Lobos' young guns again come up big, this time propelling UNM over UC Santa Barbara

20231206-spts-unmucsb-2 — UNM’s JT Toppin defends UC Santa Barbara’s Yohan Traore during their game Wednesday night at the Pit.

20231206-spts-unmucsb-11 — UNM’s Tru Washington signs autographs for kids after their game against UC Santa Barbara, at the Pit, in Albuquerque, Wednesday, December 6, 2023.

20231206-spts-unmucsb-12 — UNM’s JT Toppin, right, takes the ball to the hoop against UC Santa Barbara’s Evans Kipruto during the first half of their game at the Pit, in Albuquerque, Wednesday, December 6, 2023.

20231206-spts-unmucsb-5 — UNM’s Donovan Dent, right, guards UC Santa Barbara’s Josh Pierre-Louis during the first half of their game Wednesday.

Geoff Grammer Geoff Grammer Geoff Grammer Journal Staff Writer

Published December 6, 2023 - 9:04 p.m. Modified January 10, 2025 - 2:00 a.m.

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New Mexico vs. Santa Clara, 3 p.m., Jack Jones Classic (Henderson, Nev.), BallerTV (online), 770 AM/96.3 FM

It wasn’t the same old Lobos on Wednesday night.

This was the same young Lobos.

With leading scorer Jamal Mashburn Jr. missing his fourth consecutive game with an injury and Jaelen House struggling from the floor after back-to-back huge games after he missed five games with an injury, sophomore Donovan Dent and freshmen JT Toppin and Tru Washington took over on both ends of the floor.

The trio of young guns combined to score 58 points, five of the team’s six blocked shots and six of UNM’s 13 steals (the most for UNM since January 2020) in a comfortable, nearly wire-to-wire 84-61 over visiting UC Santa Barbara in the Pit.

“We shared the ball,” said Dent, who had 8 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals to go along with his game-high 23 points. “Again, another great stat sheet, all around box score. JT 18 (points), Tru 17 (points) — just sharing the ball. That’s where we’ve been (working) in practice.”

The win was No. 7 in a row for UNM (8-1 overall) while the Gauchos fell to 4-3 and had their four-game win streak snapped.

Dent’s poise early and ability to get to the rim whenever he wanted sparked an early 12-0 run for the Lobos that gave UNM a 16-6 lead with 14:29 left in the first half and UNM kept the preseason Big West favorites at arm’s length much of the rest of the game.

Toppin finished with 18 points (8-of-9 shooting), 4 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Washington, the reigning Mountain West Freshman of the Week (Toppin won it the previous two weeks) finished with 17 points (all in the second half), 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.

“It’s pretty impressive, to me personally, to see those guys going out there and dominate the game like that,” UNM senior forward Isaac Mushila, who didn’t score, but grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. “For me, I just take a back seat and just watch them and enjoy whatever they’re doing because you can’t just come in (to college basketball) like this and just being true freshmen and dominate like they do. I just enjoy whatever they’re doing.”

Another 12-0 run midway through the second half pushed the UNM lead to 20 with 9:31 remaining and the announced crowd of 10,311 in the Pit — who showed much appreciation for how the Lobos defense was generating most of its offense — began to slowly trickle out of the arena.

“Just phenomenal defensive performance in the second half,” UNM coach Richard Pitino said. “That lineup of Isaac (Mushila), and Tru and House and Donovan and whether it was JT or Nelly (Junior Joseph), just unbelievable defensively versus a really good offensive team. We really stepped it up. I think our depth is allowing us to keep subbing guys in, even though we have one of the best guards in the country out and we’re not missing a beat.”

UC Santa Barbara, which entered the game averaging 79.7 points per game and shooting 53.2% from the floor, was held to nearly 19 points under their season scoring average and shot just 21-of-58 from the floor — 36.2%, which is 11 points off their previous season low of 47.2%. UNM scored 22 points off a season-worst 19 UCSB turnovers.

UCSB star guard Ajay Mitchell, the preseason pick for Big West Player of the Year, finished with a team-high 22 points but on just 4-of-17 shooting. He was 14-of-14 at the free throw line, though, including hitting four technical foul shots in the second half.

UNM scored 54 points in the paint and had a 24-6 advantage in bench scoring.

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING: Both House (18:22) and Pitino (14:31) were assessed technicals in the second half by referee Mike Reed.

House looked at Reed and wondered why a foul wasn’t called on a play, leading to his technical. Later in the half, Dent looked at Reed with palms up wondering where a foul was, as did the entire Lobos’ bench.

Reed extended his arm and index finger at Dent and gave him a stern look, leading Pitino to yell at Reed and be assessed a technical.

MASHLESS: Pitino said after the game that Mashburn (18.2 points per game) will not play Saturday against Santa Clara in the Jack Jones Classic in Henderson, Nev., due to the deep quadriceps contusion and an injured thumb that has kept him out of practice the past two weeks.

BRONCOFULL: UNM’s new head football coach, Bronco Mendenhall, was introduced to the Pit crowd during a first-half timeout. Mendenhall walked on to the floor and waved but did not speak.