the game's first five minutes before J.R. Giddens ripped off seven straight — including a spinning layup and a long baseline jumper — to tie the game at 11 halfway through the first.

Up only three at half — 26-23 — the Lobos went on a blistering run to give themselves a cushion the Horned Frogs barely challenged. Freshman Jonathan Wills started the 19-0 burst with three free throws after being fouled behind the line. With The Pit's crowd (16,385) standing for the entire scoreless TCU stretch — growing louder with each defensive stop — Wills added another 3, Roman Martinez and Chad Toppert each chipped in from long range and Giddens and forward Daniel Faris added jump shots and free throws. The 3-point edge at the break became 22 after a little more than six minutes.

It was a defensive win for the Lobos, who stayed in man-to-man for most of the game and forced 23 turnovers while committing only 12. TCU leading scorer Kevin Langford had no field goals and managed only four points.

"We do a good job, especially in this building, on our man-to-man," Alford said.

Giddens scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead all players in both categories. He acknowledged being boosted by the rain of ear-splitting crowd noise.

"We got very hyped," he said. "We could really feel the intensity from the crowd."

With March looming, the Lobos (20-6, 7-4 in the Mountain West) have five games left and are the conference's third-place team, looking up at BYU (9-1 MWC) and UNLV (8-3 MWC). Both teams remain on the schedule.

"I'm very excited about the win," Alford said Saturday. "It puts us in position to have a lot of fun in the next three-to-four weeks."