Lobos' super sophomore Donovan Dent continues to crush California competition

That Cali kid just keeps flourishing for the UNM Lobos.

And just in case anyone in the state of California needs a reminder about that state’s2022 Mr. Basketball who led the Corona (Calif.) Centennial to the 2022 state championship and a national No. 2 ranking, well, Donovan Dent appears to have no problem offering a refresher course for them.

Dent, the 6-foot-2 sophomore guard for the Lobos, continued his breakout season Monday, winning the Mountain West Player of the Week award after averaging 22.5 points, 6.0 assists and 2.5 steals in a pair of UNM wins over Golden State teams UC Santa Barbara and Santa Clara.

“Donovan Dent continues to be great,” UNM coach Richard Pitino, who called Dent the future of the program two years ago when he recruited him away from California, said after last week’s win over UC Santa Barbara. “... He’s been pretty consistently doing what we need him to do.”

Preseason All-MW guards Jaelen House and Jamal Mashburn Jr. have both missed five games due to injury this season, appearing on the court together just 15:04 of a possible 400 game minutes so far (3.8%), yet the Lobos are still 9-1 thanks in large part to Dent.

He is the first Lobo in his second year of college to earn a conference player of the year award since Kevin Henry won a Western Athletic Conference-Pacific Division Player of the Week award in the 1998-99 season. Ruben Douglas (2000-01) and Elijah Brown (2015-16) were both third-year, redshirt sophomores when they won Mountain West Player of the Week awards, but no Lobo freshman or true sophomore ever had.

Until Monday.

And while you can continue to slice up Dent’s accomplishments in a variety of ways, how about focusing in on what he continues to do to teams from his home state.

UNM is now 9-3 vs. California teams with Dent in the lineup (6-2 last season, 3-1 so far this season).

In this season’s four games vs. California teams — a loss at Saint Mary’s and wins over Pepperdine, UCSB and Santa Clara — Dent is averaging 21.0 points, 6.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

After his 13 point, 2 assist game in last season’s road win at Saint Mary’s, a performance that earned him MW Freshman of the Week, Dent told the Journal he always feels something special when there’s any California story line attached.

“This is my place,” Dent told the Journal in Moraga, Calif., after UNM’s Nov. 30, 2022, victory over the Gaels last season. “California is my state forever. I felt right in place here.”

Dent and the Lobos have five more games against California teams this season, with the first coming next week in the Pit vs. UC Irvine.

TOPPIN, TOO: Dent wasn’t the only Lobo getting love from the league office on Monday.

JT Toppin, the Lobos’ 6-9 forward from Texas, earned his third MW Freshman of the Week award and fourth in a row for the UNM Lobos (Tru Washington won it last week).

Toppin averaged 14.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks while shooting 76.5% from the floor in wins over UCSB and Santa Clara.

The FOW award is just in its third season in the Mountain West. No Lobo won it in 2021-22, Dent won the award once last season and now Toppin (three) and Washington (once) have owned the past month of the award with Wyoming’s Cam Manyawu the only other freshman to win it (after Week 1 on Nov. 13).

POLL POSITION: There was one Mountain West team in the new Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday morning and another three, including the Lobos, that appeared in the “others receiving votes” portion of the poll.

Despite a home loss to Saint Mary’s, Colorado State remained ranked but dropped four spots to No. 17, appearing on 58 of the 63 total ballots.

The three Mountain West teams unranked but receiving votes were San Diego State (7 pts, 10 spots out of being ranked), Nevada (5 pts, 13 spots out), and UNM (2 pts, 15 spots out).

For the Lobos, they appeared on one ballot at No. 24 by Brian Holland of WVLA-TV in Baton Rouge, La.

Nevada, despite a 19-point, neutral court loss to Drake on Saturday, actually moved up from 22 to 21, accounting for all five of the Wolf Pack’s points, on the ballot of Dylan Sinn of the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

NET GAINS: Monday’s NET rankings from the NCAA had the Lobos up to No. 24, second highest in the conference:

16 Colorado State

24 New Mexico

29 San Diego State

31 Utah State

52 Nevada

113 Boise State

150 San Jose State

160 Air Force

172 Wyoming

214 UNLV

232 Fresno State

STINGY: UNM opponents are shooting 39.8 percent from the floor this season. That’s second best in the Mountain West (Nevada is first at 39.3%).

They are the only two Mountain West teams holding opponents under 40% shooting.