Emptying the Notebook: Donovan Dent delivers promised championship to Lobo basketball

RENO, Nevada — Here are a few extra notes, quotes, stats, videos, trends and other odds& ends I emptied out of the old notebook after Tuesday's 71-67 UNM win at Nevada in the Lawlor Events Center:

Dent delivers on promise...

On Sept. 15, 2021, high school senior Donovan Dent — getting ready to start his final season as the starting point guard at national power Corona (California) Centennial High School — told me two things about his choosing to become a UNM Lobo that are worth revisiting today.

"The thing that excites me the most with coach Pitino is that he is a winner and I come from a winning program at Centennial. I feel like me and him are just gonna be a great duo."

... and ...

"They're gonna see a competitor — a guy who will do anything to bring home the Mountain West championship back to the Pit. It's been a little (while) since it's been there. Ready to have the fans jumping again."

Tuesday night, behind 33 points, seven assists and two steals from Dent, the Lobos beat Nevada 71-67 in Reno, guaranteeing for UNM at least a share of the Mountain West championship. It's the program's first since 2013.

Dent delivered on the promise he made 1,266 days prior in an interview with some newspaper reporter he had never met.

"We've been talking about it since the start of season," Dent said on Tuesday night. "We still got one more on Friday to close out, so it's fully ours (UNM wins an outright championship with a win over UNLV or a Colorado State loss at Boise State). But we've been talking about it since the start of season. It just feels amazing."

Friday night, the Pit has already been sold out and is surely going to be "jumping" again.

And while they've been to dozens of his games in the cherry and silver over the past three seasons, Dent's parents weren't on hand Tuesday in Reno. So he had to give them a call to share the good news (not that they didn't watch on television).

Dent's 33 points were against a Nevada team that prides itself on not letting the opposing team's star go off.

Well, that was before they played Dent.

Most points scored vs. Nevada this season:

33 — Donovan Dent, UNM (Tuesday)

24 — Andrew Meadow, Boise State (Feb. 22)

23 — Jaden Henley, UNLV (Feb. 28)

23 — Ian Martinez, Utah State (Jan. 22)

22 — Nique Clifford, Colorado State (Feb. 18)

22 — Ethan Taylor, Air Force (Jan. 14)

22 — Elijah Mahi, Santa Clara (Nov. 16)

And look at some of this "company you keep" sort of context with what Dent is doing on a national level.

DI players with 33 points, 7 assists this season:

• Donovan Dent, New Mexico — 33 points, 7 assists (Tuesday at Nevada)

• Chansey Willis Jr., Western Michigan — 34 points, 8 assists (Feb. 25 vs. Ohio)

• Cooper Flagg, Duke — 42 points, 7 assists (Jan. 11 vs. Notre Dame)

• Doctor Bradley, Arkansas-Pine Bluff — 35 points, 7 assists (Jan. 6 at Alabama State)

• Caleb Love, Arizona — 33 points, 7 assists (Dec. 30 vs. TCU)

• Braden Smith, Purdue — 34 points, 12 assists (Dec. 29 vs. Toledo)

• Austin Benigni, Navy — 33 points, 7 assists (Nov. 8 vs. Harvard)

And, thanks to Stathead.com doing the heavy lifting on the research on this one, how's this for putting Dent's season into perspective?

He now has 612 point this season, 196 assists and 46 steals.

That means' he's four assists and four steals away from becoming the FIRST player in Mountain West history to ever have a 600/200/50 season.

Also, here's where Dent's climb up the program record book in points, assists and steals brings us today.

POINTS:

• Dent — 1,297 (20th)

• Up next: Makuach Maluach, 2018-21 — 1,308 (19th)

• Passed Tuesday: Francis Grant, 1959-62 — 1,283 (now 21st)

• Passed Tuesday: Elijah Brown, 2016-17 — 1,276 (now 22nd)

ASSISTS:

• Dent — 465 (7th)

• Up next: Petie Gibson, 1969-71 — 560 (6th)

• Passed Tuesday: David Gibson, 1995-98 — 460 (now 8th)

STEALS:

• Dent — 129 (17th)

• Up next: Royce Olney — 130 (16th)

Steve Kirkland Stat of the Game!

Lobo basketball sports information director Steve Kirkland's State of the Game for this ETN further hammers home the Dent brilliance of Tuesday night, so let's get right to it.

Richard Pitino has coached 132 games at UNM.

Tuesday night — the night the program clinched a Mountain West championship — was the first time in the Pitino era the Lobos had only one double-digit scorer.

After Dent's 33 points, UNM got nine points from Nelly Junior Joseph and eight apiece from Mustapha Amzil and C.J. Noland.

The gamer...

Here is the gamer I filed late Tuesday from the Lawlor Events Center in Reno:

• Dent shines as Lobos beat Nevada and clinch first Mountain West title since 2013

700 will have to wait...

Steve Alford, the only UNM coach to ever win a Mountain West regular season championship before Tuesday night, will have to wait at least one more game to get career coaching victory 700.

The highest number of those 699 wins so far came in the six seasons he spent as the Lobos head coach, going 155-52.

"I told him this, and it's true, the run that he had was what made me realize (about) New Mexico basketball and the fan base," UNM coach Richard Pitino said after Tuesday's game. "We played him in the NCAA tournament (in 2012), and Louisville has a pretty good fan base. And it was 50/50 in the crowd. And I noticed. Wyking Jones was on his staff and he told me — he was on our (Louisville) staff and said, 'This fan base is legit.'

"And then just to see what he did in the six years that he was here, it was an amazing run. So I've got a lot of respect for him. He's very, very close to 700 that's pretty amazing."

Steve Alford coaching record:

78-29 (.729) — Manchester

78-48 (.619) — Southwest Missouri State

152-106 (.589) — Iowa

155-52 (.749) — New Mexico

124-63 (.663) — UCLA

112-73 (.605) — Nevada

—

699-371 (.653) — TOTAL

621-342 (.645) — Division I

To the victor go the locker room celebrations...

Ah, yes. The time honored tradition of dousing your head coach after winning a big game...

And maybe I'll send a message to Pitino today to get an injury update on guard C.J. Noland who got pelted by a water bottle toward the end of the video.]]

Sweet 16! OK, not THAT Sweet 16, but...

Tuesday's Lobo win gives them 16 Mountain West victories this season. That's a program record for Mountain West wins, though for full context this is the first year of a 20-game schedule.

UNM did get to 15 wins in 18 games, though, which tied the previous program record for Mountain West wins in a season when the 2013-14 team went 15-3 in an 18-game schedule.

Most Mountain West wins for UNM:

• 16 — 2024-25 (19 of 20 games played)

• 15 — 2013-14 (18 game season)

• 14 — 2009-10 (16 game season)

• 13 — 2012-13 (16 game season)

• 12 — 2017-18 (18 game season)

• 12 — 2008-09 (16 game season)

... and one for the road ...

UNM's seventh road win in league play also tied a record for most road wins in Mountain West play for the Lobos, matching the 2013-14 team's seven road wins.

Now, the bad news...

Lobo parents across the country aren't sleeping well now thanks to Tuesday's win...

Conference championships...

Here are UNM's all-time men's basketball conference championships (regular season):

• 2025 — Mountain West

• 2013 — Mountain West

• 2012 — Mountain West

• 2010 — Mountain West

• 2009 — Mountain West

• 1994 — WAC

• 1978 — WAC

• 1974 — WAC

• 1968 — WAC

• 1964 — WAC

Nelly on the boards...

Nelly Junior Joseph struggled shooting the ball on Tuesday. Going 3-for-8 from the field on seven shots near the rim (he also missed an open 3-point attempt) is not up to his standards.

But he did do his regular defensive-minded deeds, with 15 rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot.

And while he missed another double-double by one point, he did manage to grab those 15 rebounds, leading me to post the following four lists (I know how much some of you love these lists!), which includes some pretty big Lobo names the senior from Nigeria continues to pass in the UNM record books:

UNM most 15-rebound games in a season:

(Last 50 years, per UNM)

8 — Bill Hagins, 1974-75

7 — Nelly Junior Joseph, 2024-25

7 — Lewis Lamar, 1993-94

5 — Drew Gordon, 2010-11

5 — Larry Gray, 1975-76

... and ...

Most rebounds vs. Nevada this season:

15 — Nelly Junior Joseph, UNM (Tuesday)

13 — Magoon Gwath, San Diego State (Jan. 25)

12 — Nique Clifford, Colorado State (Dec. 21)

12 — Vasilije Vucinic, Weber State (Nov. 13)

... and ...

UNM career rebounds:

1. Kenny Thomas — 1,032 (123 games/8.4 avg.)

—

14. Ben Monroe — 628 (78 games/8.1 avg.)

15. Nelly Junior Joseph — 623 (66 games/9.4 avg.)

(passed Tuesday)

16. Hunter Greene — (127 games/4.9 avg.)

17. Hugh Greenwood — 620 (130 games/4.8 avg.)

18. David Chiotti — 612 (118 games/5.2 avg.)

... and ...

UNM single season rebounds:

1. Drew Gordon, 2012 — 388 (15 games/11.1 avg.)

—

6. Luc Longley, 1990 — 129 (34 games/9.7 avg.)

7. Nelly Junior Joseph, 2025 — 329 (30 games/11.0 avg.)

(passed Tuesday)

t8. J.T. Toppin, 2024 — 326 (36 games/9.1 avg.)

t8. Morris Udeze, 2023 — 326 (34 games/9.6 avg.)

10. Darington Hobson, 2010 — 325 (35 games/9.3 avg.)

Two key 3s...

While it would be easy to only write about Dent's dominant scoring or Junior Joseph's big game on the boards, the Lobos don't win on Tuesday in Reno without two huge clutch corner 3-pointers (both off Dent's two second half assists).

• 4:55 2H — Tru Washington corner 3 to push the Lobo lead to 64-59...

Washington was 0-for-6 shooting overall and 0-for-5 from 3-point range before that shot.

• 3:11 2H — Mustapha Amzil corner 3 to push the Lobo lead to 67-61...

Amzil was 1-for-7 shooting overall before that corner 3 and just 1-4 from 3.

So, the Lobos can shoot 3s now?

If modern basketball can't be played without a ton of 3-pointers, somebody forgot to tell the Lobos.

UNM's 630 3-point attempts this season is 11th in the 11-team Mountain West and at 21.0 attempts per game, they rank 250th in Division I.

But they forgot all that on Tuesday, firing up 27-3s against Nevada's pack-it-in, dare you to shoot the 3 defense, hitting nine of them.

It was tied for the fifth most 3s the Lobos made in a game this season.

And considering Nevada struggled from deep, going just 4-of-19 (21.1%) on 3-point shots, the Lobos actually outscored their opponent by 15 points on 3-pointers on Tuesday, marking UNM's second-best point differential on 3-pointers of the season vs. a Division I opponent.

It was one of the best "wins" at the 3-point line of the season for a Lobos team that has generally learned to win without the 3 being a big part of their game.

UNM's best 3FG differentials this season:

• plus-24 points: 39-15 — UNM 95, Fresno State 67 (Jan. 20)

• plus-21 points: 42-21 — UNM 122, D-II Western New Mexico 70 (Dec. 14)

• plus-15 points: 27-12 — UNM 71, Nevada 67 (Tuesday)

• plus-12 points: 27-15 — UNM 87, Colorado State 65 (Feb. 5)

• plus-12 points: 24—12 — St. John's 85, UNM 71 (Nov. 17)

• plus-12 points: 27-15 — UNM 100, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Nov. 12)

On the other hand...

UNM's worst 3FG differentials this season:

• minus-24 points: 45-21 — UNM, 91, Nicholls State 84 (Nov. 4)

• minus-21 points: 30-9 — San Jose State 71, UNM 70 (Jan. 14)

• minus-21 points: 30-9 — UNM 78, VCU 71 (Dec. 18)

• minus-15 points: 24-9 — UNM 74, UNLV 73 (Jan. 25)

• minus-12 points: 42-30 — NMSU 89, UNM 83 (Dec. 7)

Oh, what the heck. In case there wasn't enough Dent love up above, we'll even drop in his transition 3 early in game here for good measure...

NET gains...

The Lobos didn't actually gain in the NET rankings after the road win at Nevada, which considering fellow Top 100 NET league counterparts Utah State (38 to 40), Boise State (42 to 45), San Diego State (50 to 52) and Nevada (70 to 74) all dropped when Wednesday's updated NET came out, is a good thing.

But the real "NET gain" overnight for the Lobos was this: They hit the sweet spot. They win at Nevada, but didn't do so by so much that they knocked the Wolf Pack out of being a Quadrant 1 win.

By Nevada still being at 74 in the NET, UNM picked up a Quad 1 win, the team's fifth.

UNM is now 5-3 in Quad 1 games and 7-1 in Quad 2 games.

SDSU has four Quad 1 wins, Utah State and Boise State have three and no other MW team has more than one.

Attendance...

The announced attendance Tuesday at the Lawlor Events Center for UNM at Nevada: 7,881

Speaking of attendance...

Friday's Senior Night/regular season finale for the Lobos in the Pit against UNLV is already sold out.

Sweep, sweep success...

UNM's win on Saturday completed the sweep of Nevada, the Lobos' sixth sweep of the season with one series (UNLV) still pending.

Lobo sweeps this season:

• Air Force

• Colorado State

• Fresno State

• Nevada

• Utah State

• Wyoming

Lobo non-sweeps this season:

• Boise State (1-1 record)

• San Diego State (1-1 record)

• San Jose State (1-1 record)

Series not completed:

• UNLV (UNM up 1-0)

Checking in on an old friend...

Former UNM assistant coach Alan Huss was named on Tuesday the Big South coach of the Year. The second-year head coach of High Point has his team in first place in the Big South at 14-2 (26-5 overall). Last year, in his first season as head coach, Huss also won coach of the year after winning the league and posting a 27-9 overall record.

Plus/minus...

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

NEW MEXICO

+8 Filip Borovicanin (28:32)

+5 Braden Appelhans (10:39)

+4 Donovan Dent (39:24)

+4 Nelly Junior Joseph (38:21)

+3 Mustapha Amzil (24:46)

+1 Tru Washington (28:07)

+1 Jovan Milicevic (15:14)

0 Atiki Ally Atiki (1:39)

-6 C.J. Noland (13:18)

NEVADA

+6 Justin McBride (20:08)

+2 Chuck Bailey III (8:10)

+ 1 K.J. Hymes (15:19)

-4 Kobe Sanders (33:47)

-4 Brandon Love (17:35)

-6 Tyler Rolison (39:22)

-7 Nick Davidson (35:12)

-8 Xavier DuSell (30:27)

Line 'em up...

The UNM Lobos played nine players and used 12 unique lineup combinations. The Nevada Wolf Pack played eight players and used 13 unique lineup combinations.

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

STARTING LINEUP and BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, Filip Borovicanin, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +9 (28-19)

• TIME ON COURT: 16:48

• NOTE: This is what the Lobos want to see. The starting five getting back to being the best lineup of the game. UNM's starters go things rolling with a 12-4 start to the game. But that was the largest lead of the game for either team as Nevada made it a game the rest of the way as the substitutions started rolling in and out. More than half of UNM's rebounds came in the just under 17 minutes the starters were out there and it was the best defensive group of the night, too.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, C.J. Noland, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -4 (12-16)

• TIME ON COURT: 5:47

• NOTE: Size at the 3 is what you can chalk this up to, and we've seen it a few times this season. It's not so much a C.J. Noland thing, but when he comes in and spells Filip Borovicanin, than EITHER Noland or Tru Washington are often left defending a much taller player and there have been issues there.

VIDEO: Postgame with Pitino and Dent...

Here is the postgame interview I had with UNM coach Richard Pitino and point guard Donovan Dent:

VIDEO: Pregame from Reno...

Here is video of the pregame show I did answering reader questions before Tuesday's game with lot's of distractions in front of and behind me while trying to record:

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas...

How about some good old fashioned Twitter snark?

UNLV took a page out of the familiar postgame tweets of The Show, the San Diego State student section, which often post after each win, "Says here, 'Tecs win."

More important, the Rebels just swept the Aztecs this season, guaranteeing SDSU to be in the 4/5 game of next weeks Mountain West Tournament, which also places them on the side of the bracket as the UNM Lobos (the No. 1 seed).

Around the Mountain...

There were five games around the Mountain West on Tuesday, leaving just five regular season games left to be played Friday and Saturday.

TUESDAY

• New Mexico 71, Nevada 67

• Colorado State 83, San Jose State 56

• Boise State 80, Air Force 57

• Fresno State 62, Wyoming 58

• UNLV 74, San Diego State 67

FRIDAY

• UNLV at New Mexico, 7 PST/8 MST (CBS Sports Network)

• Colorado State at Boise State, 7 PST/8 MST (FS1)

SATURDAY

• Air Force at Utah State, 1 PST/2 MST (TheMW)

• Fresno State at San Jose State, 2 PST/3 MST (TheMW)

• Nevada at San Diego State, 7:30 PST/8:30 MST (FS1)

— END REGULAR SEASON —

Mountain West standings...

Mountain West standings through Tuesday's games (105 of 110 games played):

16-3 New Mexico

15-4 Colorado State

14-5 Boise State

14-5 Utah State

13-6 San Diego State

11-8 UNLV

8-11 Nevada

6-13 San Jose State

5-15 Wyoming

2-17 Fresno State

1-18 Air Force

MW Home/Road standings...

Teams get +1 for a road win, -1 for a home loss.

+7 New Mexico

+5 Colorado State

+5 Boise State

+5 Utah State

+4 San Diego State

+1 UNLV

-2 Nevada

-3 San Jose State

-5 Wyoming

-8 Fresno State

-9 Air Force

Mountain West Tournament seeds...

Through 105 games and with just 10 left to play, here are all the seeds in next week's Mountain West Tournament we know for sure are locked in as of now:

1. New Mexico

2.

3.

4.

5.

6. UNLV

7. Nevada

8. San Jose State

9. Wyoming

10.

11.

NOTE: SDSU is locked into the 4 or 5 seed, putting them on the Lobos' side of the bracket. Who joins them out of Colorado State, Utah State and Boise State is still up in the air.

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted late Tuesday night: New Mexico 71, Nevada 67

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 71, Nevada 67

Grammer's Guesses...

The Guesses go 3-2 and I'm now 49-56 on the season.

My daughter's coin flip picks go 4-1 and she's now 55-50 and has clinched the stupid championship against her dad.

Again.

A damn coin!

Up next...

For New Mexico: The Lobos host the UNLV Runnin' Rebels on Friday in the Pit at 8 p.m. MST in a game that will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.

For Nevada: Nevada plays at San Diego State on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. MST in a game that will be broadcast on FS1.

Until next time...

Until next time, Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada...

Lobo schedule/results...