Emptying the Notebook: Forget best freshman, Lobo JT Toppin is playing at All-Mountain West level

Here are some extra notes, quotes, stats, videos, and other odds & ends I managed to empty out of the old reporter's notebook after Saturday's 88-70 Lobos win over No. 19 San Diego State in the Pit:

Numbers to know: 17/16/5

I'm guessing I've never led off ETN featuring a player who was 1-of-10 at the free throw line.

But, here we are.

JT Toppin, a freshman out of Dallas playing on the biggest stage of his young career Saturday against Jaedon LeDee and the No. 19, defending national championship runner up San Diego State Aztecs, not only continued to solidify himself as the hands-down favorite to win Mountain West Freshman of the Year, but is pretty much forcing his way into the All-Mountain West conversation with his head-shaking performances.

Take a look at the stat line for the 6-foot-9 freshman forward who was the best frontcourt player — and at both ends of the floor — Saturday:

• Points: 17

• Rebounds: 16

• Blocks: 5

"JT Toppin, and I know he's gonna kick himself for the free throws, but he played his butt off," UNM coach Richard Pitino said.

Those 16 rebounds, by the way, were one shy of the 17 Kenny Thomas grabbed in the 1996 WAC Championship game, which is the UNM Lobo freshman record. And nine of them were offensive rebounds, with five of those extending possessions that ended in UNM getting 11 of their 15 second chance points in the game.

For now, let's focus on those three numbers: 17/16/5 for a moment while also giving UNM Sports Information Director Steve Kirkland a tip of the hat for this 17/16/5 research shared with me and used here in ETN's newest feature: The Steve Kirkland Stat of the night!

Toppin's the first freshman in the country with a 17 point/16 rebound/5 block game in the past two full seasons. The last to do so was Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren in 2022 against BYU.

Toppin is also the first freshman in the country to go for 17/16/5 vs. an AP Top 25 opponent since Washington's Isaiah Stewart did so in 2020 against Oregon.

And as for the Mountain West, forget the freshman distinction. The last player of any class to go for 17/16/5 was UNLV's Christian Wood in 2015 against Fresno State.

Those are three current NBA players.

As for Toppin, who has already won the Mountain West Freshman of the Week honor four times (no other player has two), here are his stats for the week:

• Two games: loss at UNLV, win vs. No. 19 SDSU

• 16.5 points

• 11.0 rebounds

• 3.0 blocks

• 57.7% FG

As for the free throws, Toppin shot 65.7% in nonconference play, but apparently the free throw defense in Mountain West play is getting the better of him. He's now just 3-of-17 (17.6%) at the charity stripe in four league games.

"I'm fixin to work on my free throws, for sure," Toppin said after Saturday's game. "It ain't happening again for sure."

So, were the free throw struggles something he had in high school, too?

"Never," Toppin said. "This is like the worst I've ever shot free throws. But, it's OK. I'm going to work on it."

Free throw issues aside, and again no thanks to last weekend's visit from Shaq in the Pit setting the tone for the big man free throw struggles, what is clear is JT Toppin is no longer a player who should ONLY be considered the best freshman in the Mountain West.

Toppin is one of the best big men in this very good Mountain West conference so far this season, not only because of points and rebounding, but his all-around game.

JT Toppin averages and MW rank

• Points: 12.8 (22nd)

• Rebounds: 7.6 (5th)

• Offensive rebounds: 3.2 (2nd)

• FG%: 67.2 (1st)

• Blocks: 1.7 (1st)

• Steals: 1.3 (17th)

The gamer ...

Here's the gamer I filed from the Pit on Saturday after UNM's statement win, not only because they beat a nationally ranked team, but just because they needed to show a whole lot of people, probably including themselves to some extent, that they could get a huge win in a season they've played great, but not yet got a win that the NCAA Selection Committee will look at and say, yeah, they can also look good against really good teams:

Statement game: New Mexico crushes No. 19 San Diego State

• Geoff Grammer/Journal Staff Writer

A number to know: 14

UNM's 14 blocks on Saturday tied a program record overall and set a new record for the Lobos in a Mountain West game.

Most blocks in a game by UNM:

14 — Saturday vs. San Diego State

14 — Dec. 20, 2022, vs. Prairie View A&M

12 — Nov. 22, 2013, vs. UMass

12 — Jan. 17, 2000, vs. UNLV

12 — March 23, 1992, vs. Washington State

12 — Dec. 23, 1987, vs. Rider

12 — March 25, 1977, vs. BYU

JT Toppin and Nelly Junior Joseph each had five blocked shots, the first time two Lobos each had that many in the same game.

The run that changed the game ...

Brian Dutcher knew.

With his team up 35-23, the veteran San Diego State coach saw Aztecs' nemesis Jaelen House hit a floater in the lane and then a few seconds later steal the ball in the open court from Darrion Trammell and take it swiftly to the other end for a fast break layup.

It was just four points. The SDSU lead was still seven. But Jaelen House was starting to wave his arms up and down to the crowd and the Pit was waking up after what had been a 7-of-25 (28.0%) Lobos' shooting performance to start the game.

"Great crowd – always is," Dutcher said after the game. "I’ve been coming here for 25 years and haven’t been disappointed ever in the crowd and the way they support their Lobos.”

So Dutcher called a timeout to try to get ahead of a modest 4-0 scoring run before it grew into something much worse.

The timeout didn't help.

House, who scored 29 points in the Lobos' win at Viejas Arena last season, relishing every second he could look up at the crowd and soak in every one of that sold-out arena's vicious boos, spent Saturday again looking up at a sold-out crowd, but this time relished every second he could as they poured love down on him for his high-energy, high-effort, and absolutely maddening-to-opponents style of play.

Here's a blow-by-blow look at the 17-0 Lobos' run (that started as a 11-0 Jaelen House run) that spanned 4 minutes, 5 seconds, but changed the entire complexion of a Saturday afternoon in the Pit — and it came largely against the Aztecs' top players, not some seldom-used rotation (scoring notations in bold):

• 4:55 1H — Jaelen House floater in the lane in half court offense (+2)

• 4:39 1H — Jaelen House steal (from Darrion Trammell) and layup (+4)

• TIMEOUT, San Diego State

• 4:24 1H — foul on UNM's Nelly Junior Joseph

• 4:15 1H — foul on UNM's Mustapha Amzil

• 4:07 1H — Tru Washington steal (from Lamont Butler)

• 4:06 1H — foul on SDSU's Lamont Butler (UNM in the 1 and 1 bonus)

• 4:06 1H — Jaelen House hits two FTs (+6)

• 3:46 1H — SDSU's Reese Waters missed FG, rebound UNM's Donovan Dent

• 3:35 1H — Donovan Dent missed 3-point FG, JT Toppin offensive rebound

• 3:28 1H — Jaelen House hits 3-pointer, assist by JT Toppin (+9)

• 3:06 1H — Jaelen House steal (from Jaedon LeDee)

• 3:02 1H — foul on SDSU's Miles Byrd (UNM in 1 and 1 bonus)

• TIMEOUT, media

• 3:02 1H — Jaelen House hits two FTS (+11)

• 2:39 1H — missed FG SDSU's Reese Waters, rebounds Tru Washington

• 2:30 1H — missed 3-point FG Mustapha Amzil, JT Toppin offensive rebound

• 2:27 1H — JT Toppin layup (+13)

• 2:05 1H — turnover SDSU's Jaedon LeDee

• 1:53 1H — Jaelen House missed shot, Miles Byrd rebound

• 1:40 1H — Mustapha Amzil fouls SDSU's Reese Waters, who misses front end of 1 and 1, rebounds Tru Washington

• 1:20 1H — Tru Washington layup (+15)

• 1:04 1H — Darrion Trammell 3-point FG blocked by JT Toppin, rebound by Jamal Mashburn Jr.

• 0:50 1H — Jamal Mashburn Jr. fouled by SDSU's Reese Waters (UNM in the 1 and 1 bonus)

• 0:50 — Jamal Mashburn Jr. hits two FTs (+17)

Got all that?

Here were points 9, 10 and 11 of the 17-0 run (and of that 11-0 House run):

Speaking of runs ...

The 17-0 run for UNM was the best unanswered scoring run of the game, and the largest in the Richard Pitino era against a Division I program (the Lobos have had two 20-0 runs against Division II teams, including against Eastern New Mexico earlier this season).

But that was hardly the only significant run of the game for the Lobos, just the best in terms of unanswered points.

Here are the three most significant runs of Saturday's game for the UNM Lobos, which may not have all been unanswered in terms of points, but were significantly one-sided by at least 10 points:

Top Lobos runs Saturday

• 17-0 — 4:55 1H to 00:50 1H (from down 35-23 to up 40-35)

• 11-1 — 12:43 2H to 10:39 2H (from up 53-50 to up 64-51)

• 18-8 — 8:15 2H to 1:57 2H (from up 66-54 to up 84-62, largest lead of game)

SDSU has had 15 scoring runs of at least 10-0 or better this season. Their best in terms of unanswered points on Saturday was 6-0.

But the Aztecs did have three nice runs in the first half that helped build that early 35-23 lead:

• 8-2 — from down 5-2 to up 10-7

• 8-2 — from up 16-15 to up 24-17

• 11-4 — from up 24-19 to up 35-23

So, you wanna be ranked?

More than half (13 of 25) of the Associated Press Top 25 teams this week lost to unranked teams, including in Saturday's UNM/SDSU game.

Speaking of AP teams losing ...

With another tip of the cap here to UNM Sports Information Director Steve Kirkland for this nugget, how about this list Richard Pitino kept his name on with Saturday's victory.

At least 1 AP Top 25 win since 2015-16

• Rick Barnes (Texas, Tennessee)

• Tony Bennett (Virginia)

• Scott Drew (Baylor)

• Chris Holtmann (Butler, Ohio State)

• Tom Izzo (Michigan State)

• Greg McDermott (Creighton)

• Matt Painter (Purdue)

• Richard Pitino (Minnesota, New Mexico)

• Bill Self (Kansas)

Three others can join them as they have AP Top 25 wins in the past eight seasons, but not one yet this season:

• Dana Altman (Oregon)

• Mick Cronin (Cincinnati, UCLA)

• Mark Few (Gonzaga)

Speaking of Pitino vs. the Top 25 ...

Here is a look at Richard Pitino's wins vs. AP Top 25 teams since that 2014-15 season:

at UNM

• 2023-24: 1 (No. 19 San Diego State)

• 2022-23: 1 (No. 23 San Diego State)

• 2021-22: 1 (No. 22 Wyoming)

—

at Minnesota

• 2020-21: 5 (No. 4 Iowa, No. 7 Michigan, No. 17 Michigan State, No. 24 Purdue, No. 25 Ohio State)

• 2019-20: 2 (No. 3 Ohio State, No. 19 Michigan)

• 2018-19: 5 (No. 11 Purdue, No. 13 Purdue*, No. 19 Iowa, No. 22 Wisconsin, No. 24 Nebraska)

• 2017-18: 1 (No. 25 Alabama)

• 2016-17: 2 (No. 15 Purdue, No. 24 Maryland)

• 2015-16: 1 (No. 6 Maryland)

*Big Ten Tournament

Another number to know: 18

Saturday's 88-70 game is tied for fifth largest margin of victory against a ranked opponent for the Lobos:

t1. 27 points — 85-58 over No. 6 Nevada (Jan. 5, 2019)

t1. 27 points — 99-72 over No. 22 Arizona (Feb. 16, 1974)

t3. 20 points — 65-45 over No. 11 UNLV (Feb. 18, 2012)

t3. 20 points — 86-66 over No. 8 New Mexico State (Jan. 29, 1969)

t5. 18 points — 88-70 over No. 19 San Diego State (Saturday)

t5. 18 points — 82-64 over No. 3 BYU March 3, 2011

More physical ...

UNM outrebounded San Diego State 47-37 and 14-8 on the offensive glass.

Richard Pitino was asked if he anticipated being able to match SDSU's "physicality" in the game, and pointed specifically to those rebounds in his answer.

"We weren't gonna win if we didn't," Pitino said. "We're smaller than them. We're not as big as them — strong, long, whatever you want to say — but we had to be physical. When you see guards have six rebounds, four rebounds, four rebounds, that means we're doing our part to finish the possession. You have no chance if you play that team and you don't do that."

SDSU's worst rebound margins of season:

• minus-14 — Cal 52, SDSU 38 (Nov. 25 vs. Cal, win)

• minus-10 — UNM 47, SDSU 37 (Saturday at UNM, loss)

• minus-10 — BYU 42, SDSU 32 (Nov. 10 at BYU, loss)

• minus-8 — Grand Canyon 40, SDSU 32 (Dec. 5 at GCU, loss)

The D on LeDee ...

Aztec fans hated it. Brian Dutcher safely maneuvered around calling out game officials by pointing out Jaedon LeDee gets a lot more free throws most nights than he got on Saturday in the Pit. And Lobo fans (and some others around the Mountain West who have been on the short end of SDSU's physical defense for years) weren't too sympathetic to the Aztecs not getting the benefit of the whistle in a physical game, at least for Saturday.

Colleague Sean Reider wrote a side bar with far more from San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher, including more on the D on LeDee:

San Diego State, LeDee can't answer UNM's House call

Whatever the case was, All-America candidate Jaedon LeDee (who is absolutely still "All-America Candidate Jaedon LeDee") wasn't a factor in Saturday's game in the Pit. In fact, of the 15 points he did score, more than half were in the final 4:22 of the game when UNM already had a 19-point lead and the game was decided (both teams kept their starters throughout, despite the game being over by this point).

Jaedon LeDee on season

• 21.6 ppg

• 56.1% FG

• 6.1-8.2 FT

• 8.6 rpg

Jaedon LeDee on Saturday

• 15 points

• 6-15 FG (40.0%)

• 3-3 FT

• 6 rebounds

Mash and House together again ...

I'll revisit this again before the Lobos' next game, but will note here that Saturday was the first time this season the Mashburn and House show actually showed off for UNM, at least to the same levels it did over the past two seasons.

The duo combined for 45 points and Mashburn, who struggled early, scored 13 of his 19 points in the final 10 minutes.

JAELEN HOUSE:

• 26 points

• 7-16 FG (4-9 3FG)

• 8-8 FTs

• 5 assists

• 1 turnovers

• 3 steals

• 1 block

JAMAL MASHBURN JR.:

• 19 points

• 7-17 FG (1-6 3FG)

• 4-4 FTs

• 2 assists

• 3 turnovers

The Aztecs have to be sick of these two by now.

Here's a look at what House and Mashburn have combined to do vs. San Diego State the past three games the two have played:

• 45 points — Saturday (W, 88-70 in the Pit)

• 35 points — Feb. 25, 2023 (L, 73-71 in the Pit)

• 51 points — Jan. 14, 2023 (W, 76-67 at Viejas Arena)

More on House ...

Jaelen House did Jaelen House things on Saturday, driving opposing fans (and some Lobo fans) crazy while leaving his teammates smiling and the vast majority of Lobo fans screaming like crazy.

His emotions were on full display Saturday, like they have been throughout his career and in particular over the first four Mountain West games of the season.

That hasn't always been a good thing as his emotions have led to technicals at times, foul trouble and having to sit on the bench when the team could absolutely use him on the court. UNM has outscored teams in their 2-2 start in league games by plus-37 points in the minutes House is on the floor. No other Lobo is better than +24.

When I asked Richard Pitino if he ever thought about reining House in on Saturday when he saw him getting so emotional, the Lobos coach looked almost annoyed by the continued dialogue about it:

And back to House, who passed two more Lobo legends on Saturday in points (he had 26) and steals (he had three).

UNM career scoring

20. Elijah Brown — 1,276

21. Tony Danridge — 1,260

22. Jaelen House — 1,255

23. Marvin Johnson — 1,246

24. Cameron Bairstow — 1,239

UNM all-time steals

1. Kelvin Scarborough — 235

2. Hunter Greene — 203

3. Phil Smith — 197

t4. Kendall Williams — 186

t4. Jaelen House — 186

6. Lamont Long — 184

7. Willie Banks — 183

More on Mash ...

What was good for Lobo fans and coaches to see Saturday was Mashburn, for the first time this season, taking over a stretch of the game with his jumper and leaving the defense feeling helpless.

His jumper with 11:28 remaining in the game came with SDSU's Lamont Butler not getting through a Nelly Junior Joseph screen in time (and Miles Heide not stepping up to help enough) to stop a familiar looking Midrange Mash jumper:

Then there was this Midrange Mash jumper with 7:35 left with Miles Byrd going over a screen and giving Mash far too much space:

And then they figured they better go underneath the screen and stop chasing Mashburn to his spot for the midrange jumper and this was Miles Byrd going under a screen, leaving Mashburn to just pull up for a 3-pointers with all that space for a 73-54 Lobos lead:

Also, with that 19-point scoring game, Mashburn moved bast a couple more Lobos on the all-time scoring list:

UNM career scoring

13. Kelvin Scarborough — 1,469

14. Dairese Gary — 1,458

15. Jamal Mashburn Jr. — 1,398

16. Willie Banks — 1,394

17. Kenny Page — 1,387

On the defensive in San Diego?

Saturday wasn't the first time even in the past week that the Aztecs' defense looked, well, less than like its old self.

Two of the four worst defensive efficiency games of the season were since Tuesday for SDSU and their worst offensive efficiency of the season was on Saturday against the Lobos' high pressure defense.

SDSU's worst five defensive efficiency games this season:

• 119.4 — Nov. 19 vs. Washington (W, 100-97)

• 117.8 — Dec. 5 at Grand Canyon (L, 79-73)

• 116.7 — Tuesday at San Jose State (W, 81-78)

• 111.9 — Saturday at UNM (L, 88-70)

• 105.1 — Nov. 10 at BYU (L, 74-65)

SDSU's worst five offensive efficiency games this season:

• 89.0 — Saturday at UNM (L, 88-70)

• 92.3 — Nov. 10 at BYU (L, 74-65)

• 95.8 — Dec. 9 vs. UC Irvine (W, 63-62)

• 103.9 — Dec. 1 at UC San Diego (W, 63-62)

• 104.0 — Nov. 25 vs. Cal (W, 76-67)

For the Lobos, Saturday's 111.9 offensive efficiency was their 8th best of the season. The 89.0 defensive efficiency was their 7th best.

Second half struggles gone for a day ...

I've been the one pointing out the "third quarter" struggles for the Lobos from the start of the second half to the 10-minute park of the second half, so I will definitely point out when they actually showed up and answered the bell in that phase of the game.

SCORE BY 'QUARTERS' — 13 nonconference games

• 1Q (20:00-10:00 1H): UNM 18.3, Opponents 14.8

• 2Q (09:59-00:00 1H): UNM 23.1, Opponents 15.5

• 3Q (20:00-10:00 2H): UNM 21.4, Opponents 17.3

• 4Q (09:59-00:00 2H): UNM 21.5, Opponents 20.2

SCORE BY 'QUARTERS' — first 3 Mountain West games

• 1Q (20:00-10:00 1H): UNM 17.7, Opponents 15.7

• 2Q (09:59-00:00 1H): UNM 18.0, Opponents 16.0

• 3Q (20:00-10:00 2H): Opponents 21.3, UNM 12.0

• 4Q (09:59-00:00 2H): UNM 25.0, Opponents 20.0

SCORE BY 'QUARTERS' — Saturday vs. SDSU

• 1Q (20:00-10:00 1H): SDSU 24, UNM 19

• 2Q (09:59-00:00 1H): UNM 21, SDSU 13

• 3Q (20:00-10:00 2H): UNM 26, SDSU 16

• 4Q (09:59-00:00 2H): UNM 22, SDSU 17

"At halftime, we said 'No. We're not going to come out slow. We're going to keep stepping on their neck,'" Toppin said. "And that's what we did."

Attendance ...

The announced attendance for Saturday's stripe-out game in the Pit: 15,437

That's the largest announced attendance since the Pit renovation in the 2009-2010 season that lowered seating capacity, officially, to 15,411 (but clearly there are a few extra openings for some extra fans if they announced 15,437).

As noted earlier in the week, UNM has had 31 sellouts since the 2009-10 season with the Aztecs being the biggest contributor to that total.

Here's a look at the top four opposing teams that have accounted for Lobo sellouts since the Pit was renovated:

1. San Diego State (7)

2. UNLV (4)

t3. New Mexico State (3)

t3. Wyoming (3)

Mountain West sellout tracker ...

Saturday was sellout No. 5 in the Mountain West this season.

I set the over/under at 17.5 for the season (and I think there will be 18 or more).

Running total by school:

• 2 — San Diego State

• 1 — Boise State

• 1 — New Mexico

• 1 — Utah State

Speaking of Utah State ...

You probably haven't ever seen a five-point play to win a game by one on the road.

And you probably won't ever see a five-point play to win a game by one on the road again.

And if you're a UNLV fan, you won't ever get this five-point play to win a game by one out of your head.

Look how those Utah State Aggies, trailing 86-82 with under 10 seconds left to play, got their 87-86 win at UNLV on Saturday to improve to 16-1 overall and 4-0 in Mountain West play ...

Up next ...

The Lobos on Tuesday welcome another Top 25 opponent in No. 20 (for now) Utah State. While the ticket sales for a late-starting (8:30 p.m.) weeknight game aren't close to a sellout as of Saturday, at least one person on Saturday night was hopeful it might get there ...

Plus/minus ...

Here are the plus/minus numbers for the Lobos and Aztecs from Saturday's game with minutes played in parenthesis:

NEW MEXICO

+21 Tru Washington (17:26)

+19 Jaelen House (32:54)

+15 Mustapha Amzil (18:52)

+13 Nelly Junior Joseph (26:12)

+13 Donovan Dent (34:05)

+11 Jamal Mashburn Jr. (30:24)

+8 JT Toppin (30:31)

0 Isaac Mushila (00:50)

0 Sebastian Forsling (3:35)

-3 Quinton Webb (00:54)

-7 Jemarl Baker Jr. (4:17)

SAN DIEGO STATE

-4 Miles Heide (3:31)

-4 Micah Parrish (16:35)

-8 Jay Pal (16:36)

-10 Miles Byrd (19:15)

-10 Elijah Saunders (22:24)

-10 Lamont Butler (27:11)

-14 Reese Waters (26:12)

-14 Jaedon LeDee (36:29)

-16 Darrion Trammell (30:47)

Line 'em up ...

The UNM Lobos used 11 players on Saturday and 14 lineup combinations. The San Diego State Aztecs used nine players and also had 19 lineup combinations.

Here's a look at a few of the lineups for the Lobos, starting with the starters:

STARTING LINEUP

• WHO: Jaelen House, Donovan Dent, Jamal Mashburn Jr., JT Toppin, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +7 (28-21)

• TIME ON COURT: 13:24

• NOTE: The starters were really good, and rebounding was a big part of it as they didn't exactly light it up shooting wise early on. The starting five had 19 of the team's 47 rebounds and also 8 of the team's 12 assists despite playing together just about a third of the game.

San Diego State's starting five, for what it's worth, was -4 in the game, but played just 5:34 together. That's not a huge surprise. Darrion Trammell often plays starter minutes but is the first off the bench.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Jaelen House, Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, JT Toppin, Mustapha Amzil

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +9 (9-0)

• TIME ON COURT: 2:45

• NOTE: Amzil and Washington were both very good off the bench and Toppin and House were great starters. Makes sense that those four in a grouping would be the best statistical lineup of the game for the Lobos.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, Jamal Mashburn Jr., Jemarl Baker Jr., JT Toppin, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -4 (4-8)

• TIME ON COURT: 2:30

• NOTE: Jemarl Baker has been non-productive for a few games now, but I don't see it lasting with him. His 3-point shooting will still be valuable in some games for the Lobos. Saturday, this group had as many turnovers (2) and FGs (2) in its two and a half minutes of play and gave up 8 points.

Milk Duds for the win ...

Pitinos went 2-0 in basketball games on Saturday (in the Mountain time zone, anyway).

• UNM Lobo coach Richard Pitino 1-0 in a college basketball game in the Pit.

• UNM Lobo ball boy Jack Pitino 1-0 in a on-court tic-tac-toe contest with fellow ball boy star Deekan Felton (son of UNM assistant Tarvish Felton).

If there were any other games played or coached by a Pitino on Saturday, they must not have been in the Mountain time zone, thus didn't make the cut for this edition of ETN (nor could I have printed everything from grandpa's presser).

But in Albuquerque, anyway, it's hard to say for sure which Pitino got the better win. Sure, Richard and the Lobos beat a nationally ranked San Diego State for a Quad 1 victory on national television and very much made a statement about their place in the Mountain West title chase.

On the other hand, Jack won a box of Milk Duds.

And, yes. For those who were watching at home on CBS, you may have noticed that after the 10:31 media timeout in the second half in which the off-camera (well, off the CBS broadcast) tic-tac-toe game occurred, SDSU's Jaedon LeDee hit a bucket in the lane with 10:25 left in the game and a referee stopped action again, walked to center court, picked up a large red "X" and carried it off the floor.

That was left over from the game played on the court that the game day crew accidentally left at center court. But as the referee was handing the large letter to the scorers table, Pitino walked over and suggested the LeDee bucket be waived off because the letter was on the court.

Calm down, he was kidding. As he was when asked about his son's victory after the game.

"He walked up to me and he had the Milk Duds and he knows I love Milk Duds," Richard Pitino said. "So very, very proud of him. The basket shouldn't have counted because the 'X' was still on the court! But, Jack's a winner, so I'm not surprised one bit."

Video: Pitino and Toppin postgame ...

Here is the postgame press conference with Lobos coach Richard Pitino and freshman forward JT Toppin ...

MW buzzer beater No. 1 ...

The Wyoming Cowboys are 2-2 in league play with two road losses in tough venues (by 17 points to UNM in the Pit and 24 points to Utah State in Logan).

But they know how to put on a show at home, winning both games in the Arena Auditorium at the buzzer thanks to guard Akuel Kot.

Saturday, like he did so on Jan. 2 vs. San Jose State, Kot hit a jumper at the buzzer to beat Fresno State, 68-67:

MW buzzer beater No. 2 ...

So, a buzzer beater in Laradise isn't your thing?

How about an MJ Amey buzzer beater in Clune Arena at the U.S. Air Force Academy on an inbounds play with 1.5 seconds remaining, giving the San Jose State Spartans their first win in conference play when they could realistically be 4-0 in the league (buzzer beater loss at Wyoming, led in final five minutes to Boise State before losing and lost by three earlier in the week to No. 19 San Diego State).

Here's MJ Amey's game-winner ...

Around the Mountain ...

There were four games on Saturday around the Mountain West and one big one potentially for title consideration in a couple months late Friday in Reno. Here's a look at the weekend games and what's ahead for the midweek slate coming:

FRIDAY

• Boise State 64, Nevada 56

SATURDAY

• New Mexico 88, No. 19 San Diego State 70

• No. 20 Utah State 87, UNLV 86

• Wyoming 68, Fresno State 67

• San Jose State 70, Air Force 67

TUESDAY

• Air Force at No. 17 Colorado State, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• San Jose State at Fresno State, 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• UNLV at Boise State, 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)

• No. 20 Utah State at New Mexico, 8:30 p.m. MT (FS1)

WEDNESDAY

• Nevada at No. 19 San Diego State, 8 p.m. PT/9 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)

Mountain West standings ...

Through Saturday's games...

4-0 Utah State

3-0 Boise State

3-1 San Diego State

2-1 Nevada

2-2 New Mexico

2-2 Wyoming

1-2 Colorado State

1-2 UNLV

1-3 San Jose State

0-3 Air Force

0-3 Fresno State

Mountain West KenPom ...

Here are the KenPom.com ratings for the Mountain West through the nation's full slate of Saturday games:

24 San Diego State

26 Colorado State

39 New Mexico

40 Utah State

44 Nevada

49 Boise State

81 UNLV

166 San Jose State

218 Wyoming

219 Fresno State

226 Air Force

The road is hard ...

The Mountain West has now had 19 conference games. The home team has won 12 of them.

The seven road victories belong to:

2 Boise State

2 Utah State

1 Nevada

1 San Diego State

1 San Jose State

Onions!

With the big boy CBS Network in town for Saturday's game in the Pit, the broadcast crew brought out the A-team crew of Spero Dedes on play-by-play and the legend, Bill Raftery.

The analyst, and of course former coach, who has been on the call for plenty of Final Fours and huge games through the years is known for plenty of great moments in college basketball history, including any time he yells out "Onions!" in game when a big shot is hit in a key moment.

Raftery also took the time to talk with me for several minutes before the game, telling me he was at the 1983 title game that helped put the Pit on the national stage when NC State beat Houston and Jim Valvano ran around the court looking for someone to hug. He also called a game one year at UTEP on a Saturday night, he told me, and on his way to El Paso stopped in Albuquerque to watch a Lobo team beat a Rick Majerus-coached Utah Utes team on a Thursday night, though he couldn't recall the year.

Postgame with Raftery ...

Here was Bill Raftery's postgame interview with Jaelen House ...

Remember this guy?

Former Lobo Emmanuel Kuac played a season-high 28 minutes on Saturday in Detroit Mercy's 81-76 loss to Northern Kentucky.

Detroit is now 0-18 and 0-7 in Horizon League action. But I don't care about that. I love seeing Kuac — FINALLY! — getting a chance to play a little bit.

The former Lobo is a grad transfer with the Titans after a painfully (literally) injury-riddled UNM career.

Saturday, he started, played 28 minutes, with five rebounds, three blocks and a steal and has now started four games in a row after missing the first 12 games still recovering from an injury suffered at UNM.

That stat line from Saturday could have been anything and it would still be great to see considering his time at UNM looked like this:

• 2022-23 season: 1 game, 2 minutes (started season recovering from injury, ended season with another injury)

• 2021-22 season: 6 games, under 18 minutes a game (started season hurt, ended season with broken leg Jan. 8)

• 2020-21 season: COVID season played entirely out of state, 19 games, 5 starts

• 2019-20 season: 19 games, 15 of them 10 or fewer minutes.

Stats and stats ...

Here is the postgame stat sheet from Saturday's game: New Mexico 88, No. 19 San Diego State 70

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 88, No. 19 San Diego State 70

Grammer's Guesses ...

The Guesses went 1-3 on Saturday against the spread and I'm a pathetic 4-15 on the season.

My daughter's coin flip picks went 3-1 and she's 12-7 on the season. Because of course she is.

Up next ...

For UNM: Home vs. Utah State on Tuesday in the Pit, 8:30 p.m. MT (FS1)

For SDSU: Home vs. Nevada on Wednesday, 8 p.m. PT/9 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)

Lobos schedule ...

Here is a look at the schedule and results for the Lobos this season ...

Photos: UNM earns its stripes in blowout win over San Diego State