Emptying the Notebook: Has the Mountain West figured out the Lobos' once daunting D?

Here are some notes, quotes, stats, trends and other odds & ends I emptied out of the old notebook after Saturday's 91-90 UNM Lobos loss to Boise State in the Pit:

What happened to the D?

Just over a week ago, the UNM Lobos defense was ranked in the top 20 in the country and was tops in the Mountain West according the computers.

Saturday's 91-90 loss to the Boise State Broncos, however, showed for the third consecutive game that the Mountain West may be on to Eric Olen's scheme as the season has worn on.

And as the Lobos face a month of Mountain West rematches, and opposing teams have more and more game film and information about him and the Lobos' defensive ways, the pressure is now on UNM's coaches to figure out how to get the defense back on track to make the past week a hiccup rather than a starting point of a bigger downward spiral.

"I don't have the specifics for why that's happening," Olen said when I asked him about the three-game span of really poor defensive performances. "Obviously giving up 80, 90 points is not the recipe for us. And we know that. We felt that way at halftime — giving up 43 in the first half, we had to have a better defensive effort.

"But, yeah. We're not getting the stops we need right now. That's not just tonight. It's three in a row where we have not been able to limit the opposing offense at the at the level that we need to to have success."

Against San Jose State and Utah State, the two games UNM played prior to Saturday, it was all-around offense for the opposition that was an issue. Saturday with the Broncos, it really seemed to be about the insane number of 3-pointers going in (a Pit opponent record-tying 15, to be exact). 

"We went to switching early in second half. Didn't execute all that ideally, and so that solution didn't really work," Olen said. "Some of those are execution on us. Some of those are tough shot making from them. I have to go back and we'll have to look at the film to see exactly where we came up short."

Look at these splits for the Lobos defense from the first 21 games played to just the past three:

Saturday was, by a large margin, the worst defensive efficiency game of the season for the Lobos, allowing Boise State to score 1.4 points per possession. 

Three of the highest opponent points per possession games have come in the past three games/eight days. 

Worst points per possession allowed by UNM 2025-26

• 1.40 — Boise State (L, 91-90 — Saturday)
• 1.27 — San Jose State (W, 90-80 — Jan. 31)
• 1.261 — Alabama State (W, 93-87 — Nov. 26)
• 1.228 — Utah State (L, 86-66 — Wednesday)
• 1.223 — New Mexico State (L, 76-58 — Nov. 15)

Entering Saturday, Olen as 13-0 last season and this in rematches — 12-0 a year ago at UC San Diego and 1-0 this season with the one win being Jan. 31 at San Jose State. But even that game had some troubling signs. While UNM won 90-80, it allowed SJSU to score at a higher rate than any team contending for a MW title — remember, UNM was tied for first place just four days ago — can possibly feel comfortable with.

"We're going to look at that as a team and see what we can adjust and fix," UNM senior guard Luke Haupt said Saturday night. "It's a tough League. We gotta get better as we play teams twice."

It can't be overlooked, either, that UNM is now more than a month without Kevin Patton Jr., a 6-foot-8 wing and probably the best athlete on the roster, and starter Chris Howell, a 6-7 guard who was rated as a Top 30 defender in the country by BartTorvik.com last season at UC San Diego.

Neither has a timetable for their return. Patton remains out for a personal reason, and the team cannot say more than that, but he is still on the team. Howell is out with an oblique injury, and whether he returns this season is a question (more below).

The gamer

Here's the gamer I filed from the Pit on Saturday night:

• Lobos fall to Broncos, take second consecutive defeat

All those 3s

Boise State's 15 made 3-pointers was a season high for the Broncos (even more than the 14 made in a triple-overtime game at SDSU last month) and it was a season high for a Lobos opponent.

In fact, it tied a Pit opponent high as the Broncos became the seventh team to hit 15 3-pointers against UNM in the Pit (a stat that Lobo fans probably aren't shocked by as it seems a team or two (or more) routinely have had big 3-point games in the Pit through the years.

Most opponent 3s made in Pit

• 15 — Boise State (Saturday)
• 15 — San Diego State (Jan. 29, 2020)
• 15* — Nevada (Jan. 7, 2017)
• 15 — UTEP (Dec. 7, 2016)
• 15 — Charleston Southern (Nov. 17, 2013)
• 15 — UT-Rio Grande Valley (Dec. 8, 1998)
• 15 — George Washington (Dec. 27, 1989)

*Overtime game, also the infamous 25-point second half comeback game for Nevada.

As for Boise State, the 35 3-point attempts (ninth most ever against UNM and fifth most ever in the Pit against UNM), the fact that the Broncos did it in a game with just 54 shot attempts overall was pretty surprising.

Highest 3-point rate Boise State

(since 1996-97 season)

• 71.4% — vs. San Diego State (March 13, 2025 in MW Tournament)
• 64.8% — at New Mexico (Saturday)
• 64.7% — at Wyoming (Jan. 23, 2016)
• 64.2% — at Air Force (March 4, 2017)
• 62.8% — vs. Idaho State (Dec. 28, 2004)

Cool hand Luke

Senior guard Luke Haupt, the transfer from Division II, had a career-high 30 points on Saturday night. It wasn't just a DI/UNM Lobos high for the 6-foot-7 guard from California, but higher than any point total he ever had even at the DII level.

Luke Haupt on Saturday

• 30 points

Luke Haupt previous Division I high

• 11 points (three times this season)

Luke Haupt previous Division II high

• 27 points (vs. Seattle Pacific on Nov. 29, 2024)

To say he was on fire Saturday offensively would be an understatement. I mean, he was even hitting shots like this as the shot clock buzzer was sounding and they were going in.

As the son of a California high school coaching legend, he knows well enough that good games on the stat sheet that don't equate to a win don't mean much at the end of the day.

"I was just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win tonight," Haupt said. "I had a good offensive game. (It) doesn't feel like it matters a whole lot right now, coming up short."

Olen didn't exactly get a ton of pats on the back when he recruited Haupt to UNM, but fans over the past month see it now. Haupt is, as Olen has called him and Chris Howell, a "connector" on the team that seems to fill whatever role in needed in a given game.

Saturday for the first time for the Lobos, what was needed was his scoring.

"I'm not gonna sit here and tell you I anticipated Luke scoring 30 points in any game," Olen said about recruiting him to UNM. "Obviously, we needed it tonight, and he just sort of does what's needed on on different nights."

Read more on Haupt's game from my colleague Rick Wright. 

Chris Howell update

Haupt was very good for the Lobos in Saturday's loss. He has been very good since being inserted into the starting lineup in place of the injured Chris Howell following the latter suffering an oblique injury in the team's Dec. 14 win over Florida Gulf Coast.

Olen has called the two 6-foot-7, veteran and versatile guards the "connectors" on the team, always doing whatever is needed for the team to win. They are very similar players and it is becoming clear the Lobos could really, really use Howell back.

There has been no timetable for Howell's return, but since he was injured in the 11th game of the season — the game that seemingly put him beyond the number of games played allowed by the NCAA to still seek a medical redshirt if an injury cost you a season — it was always understood that he would definitely be back this season.

Saturday night was the first time Olen indicated the program is exploring every possibility about whether a medical hardship case might still be a possibility anyway because Howell's recovery has had setbacks and it now seems unclear if he will return this season.

"I don't have a definitive answer on if he'll make it back," Olen told the Journal on Saturday. "He's had some setbacks along the way relative to his recovery and we're getting to a point where it's not just the injury once he gets back, the ramp up time to get back in shape to play at the level we need him to. So we're evaluating that every day here as we go through it. But I don't have a definitive answer for you on that."

So long, old friend

With the move to the Pac-12 this offseason for Boise State, Saturday may have been the last time Broncos head coach Leon Rice gets to see his longtime buddy Snake, whom he has often gifted shoes and Boise State gear to through the years and even helped him land a job once at an Albuquerque business owned by Boise State graduates.

Here is the two greeting each other before Saturday's game.

Streaking the wrong way

It wasn't after every single one, but for a good number of games during that 23-game home win streak the Lobos had until Wednesday's loss to Utah State, I would update the streak here in ETN.

Losing streaks in that iconic arena 37-feet below street level is another story. They don't need to get to 23 games to be a big deal.

"Anytime you lose, it's disappointing. Specifically, losing at home is disappointing," Olen said. "Crowd was amazing again, so you know, that sort of adds to the disappointment when they when they bring it and we can't come up with the result."

It is now a two-game losing streak and I'll keep updating that streak here in ETN after every one.

Of course UNM's next home game is Tuesday, Feb. 17, against Air Force. If I'm updating a Pit losing streak after that game, there's big problems in Lobo Land.

The last consecutive losses in the Pit were to Boise State on Jan. 31, 2024, and UNLV on Feb. 19, 2024.

Steve Kirkland Stat of the Night

UNM hoops Sports Information Director Steve Kirkland passed this gem along after Saturday's game:

Jake Hall has made multiple 3-pointers in 11 straight games. That is the longest streak of games with multiple made 3-pointers for a Lobo since Anthony Mathis had a 16-game streak in the 2018-19 season.

Speaking of Jake Hall ...

Jake Hall hit 4-of-10 3-pointers on Saturday and scored 19 points — an immense improvement over the worst game he's had as a Lobo on Dec. 30 when these two teams played the first time.

Hall on Saturday vs. BSU

• 19 points
• 2-3 2pt FGs
• 4-10 3pt FGs
• 3-4 FTs

Hall on Dec. 30 at BSU

• 2 points
• 1-3 2pt FGs
• 0-7 3pt FGs
• 0-1 FTs

For Hall, the four 3-pointers gives him a Mountain West leading 74 on the season, one away from the Freshman record for a season of 75 set by Rashad Muhammad of San Jose State in the 2013-14 season.

An oral history of 2002 UNM/Gonzaga game

Between Boise State coach Leon Rice talking last week about one of his first trips to the Pit as an assistant at Gonzaga and the CBS Sports Network broadcast featuring analyst Dan Dickau, the former Gonzaga All-American who played under Rice and Zags head coach Mark Few in Pit in 2002, I decided to poke around a bit about that Jan. 7, 2002, game.

As it turns out, it was one of the more pivotal games in Lobo history, at least int eh past 30 years or so, based on the chain of events it led to.

I appreciate Dickau and former Lobos coach Fran Fraschilla for helping out in telling the story, which was the top read story on our website Saturday as I posted it online Friday night, even though it didn't appear in print until Sunday's print edition of the Journal.

Here's the story link for those who didn't already get a look at it:

• Fraschilla, Rice, Dickau and look back at the 2002 Pit game that changed (recent) Lobo history: A 'Big Monday' overtime loss to Gonzaga in front of 17,000 Lobo fans was a 'turning point' for UNM hoops

Lobos back to their 3s

We talked about the Boise State 3s above, but for the Lobos offense, it was a good sign after Wednesday's dismal three 3-point showing that they were able to get back to some hot shooting from the perimeter, too.

UNM hit 11-of-24 3-pointers, the sixth time in seven games they hit double digit 3-pointers.

Tip of the hat: Dylan Andrews

Dylan Andrews, the UCLA transfer who hasn't exactly been a consistent star for the Broncos this season at the point guard spot, sure was this week.

If ever there was a done deal on Mountain West Player of the Week, this is it:

Tuesday vs. Nevada

• 91-87 overtime win
• 25 points
• 7-12 FGs (2-5 3FG)
• 9-10 FTs
• 6 assists
• 2 turnovers

Saturday at New Mexico

• 91-90 win
• 33 points
• 9-14 FGs (5-10 3FG)
• 10-10 FTs
• 4 assists
• 1 turnover

WEEK

• 29.0 points
• 16-26 FGs (61.5%)
• 7-15 3FG (46.7%)
• 19-20 FTs (95.0%)
• 5.0 assists
• 1.5 turnovers
• 2 wins

Small guards, big problems

Smaller guards have been a big problem for the UNM Lobos this season, though until the past week, it seemed like the issue might be behind them. Then, over an eight-day span, Colby Garland at San Jose State and Boise State's Dylan Andrews on Saturday took it to the Lobos, getting in the paint often, running the offense and knocking down a lot of shots against a Lobos defense that may have a bit of an Achilles' heel when it comes to smaller guards.

Overall, in 24 games played, the Lobos have had a guard shorter than 6-4 go off on them offensively seven times (one game had two do it in the same game).

Here's a look at some guards under 6-4 who have had huge offensive games — all of them above or well above their season scoring averages and most adding in good assist totals and getting to the free throw line — against the Lobos this season, listed by most recent first:

Dylan Andrews, Boise State

• 6-foot-3
• 33 points
• 4 assists
• 9-14 FG (5-10 3FG)
• 10-10 FTs
• Saturday (BSU 91, UNM 90)

Colby Garland, San Jose State (Part 2)

• 6-foot-0
• 24 points
• 6 assists
• 8-13 FG (2-3 3FG)
• 6-7 FTs
• Jan. 31 (UNM 90, SJSU 80)

Colby Garland, San Jose State (Part 1)

• 6-foot-0
• 27 points
• 3 assists
• 9-17 FG (5-8 3FG)
• 4-4 FTs
• Dec. 20 (UNM 88, SJSU 65)

Asjon Anderson, Alabama State

• 6-foot-2
• 30 points
• 4 assists
• 9-20 FG (6-12 3FG)
• 6-6 FTs
• Nov. 26 (UNM 93, Alabama State 87)

Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State

• 6-foot-0
• 29 points
• 4 assists
• 11-25 FG (6-13 3FG)
• 1-3 FTs
• Nov. 21 (UNM 80, Mississippi State 78)

Jayden Epps, Mississippi State

• 6-foot-2
• 21 points
• 6 assists
• 8-17 FG (2-6 3FG)
• 3-5 FTs
• Nov. 21 (UNM 80, Mississippi State 78)

Jamarques Lawrence, Nebraska

• 6-foot-3
• 21 points
• 4 assists
• 6-9 FG (4-7 3FG)
• 5-7 FTs
• Nov. 20 (Nebraska 84, UNM 72)

(this list doesn't count the likes of 6-5 Andrew Henderson of UC Riverside scoring 27 in the Pit and hitting seven 3s or 6-6 Deshawn Gory's huge 31-point game for Fresno State since they aren't small guards, but those were also monster games that I wanted to point out).

A+ trolling, even in defeat

Several members of the Howl Raisers student section wore T-shirts that read "The Howl Raisers support Hawaii Pacific University."

As Carlos Tenorio told me, they even reached out to HPU to get permission to use the logo for the shirts.

And for those not in on the joke, Hawaii Pacific is the Division II school that beat Boise State, in Boise, on the opening night of the college basketball season.

Chol struggles continue

The production of Antonio Chol continues to dip.

Saturday, it was four points in 25 minutes and the player who hit at least one 3-pointer in the first 21 games of the season has now gone three in a row without hitting one and has posted his three lowest scoring games in the past three.

Chol's first 18 games

• Points: 177 (9.8 ppg)
• 3-pt FGs: 38-100 (38.0%)

Chol's past six games

• Points: 30 (5.0)
• 3-pt FGs: 6-26 (23.1%)

(in the past three games — win at SJSU, loss vs. USU and loss vs. BSU — Chol is 0-for-6 from 3-point range)

#PitDrinkCrew

Long story short for those who don't follow me on social media (lucky you, as annoying as I can be here, I'm worse over there).

I've been taking pictures of referees standing in front of video screens for years, trying to make a drinking game out of all the stoppages in play when they try to review a call. I post #Drink when I do.

In recent years, the #PitDrinkCrew, as I've dubbed them, joined in on the action and are always slamming their beers when there's a video review, knowing that from across the court, I'll be taking a picture.

Cheers!

Bench scoring

Hey, at least the Lobos stopped that three-game stretch of having its bench get outscored.

Saturday's bench scoring:

• UNM's bench: 21 points
• Boise State's bench: 9 points

Attendance

The announced attendance for Saturday's Boise State at New Mexico game in the Pit: 14,379

Pit games 2025-26:

• 14,639 — Jan. 24 vs. Nevada
• 14,419 — Wednesday vs. Utah State
• 14,379 — Saturday vs. Boise State
• 13,763 — Jan. 3 vs. Wyoming
• 13,614 — Dec. 6 vs. Santa Clara
• 12,785 — Dec. 20 vs. San Jose State
• 12,512 — Jan. 13 vs. Grand Canyon
• 12,204 — Dec. 14 vs. Florida Gulf Coast
• 12,037 — Nov. 26 vs. Alabama State
• 11,924 — Jan. 21 vs. Fresno 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

Season average: 12,597

MW rank: 1st (of 12)

National rank: 25th (of 365)

Series notes

Boise State now leads the all-time series with New Mexico, 16-15.

UNM's edge in the Pit is down to 9-5.

Boise State swept this season's regular season series, so they get to put the broom emoji in their postgame X posts.

Plus/minus

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

NEW MEXICO

• +6 Uriah Tenette (28:49)
• +2 JT Rock (9:37)
• +1 Tajavis Miller (18:15)
• 0 Luke Haupt (31:48)
• 0 Jake Hall (32:21)
• -4 Tomislav Buljan (30:15)
• -5 Deyton Albury (23:41)
• -5 Antonio Chol (25:14)

BOISE STATE

• +4 Pearson Carmichael (33:17)
• +3 Dylan Andrews (34:48)
• +2 Bhan Boum (5:04)
• +1 Drew Fielder (18:19)
• +1 Aginaldo Neto (18:17)
• 0 Javan Buchanan (34:03)
• 0 Dominic Parolin (21:41)
• -1 Andrew Meadow (25:09)
• -5 Spencer Ahrens (9:22)

Line 'em up

The UNM Lobos played eight players and used 15 unique lineup combinations on Saturday. The Broncos played nine 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: Deyton Albury, Jake Hall, Luke Haupt, Antonio Chol, Tomislav Buljan
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -6 (22-28)
• TIME ON COURT: 10:11
• NOTE: Like the game in general, the offense wasn't the issue here. You win games at 1.4 points per possession and the Lobo's starting five had that on Saturday. But you allow 28 points scored in 10 minutes on the court and you lose a lot of games. That fact that it was a one-point game on Saturday with that sort of defense is fairly shocking.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Deyton Albury, Jake Hall, Luke Haupt, Tomislav Buljan
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +4 (10-6)
• TIME ON COURT: 3:50
• NOTE: Again, offense? Great. 1.6 points per possession. Defense, not great, but much better than the starting five gave you.

AND THEM?

• NOTE: Boise State's starting five — Dylan Andrews, Andrew Meadow, Pearson Carmichael, Javan Buchanan and Drew Fielder — was on the court for a total of 14 minutes, 17 seconds and the score between that five and whatever combination of the five Lobos on the court in that span was ... zero. 32-32.

VIDEO: Eric Olen and Luke Haupt

Here's the postgame presser video with UNM coach Eric Olen and Luke Haupt:

Pregame from the Pit

Here's a look back at the pregame show, for those interested in watching/hearing how wrong I probably was about everything that was about to happen in the game.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas

Remember that UNLV team that lost four in a row, including the worst-ever home loss to the Lobos, a rivalry loss at Nevada and an epic foul-fest, buzzer-beater loss at Fresno State on Tuesday.

And remember that Grand Canyon team that was sneaking up on the top the standings, having won five of six since losing to the Lobos on Jan. 13 in the Pit with the only loss being a fluke road loss in overtime that took a freakishly improbably ending to regulation just to force overtime? And that stretch also including wins over Utah State, San Diego State and Boise State?

Yeah, well, those teams played on Saturday. And, as you might have guessed, UNLV pretty much controlled the vast majority of the game. They nearly gave it away late, but held on to beat Grand Canyon, 80-78, on Saturday in the Thomas & Mack Center because, well, Mountain West basketball. That's why.

Around the Mountain

There was a full slate of six games around the Mountain West on Saturday. Here's a look at Saturday's scores and some upcoming games around the league:

SATURDAY

• UNLV 80, Grand Canyon 78
• Utah State 85, Wyoming 83
• San Diego State 88, Air Force 54
• Colorado State 65, San Jose State 57
• Nevada 69, Fresno State 59
• Boise State 91, New Mexico 90

TUESDAY

• Fresno State at Utah State, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW)
• Colorado State at Air Force, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW)
• San Jose State at UNLV, 9 p.m. MT (FS1)

WEDNESDAY

• New Mexico at Grand Canyon, 8 p.m. MT (FS1)

Mountain West standings

Here are the conference standings through Saturday's games:

• 11-2 Utah State
• 11-2 San Diego State
• 9-4 New Mexico
• 9-4 Nevada
• 8-4 Grand Canyon
• 7-6 Boise State
• 5-7 Fresno State
• 6-6 UNLV
• 4-8 Colorado State
• 4-9 Wyoming
• 1-11 San Jose State
• 0-12 Air Force

• • •

Here are the home/road standings through Saturday's games with road wins counting as a +1 and home losses as a -1:

• +5 Utah State
• +5 San Diego State
• +2 New Mexico
• +2 Nevada
• +2 Grand Canyon
• +1 Boise State
• 0 UNLV
• -1 Fresno State
• -2 Colorado State
• -3 Wyoming
• -5 San Jose State
• -6 Air Force

Stats and stats

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted after Saturday's game: Boise State 91, New Mexico 90

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: Boise State 91, New Mexico 90

Grammer's Guesses

The Guesses went 3-3 on Saturday picking against the spread. My daughter's coin also went 3-3, because of course we'd still be tied. (And by "we" I mean me and a damn coin!)

SEASON STANDINGS:

• My daughter's coin: 40-35
• Grammer's Guesses: 40-35

Up next

For New Mexico: The Lobos play at Grand Canyon on Wednesday in Phoenix at 8 p.m. MT in a game televised by FS1.

For Boise State: The Broncos host UNLV on Friday at 8 p.m. MT in a game televised by FS1.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.