Emptying the Notebook: At long last, Timéo Time in the Pit!

Here are some notes, quotes, stats, trends and other odds & ends I emptied out of the old notebook after Monday's 97-47 UNM Lobos win over New Mexico Highlands in the Pit:

Timéo Time!

When UNM recruit Timéo Pons averaged 7.4 points and hit a team-high 11 3-pointers in seven games for Team France over the summer in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in Spain, excitement started to grow among Lobo fans across the pond in Albuquerque.

The 6-foot-9 guard was a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range against Team USA and had a 15-point, three-3-pointer game against Mali in the tournament.

But since he's arrived in the United States — later in the summer than every one of his teammates — Pons hasn't been able to break through on the court with regular minutes.

Before Monday's game — a 97-47 blowout win over Division II New Mexico Highlands — Pons had appeared in just two games, had yet to score and was on the floor a total of 3 minutes and 2 seconds.

Fans asked why he wasn't playing more, which essentially was because he's not yet up to speed with all aspects of Eric Olen's system, which was evident at times in Monday's game.

What was also evident against Highlands was that same high-end offensive skill set he showed for Team France this summer.

"He's fun to watch play," Olen said with a bit of a chuckle. "He has an enthusiasm when he's out there."

With relative height, athleticism and a pure shooting stroke, you can see that he has the potential to be a key piece of the Lobos team.

And he was anything but shy about making sure he got his shots up in the rare chance he got off the bench.

Monday, the freshman had 11 points, three assists and hit 3-of-7 shots, all from beyond he arc — in just 14:30 on the court.

"Shot making is stuff that we see all the time (from him in practice)," Olen said. "Timéo, like everyone on our team, has areas that he can grow in, but he's a really talented player. I don't think anyone's surprised that he found some volume and put in the basket."

But what struck me more than that skill set was what happened after the game.

That "enthusiasm" Olen referenced on the court was also there in the postgame press conference. Pons gave his first interview as a Lobo and it was the first time I've seen six or seven Lobo teammates sneak into the back of the Pit media room to watch a player speak.

"Super fun," Pons said of Monday's game with a huge smile and a thick French accent. "I love it."

Olen had joked at a Sept. 16 news conference that "nobody is having more fun in college than Timéo Pons," though the coach didn't expand.

As it turns out, Pons is still very much loving college.

"I love the American life and the college life," he said. "To be with all my friends and to be able to play basketball."

The gamer

Here's the gamer I filed from the Pit media room Monday night:

• UNM extends home winning streak to 16 with blowout victory over NM Highlands

A number to know: +42

Kevin Patton Jr., as I've mentioned a few times more and more in the past two weeks, is really starting to break his way into being a force off the bench.

Monday, he posted a plus/minus number I'm not sure I've ever seen before.

In just 20:23 on the floor, Patton posted a +42.

For those unfamiliar with the plus/minus stat, it is merely a representation of your team's scoring differential for the time you're on the court.

In the case of Monday, and Patton, the Lobos outscored New Mexico Highlands by 42 points in the 20 minutes, 23 seconds he was on the court. Had he played a full 40 minutes, that's almost an 84-point win you're talking about.

That is crazy good.

So was this dunk (and foul) ...

And this alley-oop on the fast break (as seen in another angle up above in the Timéo Pons section ...

Kevin Patton Jr. vs. NMHU:

• Points: 8

• Rebounds: 6

• Assists: 3

• Steals: 2

• Blocks: 3

• Minutes: 20:23

Only three Lobos recorded three blocks and two steals in a game last season:

• Nelly Junior Joseph (six times)

• Donovan Dent (once)

• Mustapha Amzil (once)

You want to take it a step farther?

How about checking in to see how many Lobos in the Mountain West era (since 1999-2000 season) have come up with three blocks and two steals in a game — IN UNDER 21 MINUTES PLAYED?

• Kevin Patton Jr. on Monday vs. D-II New Mexico Highlands

• Obij Aget on Nov. 21, 2014 vs. George Mason

• A.J. Hardeman on Dec. 16, 2009 vs. Northern Arizona

NOTE: Neither Aget or Hardeman had six rebounds in those games, so Patton is in exclusive Lobo territory.

They're still streaking!

Monday's win moved UNM to 5-0 at home this season and the Lobos are now owners of the sixth-longest active home win streak in the country at 16 consecutive wins in the Pit.

This is the longest home win streak for the Lobos since 16-game streak that spanned the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.

Active win streaks:

21 — Duke (ACC)

21 — St. Thomas (Summit)

20 — Akron (MAC)

19 — Miami, Ohio (MAC)

17 — Louisville (ACC)

16 — New Mexico (MW)

15 — Utah Valley (WAC)

15 — Saint Mary's (WCC)

14 — McNees State (Southland)

14 — Portland State (Big Sky)

***Bad memory alert for Lobo fans! Proceed with caution***

The last loss in the Pit for the Lobos was on Dec. 7, 2024, in an 89-83 overtime loss to New Mexico State.

Steve Kirkland Stat of the Night

UNM had 26 assists on 29 made field goals on Monday, an assist rate of 89.6%. That is the highest assist rate for UNM since a 90.0 assist rate (18 assists on 20 made baskets) on Dec. 17, 2016, in a home win over Arkansas Pine Bluff.

I asked Olen about the assist rate after the game, and naturally he said it was a highlight of the game.

"Yeah, really encouraging sign for us — something that we've been talking about in terms of moving the basketball and making good decisions at the end of drives," Olen said. "I think that specifically an important number and something that hopefully we build on."

MW vs. non-DIs

The Mountain West is now 6-1 this season against non-Division I teams and 296-7 against non-DIs.

The league's lone loss to a non-Division I team this season was Boise State falling at home to D-II Hawaii Pacific on Nov. 3.

Nine of the 12 league teams play a non-DI team this season (Boise State played two), with Air Force, Grand Canyon and Nevada being the three that did not schedule one.

The three remaining non-DI games for the league are:

• Colorado State hosts NAIA Northern New Mexico on Dec. 14

• San Diego State hosts Division III Whittier College on Dec. 22

• UNLV hosts NAIA La Sierra University on Dec. 29

Injury update

Usual starting center Tomislav Buljan was suited up on Monday, went through pregame warmups and didn't appear to even be limping. But being that it was a Division II opponent, his not playing was not a surprise. Olen said he expects Buljan to be ready for Saturday's game against Santa Clara.

In his place in the starting lineup, though clearly not a position-for-position swap, was Uriah Tenette, the 5-11 point guard.

While Antonio Chol started as the team's "five," most of the game's minutes at the center position went to JT Rock and Milos Vicentic (22 minutes).

Special guest

Sitting not far from the UNM Lobos bench for Monday's lopsided game was Benjamin Schuch, a 6-foot-9 forward from Austria who is currently playing for a club team in Spain.

Schuch and his father were on hand on an official recruiting visit.

Schuch, who is a part of the 2026 recruiting class, has competed for the Austrian national team, mostly with their youth programs, but did suit up for one game earlier this year for the men’s senior national team in a FIBA World Cup qualifier.

He averaged 13.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists for Austria earlier this year in eight games in FIBA U20 EuroBasket competition.

Another number to know: 50

It was a non-DI game, so I don't like overplaying records, but there was a program record set on Monday night.

UNM was 19-of-50 from 3-point range, a record for most 3-point attempts in a Lobo game. The previous record of 44 was set in the Nov. 20 loss to Nebraska when the Lobos attempted 44 3-pointers.

Twenty-three of those 50 attempts ame from the five players averaging the fewest minutes on the team in Tajavis Miller, Patton, Rock, Vicentic and Pons.

The 19 made 3-pointers was one shy of a program record. The record 20 made 3-pointers came Nov. 13, 2004, in the Pit against Santa Clara, coincidentally UNM's next opponent in the Pit on Saturday.

Kill shots!

UNM on Monday had "kill shot" scoring streaks of 12-0 (first half), 10-0 (start of second half), 12-0 (end of second half).

NMHU didn't have any kill shots (longest scoring streak was 6-0).

Lobo kill shots 2025-26

Kill shot = scoring run of 10-0 or better.

• First six games of season: 1

• Past two games: 6 (three vs. Alabama State, three vs. NMHU)

• Kill shots allowed: 0

Hall of Jake

It seems as though we should just devote one section of every ETN to updating a new Jake Hall stat or trend.

The Lobo freshman guard had 21 points in just 15:35 played on Monday, shooting 6-of-9 overall, 5-of-8 from 3-point range and 4-of-4 on free throws.

This marks the first time a Lobo freshman has scored 20 points in back-to-back games since Kenny Thomas did so on Jan. 8, 1996, vs. San Diego State and Jan. 10, 1996, vs. Hawaii.

Don't ever compare scores!

I say it every season: It does no good to compare scores. One game doesn't play out as the next, so trying to read too much into how a team does vs. one opponent as opposed to another opponent based on the score is a waste of time.

That said, let's compare some scores!

Here is a quick snapshot of New Mexico Highlands in the Cowboys' three games vs. Division I opponents:

North Texas 88, NMHU 54

• Nov. 3 in Denton, Texas

• Margin: 34

• Rebounding: UNT 33, NMHU 31

• Kill shots (scoring runs of 10-0): UNT 2, NMHU 0

NM State 74, NMHU 58

• Nov. 11 in Las Cruces

• Margin: 16

• Rebounding: NMHU 29, NMSU 29

• Kill shots (scoring runs of 10-0): NMSU 1, NMHU 0

New Mexico 97, NMHU 47

• Wednesday in the Pit

• Margin: 50

• Rebounding: UNM 50, NMHU 35

• Kill shots (scoring runs of 10-0): UNM 3, NMHU 0

Attendance

The announced attendance for New Mexico Highlands vs. New Mexico in the Pit: 10,164

It was clearly not an actual attendance on this Monday night.

• 12,037 — Nov. 26 vs. Alabama State

• 11,689 — Nov. 11 vs. UC Riverside

• 11,513 — Nov. 8 vs. UT Arlington

• 10,726 — Nov. 5 vs. East Texas A&M

• 10,164 — Dec. 1 vs. D-II New Mexico Highlands

Series notes

UNM is now 26-4 vs. New Mexico Highlands. The last NMHU win was that memorable 31-30 slugfest on Jan. 29, 1929.

The series was largely confined to exhibition games for the past few decades, not being reflected on that series record above.

The last NMHU regular season game ...

Nov. 24, 2003 — UNM 86, NMHU 59: In their last regular-season meeting before Monday's game, Lobo guard Javan Tindall had a game-best 27 points, four assists and four 3-pointers in the Pit, David Chiotti had a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double, and Alfred Neale came off the bench to score 16. Terence Mirabal scored a team-high 15 points for the Cowboys.

The last loss to a non-DI team. ..

UNM has now won 25 straight regular-season games against non-DI opponents.

Dec. 2, 1991 — Eastern New Mexico 81, UNM 76: The Greyhounds had 15 offensive rebounds in the Pit as well as four starters scoring in double figures to upset the Dave Bliss-coached Lobos. UNM was led by Steve Logan’s 22 points.

Mountain West player awards

Since there was a game Monday, I didn't write my usual Around the Mountain weekly column looking at the Mountain West.

So, here's a quick update on the league's player awards announced Monday.

MW Player of the Week: G Leland Walker, Wyoming

The senior transfer from Florida Atlantic averaged 22 points and three assists in Wyoming's 1-1 week (win vs. Denver, loss at No. 20 Texas Tech). He scored a season high 28 at Texas Tech.

MW Freshman of the Week: G Naz Meyer, Wyoming

Meyer wins his second FOW after averaging 11.0 points and 2.5 assists in Wyoming's 1-1 week (win vs. Denver, loss at No. 20 Texas Tech).

Plus/minus

Here are the plus/minus numbers for Monday's game with minutes in parenthesis:

NEW MEXICO

+42 Kevin Patton Jr. (20:23)

+37 JT Rock (17:15)

+36 Jake Hall (15:35)

+29 Luke Haupt (14:39)

+28 Uriah Tenette (18:24)

+23 Milos Vicentic (21:54)

+17 Tajavis Miller (21:07)

+12 Deyton Albury (22:27)

+9 Antonio Chol (16:54)

+9 Chris Howell (16:52)

+8 Timeo Pons (14:30)

NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS

-4 Ramiah Adedigba (2:14)

-4 Cody Vasser-Steen (2:14)

-4 Jude Saint Jacques (2:14)

-9 Lukas Turner (2:54)

-13 Derek Eide (4:23)

-13 Wesley Isoje (19:30)

-14 BJ Comer (14:11)

-18 Ibrahima Sacko (22:29)

-18 Marcus Pierce (9:31)

-21 Johannes Kirsipuu (9:40)

-22 Robert Dix (28:19)

-23 Caileb Parham (23:23)

-27 Latavious Morris (24:09)

-29 Dontae Walker (16:01)

-31 Nikk Williams (18:48)

Line 'em up

The UNM Lobos played 11 players and used 12 unique lineup combinations on Monday. The Cowboys played 15 players and used 23 unique lineup combinations.

Here's a look at some of the Lobos lineup combinations, starting with the starters.

STARTING LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Deyton Albury, Jake Hall, Chris Howell, Antonio Chol

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -1 (5-6)

• TIME ON COURT: 3:45

• NOTE: Hit the panic button. The Lobos' starting five was outscored by NMHU! OK, so this was a starting five that had two point guards and no center. It wasn't great. But it also isn't a lineup that will be seen much together moving forward. Putting 5-11 Uriah Tenette into the starting lineup for 6-3 Deyton Albury, as Eric Olen did for the Nov. 21 game against Mississippi State, makes sense. Putting him in for the injury absence of 6-9 forward/center Tomislav Buljan and just sliding everyone else down a spot in the offense (Chol to the 5, Howell to the 4, Hall to the 3 and Albury to the 2) just didn't seem to be all that smooth on Monday.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Luke Haupt, Jake Hall, Kevin Patton Jr., JT Rock

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +31 (35-4)

• TIME ON COURT: 10:27

• NOTE: Welp. Scoring 35 points in 10:27 on the floor together (3.35 points per minute) is pretty insane. And for a lineup that hasn't seen many minutes this season, it was a really good thing to see on Monday, regardless of competition. This group was dominant — 15 rebounds, five steals and 11 assists and 2.0 points per possession. Yes, it was a D-II opponent, but you won't see a lineup with this much dominance very often, regardless of opponent.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Luke Haupt, Timeo Pons, Kevin Patton Jr., JT Rock

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -3 (4-7)

• TIME ON COURT: 3:18

• NOTE: Hey, at least he was having fun out there! The only alteration from the game's "worst" lineup and its dominant "best" lineup listed above was Timeo Pons swapping spaces with Jake Hall. Long story short, Pons is still learning the defense and offense and, well, just getting on the same page with the rest of the team. His talent was clear on Monday, but he still has a long ways to go to get regular minutes because he's just not quite on the same page with his teammates just yet.

VIDEO: Eric Olen, JT Rock, Timeo Pons

Here's my postgame video with UNM coach Eric Olen and Lobo players JT Rock and Timeo Pons after Monday's game:

Hey, remember that time before the game?

Here's the ABQJournal Sports Live! pregame show I did from the Pit on Monday, which really served as a pregame show AND the weekly show for colleague Sean Reider and I.

We talked mostly about the new contract for Lobo football coach Jason Eck's new and also welcomed special guest Fernando Lovo, UNM's Athletic Director.

As a reminder, I'll be doing pregame shows for all Lobo men's basketball games. Colleague Sean Reider and I do postgame shows for all UNM Lobo football games.

Our usual weekly UNM Lobo sports check-in show on Tuesdays was moved to Monday's pregame show this week.

All are streamed live on the Journal's YouTube page and my X (Twitter) account and live questions and comments during the show through those platforms are possible.

About that NET (and KenPom)

Monday was the first day the NCAA's NET ratings were posted publicly.

WARNING: Never read too much into the NET rankings in the first few weeks that they are public. There simply isn't enough data for the formula to give much of an accurate description of anything.

That said, let's look at the first Mountain West/NET rankings, anyway!

22 Utah State

59 Wyoming

66 Colorado State

80 Boise State

112 New Mexico

118 Nevada

123 San Diego State

159 Fresno State

163 Grand Canyon

221 UNLV

258 San Jose State

286 Air Force

And for the more commonly followed KenPom rankings, every Monday I've been updating those in a handy little chart format ...

Around the Mountain

The Lobos were the only Mountain West team in action on Monday, but here's a look at hoops results from over the weekend and the schedule for the week ahead:

SATURDAY

• Utah State 84, Montana State 81 (OT)

• South Dakota State 80, Air Force 63

SUNDAY

• Texas Tech 76, Wyoming 72

• UC Irvine 72, San Jose State 63

• Cal State Bakersfield 76, Fresno State 71

MONDAY

• New Mexico 97, D-II New Mexico Highlands 47

TUESDAY

• Stetson at Grand Canyon, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• UC San Diego at Nevada, 8 p.m. MT (ThwMW)

WEDNESDAY

• Pacific at Air Force, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• Utah Valley at San Diego State, 8 p.m. MT (TheMW)

THURSDAY

• Utah State at South Florida, 5 p.m. MT (ESPN+)

FRIDAY

• San Diego at San Jose State, 8 p.m. MT (TheMW)

SATURDAY

• Boise State at Butler, noon MT (truTV)

• Dartmouth at Wyoming, 2 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• Arkansas vs. Fresno State, 2 p.m. MT

• Colorado at Colorado State, 3 p.m. MT (CBSSN)

• Oklahoma State at Grand Canyon, 5:30 p.m. MT (CBSSN)

• Santa Clara at New Mexico, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW)

SUNDAY

• Utah State at Charlotte, noon MT

• UNLV at Stanford, 2 p.m. MT (ACC)

• Air Force at Navy, 2 p.m. MT (ESPN+)

• Nevada vs. Washington State in Spokane, 3 p.m. MT (ESPN+)

Stats and stats

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted after Monday's game: New Mexico 97, New Mexico Highlands 47

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 97, New Mexico Highlands 47

Up next

For New Mexico: The Lobos host Santa Clara at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Pit in a game that will be streamed on TheMW.com (online) and aired on 770 AM/96.3 FM (radio).

For New Mexico Highlands: The Cowboys open up RMAC play at 5 p.m. Thursday on the road playing Regis University in Denver. Saturday, they're at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.

UNM vs. NM Highlands: Photos