Uriah Tenette, a high-flying, high-scoring 5-10 point guard, commits to UNM Lobos

The Lobos got their quarterback of the future.

No, not UNM football coach Jason Eck. Saturday’s big recruiting win came via Eric Olen and the Lobo basketball team.

Uriah Tenette, a 5-foot-10 dynamic two-sport star and social media dunking phenom from Prescott (Arizona) High School, committed to Lobo basketball on Saturday morning, a day after completing an official recruiting visit with his parents in Albuquerque.

Despite his height, listed by some sources as tall as 6-foot, it’s hard to overlook Tenette’s sheer dominance in football and basketball, leading both teams to the playoffs in his senior season.

Rated a three-star recruit by 247Sports, Tenette scored 31.4 points per game his junior year, which led the state of Arizona. This past season, as a senior, he was fourth in the state at 29.2 points, while also averaging 5.4 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 2.9 steals per game. He shot 50.2% from the floor, 35.1% from 3-point range and 87.6% from the free-throw line while averaging 8.3 free throw attempts per game.

He finished his high school career scoring 2,752 points — seventh all-time in state history.

Tenette joins 3,100-point career high school scorer Jake Hall of Carlsbad, California, as the two prep recruits Olen had targeted to play in his system at UC San Diego — both signing to do so in the November early signing period.

When Olen took the UNM job, both prep guards decommitted from UC San Diego. Hall wasted little time announcing he would follow Olen to Albuquerque. Tenette, whose senior season included several Division I programs checking in to make sure he was still committed to UC San Diego, made a recruiting visit Thursday and Friday to Albuquerque, officially committing via social media on Saturday morning.

In football, Prescott’s starting quarterback threw for 21 TDs and rushed for 15 more while accounting for more than 3,000 yards.

But basketball, he has said, is where his heart is.

Longtime Arizona Republic high school sports reporter Richard Obert covered Tenette’s prep career, calling him one of the best two-sport athletes in the state.

“Tremendous athlete,” Obert told the Journal on Saturday. “The Prescott football coach felt that he could have been a Division I quarterback with his ability to run and make throws on the run. When I saw him play at Brophy in the first round of the open state basketball tournament his junior year, I thought he was the best player on the court, even though his team lost.

“I thought he should have been a high major recruit. Scores at all three levels, and anticipated really well on defense. Very smart player. He’ll surprise you by his hops. He could have filled a highlight reel this past season just with his dunks, some of them 360s.”

Tenette’s list of highlights is long, including a 54-point, 10-assist, four-steal game in a Dec. 27 win vs. Chatsworth (California) High School. That team boasts 6-6 five-star USC commit Alijah Arenas (who had 56 in the game), proving to be one of the best individual vs. individual performances out west all season.

In Obert’s December article chronicling Tenette’s star power in both sports, Prescott basketball coach Travis Stedman spoke on how teams have tried for years to solve the problem of guarding Tenette.

“We’ve seen everything,” Stedman told the Arizona Republic. “Most teams try to pack it in, and make him try to give it up. They’ll run two guys at him. We’ve seen it where they’ll double-team him the whole possession. We’ve seen it where they’ll double-team the ball screens. There isn’t a defense we haven’t seen in the four years I’ve been coaching him.”

ARIZONA’S BEST: Tenette’s 2,752 career points at Prescott is seventh all-time on Arizona’s career scoring leaders list:

1. Robert Burries, Globe — 3,387 (2015-19)

2. Corey Hawkins, Estrella Foothills — 3,154 (2007-10)

3. Mike Bibby, Shadow Mountain — 3,002 (1993-96)

4. Terrell Stoglin, Santa Rita — 2,901 (2007-10)

5. Jerryd Bayless, St. Mary’s — 2,888 (2004-07)

6. Nick Greene, Mingus/Shadow Mountain — 2,879 (1993-96)

7. Uriah Tenette, Prescott — 2,752 (2021-25)

The roster, for now

The Lobos currently have seven players on scholarship (there are 15 scholarships allowed this season for men’s basketball).

They are, alphabetically:

• Antonio Chol, 6-9 forward, junior college transfer from Garden City Community College in Kansas (two years of eligibility)
• Jake Hall, 6-4 guard, Carlsbad (California) High School (four years of eligibility)
• Chris Howell, 6-6 guard, transfer from UC San Diego (one year of eligibility)
• Kallai Patton, 6-4 guard, transfer from USC (four years of eligibility)
• Kevin Patton, 6-8 forward, transfer from USC (two years of eligibility)
• Uriah Tenette, 5-10, Prescott (Arizona) High School (four years of eligibility)
• Milos Vicentic, 6-7 forward, graduate transfer from UC San Diego (one year of eligibility)

Portal Kombat

Statistician Evan Miya of EvanMiya.com noted the past week that there are 44 Division I teams with 10 or more players with eligibility remaining who played in 2025 who have entered the transfer portal.

UNM’s seven new players matches UNLV the most new players signed so far by a Mountian West team and there are several teams around the country who don’t have even five players on a roster as of Saturday.

DATES TO KNOW: The transfer portal closes Tuesday at midnight, meaning any player hoping to play at a new school for the 2025-26 season has to be “in” the portal by then.

But recruiting of the well over 2,000 players who have entered the portal continues up until the start of the fall semester.

When former Lobo coach Richard Pitino was hired in 2021, his first recruit announced by the school was Jaelen House on April 22. The next season, Morris Udeze and Josiah Allick weren’t added to the roster until May 2022. In 2023, only two of UNM’s five newcomers were signed before April 20, according to UNM. And last year, April 22 (C.J. Noland) was the first portal pickup announced by UNM.