Albury’s edge fuels Lobos before Reno showdown

RENO, Nev. — Eric Olen wasn't talking to Deyton Albury specifically at halftime Saturday against Fresno State in California.

The UNM Lobos coach did discuss his team's ability, or inability, to finish through contact at the rim and the need to continue to attack the basket, putting pressure on the Bulldogs defense.

"I felt like he was talking directly to me at the moment," Albury told the Journal on Monday in Reno.

Olen was talking to everybody. But Albury taking it as a message to him was a positive byproduct of Olen's vagueness.

Whatever the case, a 4-for-10 (40.0%) shooting clip at the rim in the first half for UNM turned into an 11-for-15 (73.3%) showing at the rim in the second half.

Albury, who scored 15 of his team-high 21 points and took seven of his nine free throw attempts after halftime, was a big reason why.

"I thought Deyton Albury changed the game in second half," Olen told the Journal after Saturday's dramatic win for the Lobos, who set a team record in coming back from 22 points down. 

Albury's game capped what might have been his best week of the season for UNM — 17.5 points per game, 66.7% shooting, 11-of-13 at the free throw line (84.6%), 17 rebounds, six assists, four steals and just three turnovers (zero turnovers at Fresno State). 

The senior guard said he was at a "different level of focus" in the second half of Saturday's game.

"I would just say my willingness and wanting to win that game played a huge factor in it," he said.

Freshman guard Jake Hall, whose last-minute heroics will be the lasting memory for most of the comeback victory, said after the game that Albury and senior Luke Haupt have been ideal leaders for the team this season.

With the win at Fresno State, the Lobos kept their Mountain West title hopes alive on a day the other three teams in the top four of the standings lost.

"I would say me and Luke did a lot of leading by example (in Saturday's second half) and turning it up on the defensive end — that's where we were lacking a lot in the first half," Albury said. "I picked up my ball pressure a little bit. Luke had some big blocks down the stretch. I feel like when the younger guys saw that defensively, we just gelled as a team defensively and had stops."

The Lobos (21-6, 12-4 Mountain West) will need that to carry that intensity over to Reno where they play Nevada on Tuesday. 

UNM can't afford to flirt with any large first-half deficits against the Wolf Pack (18-9, 10-6 MW), which is coming off its only Quad 1 win of the season, beating first-place Utah State 80-77 on Saturday in Lawlor Events Center.

"Obviously, beating the number one seed in the Mountain West, they are very confident," Albury said.

Nevada's pack-it-in defense will make attacking the rim a problem for the Lobos, but UNM has shown offensive versatility this season.

In an 80-73 win over the Wolf Pack in the Pit on Jan. 24, the Lobos knocked down 12 three-pointers, slightly above their 9.6-per-game average. 

On the line

A Lobos win on Tuesday clinches at least a top-four finish in the league and a bye into the Mountain West Tournament quarterfinals.

Hall award

Hall on Monday was named by the Mountain West the league's Freshman of the Week, his fourth such honor of the season.

The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 18.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in wins over Air Force and Fresno State and shot 65.0% (13-20) from the floor, also hitting five 3-pointers.

Series notes

UNM trails Nevada 14-12 overall in the series, but has won the last five games in the series. Nevada coach Steve Alford, the former Lobos coach, had won his first eight times against his old team.

The last Nevada win over UNM was on Feb. 7, 2023 in Reno. Current Nevada assistant Jarod Lucas scored 28 points and hit six 3-pointers in the Wolf Pack's 77-76 win. It was also a game that involved a late flagrant foul called on the Lobos retroactively in the final seconds when UNM called a timeout and the officials went to the monitors during the stoppage in play and made the call, helping seal the Nevada victory.

The game earlier this season in the Pit was competitive one with the Lobos winning behind their trio of freshmen: 19 points, four assists from Jake Hall; 11 points, 15 rebounds from Tomislav Buljan; and 13 points, five assists and two steals from Uriah Tenette.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.