Dr. DA — Albury using past experience to help teammates through struggles

Deyton Albury is not a licensed sports psychiatrist.

The UNM Lobos senior point guard who is second on the team in scoring and first in assists and steals, is, however, a veteran college player who has been through some things.

For instance, Albury had to come to grips with an unfamiliar dip in playing time last year  at Utah State. So when Albury saw teammates Tajavis Miller and Milos Vicentic going through something similar this season at UNM, he felt qualified to offer advice and encouragement.

"I would say I was kind of in the same situation last year at Utah State in the beginning of the season," said Albury, a 6-foot-3 guard who averaged 17.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists as a regular starter at Queens College in the 2023-24 season. After transferring to Utah State, Albury didn't start any of the team's first 11 games, didn't reach double-figure scoring for the first 10 games and had only one game of four assists or more all season.

Albury says he stayed ready and pounced on the opportunity when it presented itself at Utah State. Coincidentally, his first big game as an Aggie came against Eric Olen-coached UC San Diego, when he went off for 15 points off the bench on Dec. 17, 2024.

This season with UNM, Albury watched as Miller, his friend and roommate, went from one of the Summit League's most dependable players the previous three seasons at North Dakota State, into a Lobo whose offense was struggling and minutes were dipping.

"I wasn't getting the minutes that I wanted, shots wasn't falling," Albury said of his experience at Utah State. "And I kind of related the same situation with him, telling him, bro, it's a long season. It's a lot of time. Stay focused. Stay locked in. And yeah, he got his chance ... and made the most of it."

That chance for Miller, after having sat against five straight Division I opponents, came in Saturday's win over San Jose State. He made two 3-pointers, grabbed three rebounds and recorded an assist and a block to help UNM open Mountain West play with a victory.

A similar scenario played out for Lobo forward Milos Vicentic, a high-scoring former D-II star who was expected to start for Olen and UCSD last season before a season-ending injury in the Tritons' first game.

Vicentic's role this season has been smaller than ever.

"You know, Milos was in kind of the same situation as Javis, where in the beginning of the season, he wasn't getting the minutes, wasn't getting the touches that he wanted," Albury said. "And he was also my roommate down in Kansas (City for UNM's two games in November in the Hall of Fame Classic). I kind of had a personal conversation with him, kind of giving him the same advice that I gave Javis. And he got his chance and made the most of it as well."

Vicentic this past Saturday scored a DI career high 19 points in just 17 minutes after having not played more than eight minutes in a game against a DI opponent this season.

So, is Albury trying to be the team psychiatrist?

"Nah, nah. I'm just trying to be a leader," he said. "I've been around for a little bit, so gotta keep the guy's heads straight."

Next man up

So far, UNM has relied on myriad players to contribute — in fact, 11 Lobos have scored in double figures in a game this season.

Olen, who plays a moderately deep rotation — UNM's 37.3% bench minutes per game ranks 82nd nationally, fifth in the Mountain West per KenPom.com — is confident with the guys even at the end of the bench to answer when called upon.

"I think anytime guys aren't playing, it's easy for people from the outside to look and say, 'Oh, well, he's just not a good player, or he's not good enough.' That's not always the case," Olen said.

"It's (about) how's the team built? What does the team need? Other guys maybe help us more on the defensive glass, where that's not a strength for our team, so where Milos (for example) maybe provides a little more offensive punch. And so there's decisions about what does the team need? What are the lineups that make sense?"

In the Vicentic example, Olen said neither he nor his staff were surprised by the scoring outburst against SJSU. Vicentic's minutes, or lack of, have been dictated by matchups.

"We know what Milos is capable of," Olen said. "We were having conversations based on the matchups, and this was a game where (we believed) he could have 15 points in 12 minutes, or something like that. Like, we certainly knew he was capable of that, and it's great night for him to deliver it for us."

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