Buljan, Lobos rebound for big bounce back win over SEC foe

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There were 35 seconds left in Friday night’s game when UNM senior guard Chris Howell baited Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard into thinking he had a backdoor pass to a cutting teammate.

It was one of the only times in the Hall of Fame Classic battle that the ball didn’t go exactly where Hubbard intended.

Howell stepped in front of the pass, starting a fast break to the other end of the court finished by a layup by lightning quick Deyton Albury, putting the Lobos up for good in an 80-78 win over the Bulldogs in the consolation game of the Hall of Fame Classic in the T-Mobile Center.

“Great response from our team today,” said Eric Olen, the first-year Lobos coach who has already had to deal with the early season groans from an anxious fan base that grew even more uneasy 24 hours prior when the new-look Lobos played their worst half of basketball of the young season in a loss to Nebraska.

Friday, against the SEC’s Bulldogs — a team coached by Chris Jans, who had a winning record against the Lobos when he coached at New Mexico State, a run of success that saw his team often bully the Lobos on the boards — the Lobos (4-2) never looked like they didn’t belong. And even with MSU’s starting backcourt tandem of Hubbard and Jayden Eppsa combining for 50 points and 10 assists, on this night there was no doubt who the bully on the block was.

Tomislav Buljan, the 23-year-old freshman from Croatia, scored 19 points and grabbed a tone-setting 21 rebounds — a Lobo freshman record — in the win. The Lobos out-rebounded their more athletic SEC opponents, 46-36, and 13-8 on the offensive glass.

“That was the thing we talked about the most at halftime, was we were getting trash on the glass,” said Jans.

As for Buljan specifically?

“He just owned the glass,” Jans said. “I mean, wow — 21 rebounds, if I’m not mistaken. And just they went to him. ... Buljan was a handful for us. And he, in my opinion, he made the biggest shot of the game when he made that 3 (pointer).”

“That 3,” Jans is referring to, came at the right elbow with 2:06 left on the clock — erasing a two-point Bulldogs lead and putting UNM up in what had been a back-and-fourth second half, 76-75.

A Hubbard bucket on the next possession put Mississippi State back on top, 77-76, with 1:49 left before more than a minute before Howell’s steal led to the Albury layup.

Another Lobos defensive stop led to Uriah Tenette getting fouled, sinking two free throws with 7.6 seconds left and a 3-point (80-77) Lobos lead.

UNM fouled Epps on the ensuing possession, putting the Bulldogs guard at the free throw line with his team down three.

He made the first (80-78) and missed the second — naturally rebounded by Buljan to seal the game and a much needed win.

“We’re a work in progress as a group, and we haven’t been as consistent as we want to be, but our focus is really just on playing good basketball,” Olen said. “That’s the part that we can control. That’s the part that we can work on. And, you know, I understand fandom. ... People are going to react when we play well and at the times we don’t play well, and our job is to focus on the things that we can control.

“I love the way our guys work. Just really happy for the guys to get a result, because they’ve been working at it, and we haven’t been playing our best, but it was good to grind this one out.”

Neither team led by more than seven points Friday.

There were 14 lead changes and seven ties.

The Lobos outscored Mississippi State 40-39 in each half Friday, with all nine players who got in the game marking the score sheet by half time, with four finishing in double figures.

Albury and Tenette each scored 13 for the Lobos and Antonio Chol chipped in 12 points, all in the first half.

The foul discrepancy wasn’t much — 21 fouls called on MSU, 17 on UNM — but the types of fouls made a huge difference. MSU’s 21 fouls led to UNM getting 25 free throw attempts (the Lobos hit 16 of them) while UNM’s 17 fouls sent the MSU to the line just 13 times (the Bulldogs hit seven).

Albury update

Before the game, UNM released a statement about Albury’s ejection during UNM’s 84-72 loss to Nebraska on Thursday in the first game of the Hall of Fame Classic.

“During last night’s game, Deyton Albury committed an act that was rightfully assessed as a Flagrant 2 foul.

“Since the incident, Deyton has been fully remorseful, personally apologizing to the Nebraska student-athlete involved, as well as to his teammates, coaches, staff, and our fans.

“Deyton served an ejection from last night’s game and will not start tonight’s game vs. Mississippi State, though he will be available to play. We will also address the matter within our program as appropriate, and any additional team discipline will be handled internally in line with our expectations and standards.”

Albury, a usual starter, played 23 minutes off the bench Friday, scoring 13 points and drawing five fouls.

Notes

• Buljan was selected to the All-Tournament team.

• Buljan’s 21 rebounds broke the freshman rebounding record that had been held by Kenny Thomas, who had 17 against No. 10 Utah on March 9, 1996 in the WAC Championship game.

• UNM’s two steals were a season low (the Lobos had been averaging 9.6 per game).

• Mississippi State’s seven turnovers were a UNM opponent low (Lobo opponents were averaging 16.8).

• UNM’s last win against an SEC team came Dec. 13, 2008, in a 103-70 victory over Ole Miss in the Pit. UNM is now 1-10 vs. the SEC outside the Pit and 6-0 vs. the SEC in the Pit.

Box Score

FINAL: New Mexico 80, Mississippi State 78

UNM vs. Mississippi State in Hall of Fame Classic: Photos

Geoff Grammer covers college basketball and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.