Emptying the Notebook: Donovan Dent, the California Closer, carried Lobos late vs. San Jose State

Here are some extra notes, quotes, stats, videos, trends, stories or whatever else I happened to empty out of the old notebook after Wednesday's 83-77 UNM Lobos win over San Jose State in the Pit:

The California closer...

Star UNM Lobo guard Donovan Dent had a rough first half on Wednesday, scoring just two points to go along with four assists.

In the second half, however, he took his scoring to another level, dishing out another assist to end with five for the game (a significant number that kept a streak alive, which I'll address a little later in this section). But Dent's scoring, primarily by attacking the basket without the Spartans being able to do much about it, resulted in 18 second half points and five second half fouls drawn.

"Donnie, way better in the second half. I thought the first half he was way too consumed with getting fouled, refs or whatever," UNM coach Richard Pitino said. "And his effort, his energy, was way better the second half, obviously."

Dent's final stats vs. SJSU:

• POINTS: 20

• ASSISTS: 5

• FOULS DRAWN: 8

• STEALS: 1

• BLOCKS: 1

• MINUTES PLAYED: 38:16

• SHOOTING: 6-16 (5-14 on 2s; 1-2 on 3s)

• FREE THROWS: 7-10

Dent, the former Mr. California boy's high school basketball Player of the Year when at national power Corona Centennial High School three seasons ago, has shined for the Lobos against California teams. This season, it's been more of the same in games against UCLA, USC and now San Jose State.

Dent vs. California teams (this season):

• 18.0 points (54 total — 20 vs. SJSU, 17 vs. USC, 17 vs. UCLA)

• 8.0 assists (24 total — 5 vs. SJSU, 11 vs. USC, 8 vs. UCLA)

But this ETN isn't just rehashing past coverage of Dent's success vs. California schools. We've covered that ground before, and while an update doesn't hurt, we're here today to highlight how Dent has become the Lobos' California Closer — a second half go-to scorer who opposing teams haven't figured out how to stop late in games.

Take a look at Dent's first half/second half points and assists splits this season:

Dent 1st half this season (9 games):

• POINTS: 7.4 avg. (67 total)

• ASSISTS: 4.0 avg. (36 total)

Dent 2nd half this season (9 games):

• POINTS: 11.3 avg. (102 total)

• ASSISTS: 3.9 avg. (35 total)

If Dent only played in second halves, his 11.3 points and 3.9 assists would rank 25th and 8th in the Mountain West conference.

His elite passing remains steady throughout the game with only one assist different all season from his first halves compared to his second halves.

But that scoring change shows a killer instinct and willing to take over when needed.

Point being, for a Lobos team that had some questions coming into this season about who would be the go-to scorer, who might need to create their own shot late in games, the question has been answered and then some.

Here's Wednesday's game-clinching bucket with 22 seconds remaining that put UNM up 79-75 — an off-balance, fadeaway turnaround jumper on the baseline:

Sometimes, he can make it all look smooth and easy...

Or he can do the absurd, scoring with regularity at the rim from a wide variety of angles and positions, often with contact from the defenders...

Dent remains the only player in the country to have scored at least 10 points and dished out at least five assists in every game played this season.

And now, I'm sensing a new Dent trend to monitor. He has four 20-point scoring games this season, occurring every other game since the third game of the season:

• 20 pts — Wednesday vs. SJSU

• 17 pts — Nov. 29 vs. USC

• 30 pts — Nov. 28 vs. Arizona State

• 11 pts — Nov. 24 vs. Texas Southern

• 22 pts — Nov. 21 vs. Grambling State

• 12 pts — Nov. 17 at St. John's

• 25 pts— Nov. 12 vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

• 17 pts — Nov. 8 vs. UCLA

• 15 pts — Nov. 4 vs. Nicholls State

The gamer...

Here is the gamer I filed from the Pit media room after Wednesday's game:

• Lobos survive upset bid from San Jose State in Mountain West opener

Points off turnvoers...

Let's get to it right away. You knew I would.

My favorite stat to monitor the general success of the Lobo basketball team this year: Points off turnovers.

Wednesday, the Lobos scored just six points off just 10 San Jose State turnovers, both season lows (or tied for a season low). And with the Spartans getting nine points off UNM's nine turnovers, Wednesday marked the first time this season and only the third time in the past 45 games that UNM has won a game when losing this specific stat.

So, yes. The Lobos won. But I think it's safe to say the 19.5-point favorites having to rally from down 13 early in the first half and then from down nine in the second half to eek out a nail-biting win at home wasn't exactly a night they'd call one of their best performances.

2024-25 points off TO records

• 6-0 — Lobos win points off turnover stat

• 1-2 — Lobos lose points off turnover stat

• 0-0 — Lobos tie points off turnover stat

• RECORD: 7-2

Points off TOs in past 45 games

• 28-2 — Lobos win points off turnover stat

• 3-10 — Lobos lose points off turnover stat

• 2-0 — Lobos tie points off turnover stat

• FINAL RECORD: 33-12

Fili B!

Filip Borovicanin, who started the season as the Lobos starting 3 man until being benched after his on-court struggles, and essentially his timid or passive play, became to hard to ignore.

But not so quietly, he's developed back into arguably the best player off the bench for the Lobos, certainly so on Wednesday.

I mean, does this look like the move of a player who lacks confidence on the court?

... or this one ...

Wednesday, Borovicanin played for nearly 17 minutes with the other four players who were his fellow starters for the first four games of the season. That unit also played the final seven minutes together.

ETN always breaks down the best and worst lineups of the game, ad do so again (later in this column). But Borovicanin's role in UNM's best lineup Wednesday is also getting pulled up toward the top today for those who may not scroll all the way to the bottom (you mean to tell me not everyone reads all 5,000 words the morning after most Lobo games).

UNM's best lineup combination vs. SJSU:

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

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +10 (39-29)

• TIME ON COURT: 16:59

First, it's rare for a non-starting five to get that much time together. And this isn't a suggestion he needs to be a starter again (C.J. Noland has been great in that role and Braden Appelhans has also become a valuable piece of the puzzle in that position, too).

But it's a nice problem to have knowing that Noland, Appelhans and Borovicanin on any given night can be a very productive player at that 3 spot.

No Noland...

C.J. Noland, the team tri-captain and senior transfer guard from North Texas (and Oklahoma before that), missed Wednesday's game with an injury to his right thumb suffered during the Friday win over USC in the Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, Calif.

Braden Appelhans gets first start...

With Noland out, and third-year sophomore guard Braden Appelhans having been on a good run of play off the bench for the Lobos, Pitino went with the 6-7 guard to replace Noland in the starting lineup.

It was Appelhans' first career start in college. The not-so-random luck of the draw of the order starters are announced landed on Appelhans' name being save until the end, leading to him getting the loudest ovation of all as starters were introduced.

Appelhans did hit a big 3-pointer in the second half, and added a block and an assist, but that was largely it. He shot just 1-of-5 from the field (1-4 from 3-point range) and his being inserted into the starting lineup didn't produce the numbers he or the team would have liked (the starting unit was outscored by 12 points while playing together).

That starting five struggle is hardly an Appelhans-only matter, mind you. And his recent emergence at the 3, as mentioned above, is creating a real nice problem for Pitino and staff right now with three really good options at that wing spot that will probably be a lot of Noland and then a lot of either Borovicanin or Appelhans depending who has the hot hand in a given game.

Steve Kirkland stat(s) of the night...

UNM hoops Sports Information Director Steve Kirkland had several gems offered up Wednesday. Here are two of them:

• UNM's largest lead Wednesday vs. San Jose State was six points. That marks the first time in 37 wins by the team that they didn't have a double digit lead at some point in the game.

Yes. For THIRTY SIX consecutive victories, the Lobos didn't just win, but they had at least one double-digit lead in those wins.

The last win for UNM that didn't feature at least one double digit lead was on Jan. 20, 2023, in an 81-79 overtime victory over Boise State.

• The Lobos trailed for 31:16 of Wednesday's game, the most time they have trailed in a win since trailing for 32:21 in a 67-64 victory over San Francisco in a game played in Las Vegas on Dec. 12, 2022, a span of 45 Lobo victories.

The new guy...

Fernando Lovo was hired Nov. 24 as the UNM Lobos new Athletic Director.

His first day on the job was Monday.

His formal introductory press conference was Wednesday.

And his formal introduction to his first Pit crowd was Wednesday night.

OK. Now get to work, Fernando.

Merry December...

With No. 1 Kansas losing on Wednesday night, the UNM Lobos now have the longest active December win streak in Division I college basketball, dating back to a Dec. 19, 2021, loss to SMU.

Longest active December win streaks:

• 15 — UNM Lobos

• 11 — Houston

• 10 — Dayton

• 10 — Grand Canyon

(Kansas had won 24 straight December games before Creighton knocked them off, 76-63, on Wednesday night in Omaha.

In honor of the first 1,000...

Before Wednesday night's game, the Lobos honored senior forward Mustapha Amzil with a commemorative ball recognizing the 1,000-point plateau he reached for his college career during UNM's last home game (Nov. 24 vs. Texas Southern):

Since reaching that 1,000 point mark on Nov. 24, Amzil has continued his high scoring ways, having scored in double figures in eight of UNM's nine games this season with the one "miss" in that list being an eight-point effort in the team's huge win over UCLA on Nov. 8.

Amzil's college scoring (through Wednesday):

• 700 points — three seasons at Dayton

• 370 points — one season, nine games at UNM

• 1,070 points — CAREER

As for Wednesday, Amzil had 19 points and nine rebounds. While he does have one double-double this season (13 points, 13 rebounds in the opener vs. Nicholls State), Amzil has now missed three other double-doubles by a total of four rebounds.

Amzil's near double-doubles:

• Wednesday vs. San Jose State: 19 points, 9 rebounds

• Nov. 28 vs. Arizona State: 28 points, 8 rebounds

• Nov. 21 vs. Grambling State: 10 points, 9 rebounds

Amzil had just two double-doubles before this season in 123 games played.

Also, his two blocks on Wednesday give him five games this season (out of nine) with multiple blocked shots. He had six multi-block outings in his first 123 games played.

Not so fast...

Entering Wednesday, UNM as the fastest playing team in the country out of 364 Division I programs and San Jose State ranked 330th in the same adjusted tempo category on KenPom.com.

Wednesday's game, which the trusty KenPom computers recorded as a 71-possession game, had the Lobos fall out of the top spot. They are now the No. 2 ranked team in adjusted tempo.

No. 1? That would be fellow Mountain West team Fresno State, which lost to No. 24 San Diego State on Wednesday, 84-62 at home, in a game logged as a 78-possession game.

Rally time...

UNM erased a 13-point deficit to win on Wednesday, the Lobos' largest comeback since being down 14 before defeating Utah State 66-64 on Feb. 29, 2020, the last Lobo men's basketball game played in the Pit before COVID wiped out any games being played there the following season.

Attendance...

The announced attendance for Wednesday night's San Jose State Spartans at UNM Lobos game in the Pit: 10,658

Plus/minus...

Here are the plus/minus numbers for Wednesday's game for BOTH the UNM Lobos and San Jose State Spartans with minutes in parenthesis:

NEW MEXICO

+18 Filip Borovicanin (30:45)

+11 Mustapha Amzil (36:50)

+6 Nelly Junior Joseph (34:59)

+5 Donovan Dent (38:16)

+1 Braden Appelhans (18:30)

+1 Kayde Dotson (1:44)

0 Atiki Ally Atiki (5:01)

0 Jovan Milicevic (0:55)

-5 Ibrahima Sacko (2:15)

-7 Tru Washington (30:45)

SAN JOSE STATE

+6 Sadraque NgaNga (7:10)

+1 Donavan Yap Jr. (32:57)

-1 Josh Uduje (34:43)

-1 Will McClendon (35:20)

-5 Robert Vaihola (22:58)

-8 Latrell Davis (26:50)

-9 Sadaidriene Hall (29:49)

-13 Jermaine Washington (10:13)

Line 'em up...

The UNM Lobos played 10 players and used eight unique lineup combinations on Wednesday. The San Jose State Spartans used 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 WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, Braden Appelhans, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -12 (11-23)

• TIME ON COURT: 8:20

• NOTE: Anytime the starting five isn't the best five, a team is at risk. Anytime your starting unit is clearly the worst combination of five players on the floor for your team in a game, you're likely going to lose. That didn't happen here for the Lobos, but this unit didn't play well together, at lest on this night. Appelhans was the new piece of the puzzle, but clearly this wasn't all on him. Nobody defended well early in the first half and the shots weren't falling.

BEST LINEUP

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

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +10 (39-29)

• TIME ON COURT: 16:59

• NOTE: Hey, remember this? This was the starting five for the Lobos to open the season for the first four games before Borovicanin's early season struggles became just too much for Pitino to ignore. But the Arizona transfer has quietly been improving steadily since then and was undeniably one of the best Lobos on the floor for much of Wednesday's game. A non-starting unit to log 17 of the game's 40 minutes tells you how comfortable Pitino and staff were with this particular lineup combination. As mentioned in a note earlier in this edition of ETN, this lineup combination closed the game for the Lobos, playing together for the game's final 6 minutes, 32 seconds and was plus-9 (15-6), the difference in the game. (the same unit was just +1 in its first 10:27 on the court together).

ONE OF THEIRS

• WHO: SJSU — Will McClendon, Donovan Yap, Sadaidriene Hall, Josh Uduje, Sadraque NgaNga

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +10 (14-4)

• TIME ON COURT: 4:08

• NOTE: The Spartans used this group for a nice 12-2 run over 3:27 in the first half from the 19:21 mark (yes, Tim Miles made his first substitution 39 seconds into the game) to the 15:54 mark — the first 14 points scored in the game with the visitors up 12-2 at the game's first media timeout (at 15:54). The group played just 41 seconds together the rest of the game, a 2-2 stretch in the second half.

VIDEO: Pitino and Amzil...

Here is my video of Lobos coach Richard Pitino and senior forward Mustapha Amzil talking to media after Wednesday's game...

TIME CHANGE!

No, not a change of the clocks, but there has been a recent change of an upcoming Lobo game time.

Next weekend's Dec. 14 home game against Division II Western New Mexico University will be at 5 p.m., not at 2 p.m. as previously scheduled.

Meanwhile, in Logan...

OK, those undefeated Aggies in Logan have been playing tremendous so far this season, but first-year Wyoming coach Sundance Wicks has the Cowboys playing well above their expectations, too.

The Aggies, favored by 18.5 points, had to hold off a final seconds upset push, but did hold on for a 70-67 victory:

Around the Mountain...

There were four games around the Mountain (West) on Wednesday, three of which were actual league games.

Here's a look at the last couple days of scores for MW teams and the next few days on the schedule:

TUESDAY

• Boise State 87, Utah Tech 64

WEDNESDAY

• New Mexico 83, San Jose State 77

• Utah State 70, Wyoming 67

• No. 24 San Diego State 84, Fresno State 62

• Colorado State 83, Loyola Marymount 54

THURSDAY

• no games scheduled

FRIDAY

• no games scheduled

SATURDAY

• Stony Brook vs. Air Force, 1 p.m. MST (Legends Showcase in Frisco, Texas)

• UNLV at Creighton, 2 p.m. MST (FS1)

• Washington State at Boise State, 3 p.m. MST (CBS)

• Fresno State at Santa Clara, 5 p.m. MST (ESPN+)

• Colorado State at Colorado, 6 p.m. MST (ESPN+)

• Utah Tech at Utah State, 7 p.m. MST (TheMW)

• Nevada at Loyola Marymount, 7 p.m. MST (TheMW)

• NM State at New Mexico, 7 p.m. MST (TheMW)

• San Diego at No. 24 San Diego State, 8 p.m. MST (TheMW)

Mountain West standings...

League standings are here! I'll be posting these in order of league record while noting overall records in parenthesis, at least through the end of December when nonconference play is over. Then, all that technically matters in terms of any standings are the conference standings.

MW standings through Wednesday's games (listed alphabetically where league records are same...deal with it):

1-0 New Mexico (7-2)

1-0 San Diego State (5-2)

1-0 Utah State (8-0)

0-0 Air Force (2-7)

0-0 Boise State (6-2)

0-0 Colorado State (5-3)

0-0 Nevada (6-2)

0-0 UNLV (4-3)

0-1 Fresno State (3-5)

0-1 San Jose State (4-6)

0-1 Wyoming (5-3)

Meanwhile, down I-25...

The New Mexico State Aggies, who will be visiting the Pit on Saturday for the annual Rio Grande Rivalry, lost at home in the Pan Am Center on Wednesday to Abilene Christian, 78-70.

Wednesday marked the fifth-consecutive loss for the NM State Aggies, but first in that stretch on their home court in the Pan Am Center.

For those who didn't know, Abilene Christian is the school that former NMSU and UNM men's basketball head coach Paul Weir now works, serving for the Wildcats as Deputy Athletic Director/Chief Operating Officer.

Milestone win...

Utah State's win over Wyoming on Wednesday gives head coach Jerrod Calhoun a perfect 8-0 start to his Aggies coaching career and his 250th career coaching victory overall:

124-38 — D-II Fairmont State

118-106 — Youngstown State

8-0 — Utah State (2024-present)

250-144 — TOTAL

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted Wednesday night: New Mexico 83, San Jose State 77

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 83, San Jose State 77

Grammer's Guesses...

That's right, an early start to conference play means an early start to the Grammer's Guesses, my annual head-to-head competition with my now 15-year-old daughter (she was 5, I believe, when we first started this).

I use my supreme knowledge and expertise in covering the Mountain West conference for a living for well over a decade now to pick every league game all season against the Vegas point spread.

She flips a coin.

And, yes. For those new to the game, she has beat me — WITH A COIN! — more seasons than I have beat her.

But that ends now!

The Guesses started out a perfect 3-0 on Wednesday, picking SJSU and Wyoming to keep it close and a big win for the SDSU Aztecs on the road. All hit. I'm now 3-0 on the season.

My daughter's coin, on the other hand, has had better days. She went just 1-2.

Up next...

For New Mexico: The Lobos host instate rival NM State on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Pit.

For San Jose State: The Spartans host NAIA Lincoln (Calif.) College on Monday.

Lobo schedule/results...