Emptying the Notebook: Historically speaking, Olen's Lobos ace first nonconference season

Here are some notes, quotes, stats, trends and other odds & ends I emptied out of the old notebook after Sunday's 75-59 UNM Lobos win over Florida Gulf Coast in the Pit:

Was this best start to a Lobo coaching era?

Eric Olen's first Lobos squad inherited fewer returning players (zero) and staff members (zero) from the previous season than any other Lobo basketball program in at least the past half century.

So, patience probably should have been called for, but who are we kidding? This is 2025. And this is Lobo basketball. Patience, nor tempered expectations, among the justifiably proud fan base has never been a strength.

And while there were some (I admittedly have been guilty of focussing on the naysayers more than maybe I should this season) who were quite vocal early and often this season about the talent level of the players or the 3-point heavy playing style early on, the reality is as we sit here on Dec. 15 with the Mountain West just about done with its nonconference play across the board, Olen's Lobos just aced their entry exam.

Was it perfect? Nope.

Was it always pretty? Definitely not.

But was it the best first-year performance in nonconference play for a rookie UNM Lobos coach in the past half century? I'm here to tell you it probably was.

Olen's Lobos finishing the nonconference portion of the schedule at 9-2, winning 81.8% of their non-league games really only gets two challenger seasons for the criteria of best first-year nonconference performance in the past 53 seasons since Norm Ellenburger's perfect 12-0 nonconference slate of 1972-73 season.

The contenders along with this 2025-26 team are Steve Alford's 2007-08 debut season that had a better record, but one padded with even more cupcakes than this season and fewer good wins, and Craig Neal's 2013-14 debut season at UNM that started with the return of the MW Player of the Year as well as two future NBA players who posted a slightly worse record, but may have had a tougher schedule.

Sorry to the Pitino, Weir, McKay, Fraschilla, Bliss, Colson and Harrison lover out there. None really had a "first" year running the Lobos program that Olen, Alford and Neal did.

So, let's take a look.

2025-26 Eric Olen Lobos

Record: 9-2

Win pct: .818

Top 100 KenPom wins: 3 — 44 VCU (road), 64 Santa Clara (home), 80 Mississippi State (neutral)

Wins vs. teams ranked 200 or worse: 3

Losses: 21 Nebraska (neutral), 135 NMSU (road)

Pit record: 7-0 (1.000)

Inherited: Zero players, zero coaches from previous team

2013-14 Craig Neal Lobos

Record: 9-3

Win pct: .750

Top 100 KenPom wins: 3 — 27 Cincinnati (home), 68 Marquette (neutral), 72 NMSU (road)

Wins vs. teams ranked 200 or worse: 3

Losses: 7 Kansas (away), 50 Massachusetts (neutral), 72 NMSU (home)

Pit record: 5-1 (lost to NMSU in the Pit)

Inherited: Four starters (Kendall Williams, Cameron Bairstow, Alex Kirk, Hugh Greenwood) and several staff members

2007-08 Steve Alford Lobos

Record: 13-2

Win pct: .867

Top 100 KenPom wins: 1 — 83 Texas Tech (home)

Wins vs. teams ranked 200 or worse: 7

Losses: 50 Mississippi (road), 100 NMSU (road)

Pit record: 10-0 (1.000)

Inherited: Four starters (J.R. Giddens, Daniel Faris, Chad Toppert, Roman Martinez)

Taking into account the wins, the losses, the cupcake padding and the starting points — maying especially the starting points — I'm here to tell you Olen's Lobos just had the best start to a Lobo coaching era, at least in nonconference play, than any Lobo team since the 1972-73 season.

Who woulda guessed that one month ago?

What say Olen?

Olen doesn't care much about us media types inserting arbitrary check points into the season to see out things are going. He's been asked at least a dozen times this season (no, not often by me, I promise) some form of "where do you think you are as a team right now?"

Sunday, however, with a more natural, and understandable break in the season as nonconference games make way for Mountain West games, the first-year Lobos coach indulged in some of the "assess the team to this point" sort of inquiries he got after Sunday's win.

"I think if you just look at the win-loss record, I think we feel pretty good about the position we're in," Olen said after Sunday's game. "I think if you look possession to possession, at how we're playing, we feel like there's a lot of room for growth, and growth that needs to happen if we want to get to where we want to go, right?

"If this is a group that that has kind of championship aspirations in the Mountain West, we're not at that level. We don't have the level of consistency we need there. We have to improve in a lot of areas, but we are capable of making that progress. And I think part of the reason we have the record we have at this point is because we've made progress since we've started the competitions, and so if we can continue to improve and make similar progress throughout the conference season, then I think we have the potential to compete at a high level, but we do have to make more progress."

"First" nonconference record of past 11 UNM coaches:

Listed in order of win percentage

• NORM ELLENBERGER

1972-73: 12-0 (1.000)

• STEVE ALFORD

2007-08: 13-2 (.867)

• ERIC OLEN

2025-26: 9-2 (.818)

• CRAIG NEAL

2013-14: 9-3 (.750)

• DAVE BLISS

1988-89: 8-4 (.667)

• GARY COLSON

1980-81: 5-4 (.556)

• RICHARD PITINO

2021-22: 7-6 (.538)

• FRAN FRASCHILLA

1999-00: 7-7 (.500)

• RITCHIE McKAY

2002-03: 6-7 (.462)

• CHARLIE HARRISON

1979-80: 4-6 (.400)

• PAUL WEIR

2017-18: 5-8 (.385)

The gamer

Here's the gamer I filed from the Pit media room on Sunday afternoon:

• Defense, bench help Lobos win to close nonconference play

Uriah. Tank. BLOB. Uriah.

OK, enough words.

Did you see what Uriah Tenette did?

Tenette, listed as 5-11 on the team roster, talked about even in that clip as being 5-10, might be 5-9.

It doesn't matter. The true freshman from Prescott, Arizona, continues to amaze.

Sunday, it was eight points, five rebounds, a steal, an assist and a plus-16 mark for the Lobos on the scoreboard in the 28 minutes, 47 seconds he was on the floor.

And of the play in question — the Luke Haupt alley-oop assist from out of bounds — Eric Olen gave the credit to assistant coach Tom Tankelewicz for drawing up the BLOB (baseline out of bounds) play based on something he saw in Florida Gulf Coast's defense.

"That was specific to the way they play out of bounds defense," Olen said. "That's a coach Tom Tankelewicz special there. I get no credit for that. We knew kind of the way they play on the ball that that would be there if we wanted it. I thought he picked a good time for it. The guys executed it well."

A number to know: seven

With 3:09 left in the game, the Pit witnessed a rare, and unconfirmed by me, but I bet there's a good chance first-ever, seven-point play.

Antonio Chol hits a 3-pointer and a whistle blows under the basket as the ball is in the air. It's an off-ball foul on FGCU against Lobo forward Milos Vicentic while positioning for a potential rebound.

Vicentic hit both free throws for that foul, and while shooting his first free throw, FGCU coach Pat Chambers got called for a technical foul for reminding the officiating crew one too many times of the foul count (FGCU called for 24 fouls, UNM for 17).

Vicentic hit both technical free throws, too.

So, to recap the one-play:

• 3-pointer by Chol
• 2 free throws by Vicentic
• 2 technical foul free throws by Vicentic

Score goes from 66-50 to 73-50 on one play.

Steve Kirkland Stat of the Night

From UNM hoops Sports Information Director Steve Kirkland:

UNM didn't allow any Florida Gulf Coast player to reach double figure points on Sunday. That was the second time UNM has done that in the past two weeks (Division II New Mexico Highlands on Dec. 1).

So, how's this for showing how rare such a feat is?

Steve tells us that while these Lobos have done it now twice this month, the previous decade of Lobo basketball (the 2025-16 season through the 2024-25 season), it happened once.

Games w/o double-digit scorer (2025-26)

D-II New Mexico Highlands (Dec. 1)Florida Gulf Coast (Sunday)

Games w/o double-digit scorer (2015-16 — 2024-25)

• Nevada (Jan. 28, 2024)

Chol 'O'

Had you told me Dec. 14, Game 11, would be the first time Antonio Chol would lead the Lobos in scoring this season, I would have told you that you were crazy.

But what do I know? I just get paid to follow the team, cover them and hopefully have some idea what I'm talking/writing about here.

Nevertheless, Chol's 14 points on Sunday was the first time this season the 6-foot-9 junior guard led the Lobos in scoring this season.

Chol on Sunday:

• Points: 14
• 2-pt FG: 1-3 (33.3%)
• 3-pt FG: 3-8 (37.5%)
• FT: 3-4 (75.0%)
• Rebounds: 7

That means that through 11 games, the Lobos have now had six players lead the team in scoring:

• Jake Hall — 5
• Deyton Albury — 2
• Tomislav Buljan — 2
• Uriah Tenette — 1
• Chris Howell — 1
• Antonio Chol — 1

* One game Tenette and Hall tied for team lead, hence there being 12 listed above through 11 games.

Coast to coast 3s

The past two Lobo opponents in the Pit have come to Albuquerque from different coasts. Both fell victim to the same trap.

UNM's defense dares teams to shoot a high volume of 3-pointers as it puts a premium on defending the paint.

Santa Clara (4th) and Florida Gulf Coast (6th) posted two of the highest six 3-point rates against the Lobos since the 1997 season according to KenPom.com.

• Santa Clara: 44 3-pt attempts/25 2-pt attempts (63.8% 3-pt attempt rate)
• FGCU: 36 3-pt attempts/21 2-pt attempts (63.2% 3-pt attempt rate)

The result of such games, and of Olen's offense?

UNM's opponent 3-point rate ranks 363rd out of 365 Division I teams (or, depending on how the stat should be ordered since this is actually a stat by design by Olen, you could say UNM ranks third out of 365 Division I teams).

Teams are attempting 53.3% of their total field goal attempts from beyond the arc this season. The national average is 39.8%.

The very nature of so many jump shots, especially from deep like the Lobos have teams taking them, leads to a lot of long rebounds, which can lead to higher offensive rebounding numbers for opposing teams (we've seen that this season), but can also lead to the Lobos being able to get out in transition on a rebound and get to the rim before the defense gets back in position (we've seen that, too).

Here's one example of Deyton Albury taking a missed 3-pointer rebound (one of his seven) and getting out in transition and scoring. (This isn't even the best example I can show, just happens to be an easy enough one that was already set up on the UNM social media post).

Kevin Patton Jr.'s absence

Kevin Patton Jr. was not in the building on Sunday, and the absence was not injury or illness related.

"Kevin is currently away from the team for personal reasons," Eric Olen said. "He has our full support and hope to have him back real soon."

Injuries

Starting guard Chris Howell left Sunday's game with 3:11 left in the first half holding his left wrist. He did warm up for the second half, though it had already been decided he wouldn't play.

Tomislav Buljan left with 1:57 left in the first half and was seen grabbing the back of his leg — hamstring area — afterward. He was seen walking without help after the game.

In neither case did Olen say he had a good enough update to give any sort of timetable on their returns, but if rest is what they need, here is the good news for UNM: They have six days between the injuries and Saturday's Mountain West opener against San Jose State. If they need more rest, the next game isn't until Dec. 30 at Boise State, 15 days and more than two weeks away.

Still Rockin

With Tomislav Bujan's injury, it sure was nice for the Lobos that JT Rock has been playing so well as of late.

Rock on Sunday: 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots.

Another number to know: nine

UNM Lobo Athletic Director Fernando Lovo was hired in December 2024.

In December 2025, the two highest profile hires he made in the first few months on the job both have nine wins.

• Eric Olen, UNM men's basketball coach — 9-2 (0.818)
• Jason Eck, UNM football coach — 9-3 (0.750)

They're still streaking...

Another home win for the Lobos means the home win streak is up to 18 in a row — 7-0 this season plus the last 11 home games of last season. That is still tied for the fifth longest active home win streak in Division I.

• 23 — St. Thomas (Summit League)
• 22 — Duke (ACC)
• 21 — Miami (Ohio) (MAC)
• 21 — Akron (MAC)
• 18 — New Mexico (Mountain West)
• 18 — Louisville (ACC)

NOTE: Barring Lipscomb upsetting Duke on Tuesday in Cameron Indoor Arena or Eastern Michigan upsetting Akron at Rhodes Arena on Friday, when the Lobos host San Jose State in their Mountain West opener on Saturday in the Pit, the list above will likely still be the same pecking order.

Attendance...

The announced attendance for Florida Gulf Coast at New Mexico on Sunday afternoon in the Put: 12,204

13,614 — Dec. 6 vs. Santa Clara

12,204 — Sunday vs. Florida Gulf Coast

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

Now and then...

So, how does that nonconference attendance in the Pit compare to a year ago in the NCAA Tournament/Mountain West championship season of Richard Pitino's 2024-25 Lobos?

• 2024-25: 11,766 (seven nonconference games, including sold out NMSU game)
• 2025-26: 11,707 (seven nonconference games, no NMSU game)

Series Notes

Sunday was the first time FGCU and New Mexico played in men's basketball.

It was only the second game FGCU ever even played in the Mountain time zone, the other being a 91-59 loss at Arizona State 18 years ago in its first season as a Division I team.

And I found out on the FGCU game notes on Sunday that this is the longest road trip of the season for the Eagles (1,600.7 miles) and second longest of the coach Pat Chambers era behind a California trip to play USC and the University of San Diego in the 2022-23 season.

Plus/minus...

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

NEW MEXICO

• +22 Luke Haupt (32:32)
• +16 Uriah Tenette (28:47)
• +15 Milos Vicentic (7:29)
• +14 Jake Hall (28:20)
• +12 Antonio Chol (27:35)
• +5 Chris Howell (10:42)
• +3 Tomislav Buljan (11:55)
• +2 Deyton Albury (29:45)
• -2 JT Rock (20:20)
• -7 Timeo Pons (2:35)

FLORIDA GULF COAST

• +2 Tristen Guillouette (13:54)
• -3 Jack Reddick (2:17)
• -4 Isaiah Malone (14:54)
• -5 Rahmir Barno (19:10)
• -8 Jordan Ellerbee (25:30)
• -10 Gabe Tanner (24:22)
• -10 Rory Stewart (23:57)
• -12 J.R. Konieczny (28:42)
• -13 Darren Williams (24:50)
• -17 Michael Duax (22:24)

Line 'em up...

The UNM Lobos played 10 players and used 17 unique lineup combinations on Sunday. The Eagles played 10 players and used 22 unique lineup combinations.

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

STARTING LINEUP

• WHO: Deyton Albury, Jake Hall, Chris Howell, Antonio Chol, Tomislav Buljan
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -2 (5-7)
• TIME ON COURT: 4:12
• NOTE: Poor start. Two starters injured for game in first half. Hard to read much into this (though the poor start was all them). Just 4:12 from your starters is definitely an outlier.

BEST LINEUP (Part 1)

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Deyton Albury, Luke Haupt, Antonio Chol, Milos Vicentic
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +9 (9-0)
• TIME ON COURT: 0:46
• NOTE: I've never had a "best" lineup note for a group of players who didn't even spend a minute on the court together. But, I can't overlook 9-0, even if it did come with the wildly unique 7-point possession that included a Chol 3-pointer and four Milos Vicentic free throws — two for being fouled as Chol's 3-point shot was in the air and two more for a technical called on FGCU. All that accounted for one of those 46 seconds. I guess credit where it's due: They were also 2-0 in the other 45 seconds they spent together on the floor.

BEST LINEUP (Part 2)

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Jake Hall, Luke Haupt, Chris Howell, Tomislav Buljan
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +6 (8-2)
• TIME ON COURT: 3:30
• NOTE: A lot of good ball movement here with Howell, Haupt and Tenette on the court.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Deyton Albury, Luke Haupt, Timeo Pons, JT Rock
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -7 (2-9)
• TIME ON COURT: 2:35
• NOTE: With 2:35 left in the game and the Lobos leading 73-50, Timeo Pons checked in to a big ovation. Uriah Tenette quickly hit two free throws. And then... well. FGCU close the game on a 9-0 run with the Lobos playing very little, or certainly very ineffective, defense. Getting a -7, as Pons did, in just 2:35 of game time in a game the Lobos won by 16 is very hard to do. But Pons did it this game as this final 2:35 was horrible for the Lobos.

VIDEO: Eric Olen, Antonio Chol and JT Rock

Here's my postgame video with UNM coach Eric Olen, Antonio Chol and JT Rock:

Meanwhile, in Idaho Falls...

The Boise State Broncos on Sunday evening secured one of, if not the biggest win of the nonconference in Mountain West play, beating Saint Mary's 68-67 in Idaho Falls.

The "semi-away" distinction on KenPom, or "neutral" on other metrics (Idaho Falls is clearly far more Boise territory than Moraga, but still four hours from campus for the Broncos), is the only place where debate can come into play.

SMC on Sunday morning was 17 in the NET, but the volatility of the NET in December is still fairly high from day to day. Other metrics have this neutral court win as Boise State beating No. 32 (KenPom), still easily the highest ranked opponent a Mountain West team has played.

Boise State's true road win over Butler (46 NET/51 KenPom) and New Mexico's true road win over VCU (60 NET/44 KenPom) are the other games in contention for most statistically impressive (true road wins trump neutral court wins by a lot in the NCAA Selection Committee's eyes, at least based on the results of the past few years of selection data).

Regardless, the team that opened Mountain West play losing to a Division II team closed out nonconference with probably two of the top three wins in the whole conference. (SDSU does still play Arizona, so there's still a chance of a better win for the league, as unlikely as it is to happen).

And to be clear, if I'm ranking the three best nonconference wins for the Mountain West this season, here you go:

1. Boise State beating Saint Mary's (neutral court)
2. New Mexico beating VCU (true road game)
3. Boise State beating Butler (true road game)

Around the Mountain...

There were three games around the Mountain West on Sunday with one more scheduled for Tuesday. Here's a look at some recent games and others that are coming up around the league.

SATURDAY

• Utah State 83, Illinois State 78
• Stanford 86, San Jose State 82
• Grand Canyon 82, Coastal Carolina 61
• Tennessee State 63, UNLV 60
• Nevada 78, Duquesne 75

SUNDAY

• New Mexico 75, Florida Gulf Coast 59
• Boise State 68, Saint Mary's 67
• Colorado State 104, (NAIA) Northern New Mexico 54

MONDAY

• Wyoming at South Dakota State, 6 p.m. MT (TheMW.com)

TUESDAY

• no games

WEDNESDAY

• Air Force at San Diego State, 8 p.m. MT (CBSSN)

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted after Sunday's game: New Mexico 75, Florida Gulf Coast 59

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 75, Florida Gulf Coast 59

Up next...

For New Mexico: The Lobos host San Jose State at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Pit to open Mountain West play. The game will be available on Altitude (tv), TheMW.com (stream) and 770 AM/96.3 FM (radio).

For FGCU: The Eagles play at Central Florida on Saturday.