Donovan Dent has been great, but Lobos need help at PG until Jaelen House returns

So, what if this somewhat vague Jaelen House hip injury lingers longer than anyone thought?

After all, the Lobos’ fifth-year senior point guard and preseason All-Mountain West selection already missed about five weeks of preseason practices and now has missed the past two games for UNM with his status for this week’s three games in the Ball Dawgs Classic in Nevada said to be “day-to-day.”

What then?

On the one hand, sophomore point guard Donovan Dent has performed tremendously, clearly en route to the breakout sophomore season many around the Pit envision. He leads the team through three games in scoring (17.3 points per game), assists (5.3), steals (2.0) and even 3-point shooting percentage (57.1%), though on a modest 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.

But while he was a luxury off the bench as a freshman to spell vital point guard minutes last season when House needed a rest or just needed some time playing off the ball, what do the Lobos do now when Dent needs a breather or gets in foul trouble?

Senior Jamal Mashburn Jr., the leading returning scorer in the Mountain West, who is at 17.0 points per game this season, is a shooter and a scorer first and foremost. Asking him to initiate the team’s offense with the ball in his hands has proven so far this season to be less than ideal — for his own scoring and for the involvement of others.

“That’s something we’re trying to work on with Mash, because Mash is a just a born scorer,” said UNM Lobos coach Richard Pitino. “But he gets a little bit tunnel vision at times, because he legitimately can get his shot off whenever he wants. He’s unique player in the sense of he can go one, two dribbles and shoot it and get off a clean enough look where you can say let’s run that every time. But where he’s got to work on is working the game a little more.”

What about seventh-year guard Jemarl Baker Jr., the Fresno State transfer who was brought in to play the 3, but has played the 1 and 2 guard spots in the past too?

“The problem with Baker versus Mash is I don’t think Baker can necessarily sustain those minutes that Mash maybe can just because of past knee issues,” Pitino said. “Now, I thought Jemarl Baker looked really good and healthy last game. So hopefully we can continue to rely on that.”

TOP(PIN) FRESHMAN: Freshman forward JT Toppin’s fast start to the season, and to his college career, is catching the eyes of more than just Lobo fans.

Monday, Toppin was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Week after posting a double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds) in the Lobos’ 82-80 win last week over UT Arlington. He’s the first Lobo true freshman to post a double-double since Hugh Greenwood had 10 points and 10 rebounds in a victory at Boise State in the 2011-12 season.

PICKING UP STREAM: This week’s Ball Dawgs Classic at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev., a 12-minute drive southeast of the airport, will have its games streamed on FloHoops.com.

It’s the home of the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights, an affiliate of the Las Vegas Golden Knights hockey team, the Vegas Knight Hawks, an indoor football league in the same league as Albuquerque’s Duke City Gladiators, and the NBA G League Ignite team.

The streaming service offers an annual subscription for $150 ($12.50 per month when paid in full for the whole year) or $29.99 for a monthly subscription, which is the minimum needed to watch this week’s three Lobos games.

The site does say you can cancel your monthly subscription at any time. Subscriptions are automatically renewed if not canceled.

POLL POSITION: Three Mountain West teams are in the “others receiving votes” portion of this week’s new Associated Press Top 25 poll, which was released on Monday.

San Diego State received 77 points, placing them four spots outside of being ranked (No. 25 Mississippi State has 163 points). Both Colorado State and Nevada received one point, each appearing at No. 25 on one voter’s ballot.