Emptying the Notebook: Jake making his case as one of best Lobo freshmen

U.S AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colorado — Here are some notes, quotes, stats, trends and other odds & ends I emptied out of the old notebook after Saturday's 91-49 UNM Lobos win over Air Force in Clune Arena:

Jake's big week

Jake Hall has yet to win Mountain West Freshman of the Week from the league offices.

Monday, that streak should end. Based on scoring alone, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that he be considered for Player of the Week honors.

And in the bigger picture, he's more than starting to insert himself into the conversation for having the best freshman seasons ever at UNM (his teammate Tomislav Buljan, coincidentally, is also making such a case).

As for the past week — two road wins at Colorado State and Air Force, here's what he did:

Jake Hall's week

• Points: 21.5 per game
• Rebounds: 4.5 per game
• Assists: 2.0 per game
• Lobo wins: 2 (at Colorado State, at Air Force)
• 3-point shooting: 8-of-15 (53.3%)

Utah State's MJ Collins averaged 22.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and hit 7-of-15 (46.7%) of his 3s, also in a pair of big road wins, so I'm guessing that's who will get top player honors. But Hall finally getting his due as top freshman is still long overdue.

Saturday specifically, it was 24 points, 5-of-7 on 3-pointers, seven rebounds and two assists for Hall.

"I think our guys are understanding roles, and they've known for a long time that Jake's capable from 3," UNM coach Eric Olen said. "They're looking for him, and he's ready to shoot it."

He's a player that won over his teammates over the summer, Lobo fans in the nonconference and opponents seemingly every game he plays.

"He's a good player. He has a really good game — a good pump fake, so he's hard to contain," said Air Force guard Eli Robinson.

Added Falcons guard Kolby Gilles: "He's a solid player. Hard to believe he's a freshman out there. It seems like he's had a lot of good experience this season. He was hitting his shots. Solid patience. That's always hard to guard when a player's like that."

In Saturday's win, Hall passed former Lobos Kevin Henry and Cullen Neal on UNM's freshman 3-pointers list.

Most 3s by UNM freshman

• 55 — Kendall Williams, 2011 (35 games)
• 54 — John Robinson II, 1999 (34 games)
• 46* — Jake Hall, 2026 (16 games)
• 44 — Kevin Henry, 1998 (32 games)
• 42 — Cullen Neal, 2014 (34 games)
• 40 — Charles Smith, 1994 (31 games)
• 40 — Rob Robbins, 1988 (36 games)

*At least 16 Lobo games remaining on schedule.

As for his 24-point game, that's five on the year and now a freshman record at UNM all to his own.

Most 20-point games for a UNM freshmen

• 5* — Jake Hall (2025-26)
• 4 — Kenny Thomas (1995-96)
• 4 — Charles Smith (1993-94)
• 4 — Phil Smith (1980-81)
• 3 — JT Toppin (2023-24)
• 3 — Makuach Maluach (2017-18)
• 3 — Willie Banks (1988-89)

*At least 16 Lobo games remaining on schedule.

The gamer

Here's the gamer I filed from Clune Arena on Saturday afternoon:

• Lobos blow out Falcons in record-breaking win

Nowhere to run

Of course I just had to tweet about it!

At halftime of Saturday's game, I posted the following:

"Wyoming had a 6-0 run against UNM in the first half on Jan. 3.

"Since then, UNM has gone 87 minutes, 22 seconds without allowing an opponent to string together any run better than 5-0 (there have been two 5-0 runs in that time)."

Well, at that time, Air Force scored the last basket of the first half.

They then opened the second half scoring the first five points, giving the Falcons a 7-0 run, ending the streak I was so proud to have dug up and posted about just moments before.

The streak ended at 88 minutes, 45 seconds between 6-0 (or better) scoring runs for the Lobos. And the Grammer Jinx is as strong as ever.

Nevertheless, what a run by UNM because it's not a one-sided sort of stat. It's a reflection of both preventing a team from scoring, especially a lot, while also putting up points of your own.

"That's complementary basketball," Olen told me after the game when I mentioned the streak to him. "If you're only executing on one side of the ball, then those runs can happen because you're either giving up baskets consistently or you're not scoring. And so that's where those things come. So when, when those are limited, it's typically because you're doing a good job on both sides."

As for all the runs Saturday, Air Force opened the game with a 5-0 run and had the 7-0 run that spanned the end of the first half and start of the second.

At no other point did Air Force string together more than three unanswered points before UNM scored again.

And the runs of significance by the Lobos? Well, they had four better than that 7-0 Air Force run:

• 16-0 (first half)
• 9-0 (first half)
• 8-0 (first half)
• 14-0 (second half)

Here's part of that first half 16-0 run — one that UNM started down 5-0 and finished up 16-5, never having the game be very competitive again.

Also, as for kill shots (10-0 or better runs), which is a personal favorite stat of mine I track throughout the season, the Lobos are still leading the Mountain West at both ends of the spectrum — most kill shots for them and fewest kill shots surrendered to an opponent, according to EvanMiya.com, where the stat (among hundreds of others) is tracked for all 365 Division I teams.

UNM KILL SHOTS THIS SEASON: 15

(Next closest in MW is Grand Canyon with 11)

UNM KILL SHOTS SURRENDERED: 2

(tied with Nevada for fewest in MW)

Uriah 'SportsCenter Top' Tenette

Uriah Tenette has already made ESPN's SportsCenter Top 10 once this season for his baseline out-of-bounds lob dunk from Luke Haupt in the Lobos win against Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 14.

Frankly, if Saturday wasn't a 1 p.m. start time on an NFL Playoff day against a team struggling as bad as Air Force is, the alley-oop dunk by the 5-foot-10 point guard in Saturday's game was arguably more impressive.

Tenette, by the way, had 10 points, two assists, three steals and a game-best plus-40 on the +/- stats, meaning in the 27 minutes, 23 seconds he was on the court, the Lobos outscored Air Force by 40 points. 

They outscored Air Force by just 2 points in the 12 minutes, 37 seconds he was on the bench.

Olen still rollin'

Eric Olen and Craig Neal were tied for the best 15-game record among UNM coaches in the Mountain West era.

Noodles, however, lost his 16th game (76-73 vs. UNLV in the Pit on Jan. 15, 2014), dropping his 16-game coaching start to a still very impressive to 12-4.

Olen on Saturday improved to 13-3 in his first 16 games coached at UNM, behind only Norm Ellenberger and Steve Alford who both had 14-2 starts in the modern era of Lobo Basketball (we consider that the 1962-63 season when Bob King arrived and shortly thereafter the Pit was built).

UNM's best 16-game starts (modern era)

NOTE: starting with Bob King in 1962-63 season

• STEVE ALFORD — 14-2 (2007-08)
• NORM ELLENBERGER — 14-2 (1972-73)
• ERIC OLEN — 13-3 (2025-26)
• CRAIG NEAL — 12-4 (2013-14)
• BOB KING — 12-4 (1962-63)
• DAVE BLISS — 11-5 (1988-89)
• FRAN FRASCHILLA — 8-8 (1999-00)
• GARY COLSON — 8-8 (1980-81)
• RICHARD PITINO — 7-9 (2021-22)
• RITCHIE McKAY — 7-9 (2002-03)
• PAUL WEIR — 6-10 (2017-18)
• CHARLIE HARRISON — 4-12 (1979-80)

It wasn't the Pit, but ...

If the announced crowd of Saturday's game was 2,017 in Clune Arena, it's very possible 1,000 of them were Lobo fans.

And while that may not mean much to Pit fans who expect that or take it for granted, the energy from those people decked out in cherry red certainly made an impact on the Falcons players.

"They were chanting it's the Pit North. It was loud. I like playing in a gym with energy," said Air Force guard Eli Robinson. "It makes it fun. I wish we could have played better."

In the margins

The 42-point Lobos win was the largest margin of victory for UNM in a Mountain West road game and second largest in a Mountain West game home, road or neutral court.

UNM's biggest MW wins

1. 45 points — UNM 100, Wyoming 55 in the Pit (Feb. 9, 2008)
2. 42 points — UNM 91, Air Force 49 at Air Force (Saturday)

UNM's biggest MW road wins

1. 42 points — UNM 91, Air Force 49 at Air Force (Saturday)
2. 39 points — UNM 81, Air Force 42 at Air Force (Jan. 31, 2012)

Oh, those 3s

UNM hit a season high (vs. a Division I opponent) 14 3-pointers on Saturday at the Academy — getting five from Jake Hall, four from the reemerging Tajavis Miller and four other Lobos combining for the other five.

It was the most triples in a Mountain West game for UNM since hitting 15 of them in an 88-69 home win over Colorado State on Dec. 28, 2022.

UNM's double-digit 3-pointer games

• 14-36 (38.9%) — at Air Force (Saturday)
• 13-44 (29.5%) — vs. Nebraska in Kansas City (Nov. 20)
• 12-26 (46.2%) — vs. Alabama State (Nov. 26)
• 11-25 (44.0%) — at Colorado State (Tuesday)
• 11-30 (36.7%) — vs. San Jose State (Dec. 20)

*UNM made 19 3-pointers in their one game against a non-Division I opponent this season (97-47 over D-II New Mexico Highlands on Dec. 1).

Points off turnovers

Pretty much this same note appeared in ETN earlier this week after UNM's win over Colorado State because Tuesday night was the first time since the first two games of the season that the UNM Lobos reached 20 points off turnovers.

Well, they did in back-to-back road games this week, racking up 22 points off 21 Air Force turnovers on Saturday.

UNM scoring 20+ points off turnovers

• 32 — vs. UT Arlington (Nov. 8)
• 22 — at Air Force (Saturday)
• 22 — vs. East Texas A&M (Nov. 5)
• 21 — at Colorado State (Tuesday)

Third verse

As is tradition, the Lobos stay on the court after Saturday's game along with the Falcons while the cadet band plays the Third Verse.

NET gains/losses

Watching the daily updates on the NCAA's NET ratings is a ridiculous thing to do pretty much any time of the season, but especially in mid January.

So, let's take a look at the latest NET update from Sunday morning just because we're all about ridiculousness here in ETN.

Utah State's beat-down of Boise State in Boise on Saturday was a good news/bad news thing for the Aggies, and just a bad news thing for the Lobos. As was NM State's home loss to Middle Tennessee.

Utah State jumped from No. 16 (Saturday) to No. 13 (Sunday) in the NET.

The win at Boise State was a Quad 1 win ... for a few hours, anyway.

You see, Boise State was 65 in the NET on Saturday, but with that bad of a home loss, they dropped to No. 79 on Sunday.

For a game to count as a Quad 1 game on the road, the home team must have a NET ranking of 75 or better.

So, despite clearly being the class of the league so far this season with what they've done overall, Utah State actually is still without a single Quad 1 win.

As for the Lobos?

Well, they moved up from 48 to 41 in the NET.

But their loss at Boise State that was a Quad 1 loss as of Saturday now falls to a Quad 2 loss.

And NM State losing 59-55 to Middle Tennessee in Las Cruces on Saturday night means those Aggies are now at 138 in the NET and losing to them now counts as a Quad 3 loss for UNM (for a game to be in the Quad 2 category, the home team must be 135 or better).

Mountain West NET on Sunday:

• 13 Utah State
• 41 New Mexico
• 66 San Diego State
• 76 Nevada
• 79 Boise State
• 85 Colorado State
• 88 Wyoming
• 98 Grand Canyon
• 164 Fresno State
• 177 UNLV
• 247 San Jose State
• 332 Air Force

Steve Kirkland stat of the night!

Per Steve Kirkland, UNM's men's basketball sports information director, UNM's Tomislav Buljan on Saturday became the first Lobo freshman to record four-consecutive double-figure rebound games.

• 14 (9 def/5 off) — Saturday at Air Force
• 11 (8 def/3 off) — Tuesday at Colorado State
• 12 (7 def/5 off) — Jan. 3 vs. Wyoming
• 10 (6 def/4 off) — Dec. 30 at Boise State

His 14 rebounds on Saturday was, for a short time, the most in a game in a Mountain West game this season.

In the last league game of the day Saturday, Fresno State's DeShawn Gory posted 14 rebounds (all defensive) in the Bulldogs' 71-52 road loss at San Diego State.

Most rebounds in MW games 2025-26

• 14 — Tomislav Buljan, UNM at Air Force (Saturday)
• 14 — DeShawn Gory, Fresno State at San Diego State (Saturday)
• 13 — Elijah Price, Nevada vs. Wyoming (Saturday)
• 13 — DeShawn Gory, Fresno State at San Jose State (Jan. 6)
• 13 — Karson Templin, Utah State at Fresno State (Dec. 30)

Meanwhile, back in Albuquerque

Colleague Ken Sickenger covered the UNM women's basketball team's 70-61 home loss in the Pit on Saturday. Here's his write up:

• Women's basketball: Lobos fall in surprise loss to Wolf Pack

Attendance

The announced attendance for Saturday's UNM at Air Force game in Clune Arena: 2,017

Here's what the announced attendance has been at each of UNM's true road games this season:

• 9,980 — Dec. 30 at Boise State
• 8,106 — Nov. 15 at New Mexico State
• 7,637 — Dec. 10 at VCU
• 3,640 — Tuesday at Colorado State
• 2,017 — Saturday at Air Force

Series notes

UNM now leads the all-time series with Air Force by a nice 69-27 count with a 26-19 record in Clune Arena.

Moment of silence

There was a pregame moment of silence for longtime game official and coordinator of officials, Terry Wymer.

Plus/minus

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

NEW MEXICO

• +40 Uriah Tenette (27:23)
• +38 Jake Hall (32:05)
• +29 Tajavis Miller (21:52)
• +28 Luke Haupt (24:55)
• +20 Tomislav Buljan (18:57)
• +14 Antonio Chol (18:00)
• +13 JT Rock (11:41)
• +11 Milos Vicentic (11:19)
• +9 Deyton Albury (22:14)
• +8 Timeo Pons (11:34)

AIR FORCE

• -2 Elliott Taite (2:27)
• -3 Josh Gatete (3:11)
• -4 Brendan Martin (2:35)
• -4 Sam Imade (2:35)
• -14 AJ Patterson (12:28)
• -15 Justin Hinds (15:56)
• -20 Kolby Gilles (13:51)
• -20 Kam Sanders (28:44)
• -22 Caleb Walker (27:30)
• -22 Wesley Celichowski (12:32)
• -25 Ethan Greenberg (25:45)
• -26 Lucas Hobin (23:52)
• -33 Eli Robinsin (28:34)

Line 'em up

The UNM Lobos played 10 players and used 22 unique lineup combinations on Saturday. The Falcons played 13 players and used 19 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, Luke Haupt, Antonio Chol, Tomislav Buljan
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -1 (11-12)
• TIME ON COURT: 7:08
• NOTE: Huh. Who knew. I wouldn't have guessed this had I not seen the stat, but in a game the Lobos won by 42 points, the lineup they played the most — their starting lineup — was actually outscored by Air Force. I guess it's good news for the Lobos, or at least this starting unit, that I am not really going to waste much time trying to figure out what any of these plus/minus stats really mean in a game like Saturdays.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Jake Hall, Tajavis Miller, Luke Haupt, JT Rock
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +10 (14-4)
• TIME ON COURT: 4:34
• NOTE: Uriah Tenette has been great lately. And, like Tuesday's game at CSU, his teaming up with JT Rock on the floor was the best lineup of the game for the Lobos. Again, I won't read too much into this game, but coupled with Tuesday's numbers that's a combo worth watching.

WORST LINEUP

• NOTE: There were two lineups that were at -2 — one was outscored 2-0 in six seconds and one was 4-2 in 1:41. Neither are worth diving into much, so let's say that starting five at -1 in 7:08 was probably the worst lineup of the night considering the domination of most of the other 33 minutes by UNM.

AND THEM?

• NOTE: Air Force's starting five was -5 (19-14 Lobo advantage in 10:27 of the Falcons starters on the court).

VIDEO: Eric Olen and Jake Hall

Here's my postgame video with UNM coach Eric Olen and freshman guard Jake Hall:

Pregame from Clune Arena

Here's a look back at the pregame show Saturday from Clune Arena:

Meanwhile, in Boise...

Welp, that wasn't close.

In a tumultuous week for Boise State basketball, Utah State took no pity. The Aggies went into ExtraMile Arena and thumped the Broncos on their home court, 93-68, for Boise State's second blowout home loss of the week (Grand Canyon beat them 75-58 on Wednesday).

In fact, BSU's only win in league play so far was against the UNM Lobos (Dec. 30).

But Saturday was about the Aggies, not the Broncos or their drama. For USU, it was their first Quad 1 victory, at least for Saturday.

Around the Mountain...

There were five games around the Mountain West on Saturday. Here's a look back at recent scores since the last ETN column and upcoming games around the league:

WEDNESDAY

• Grand Canyon 75, Boise State 58

FRIDAY

• Colorado State 70, UNLV 62

SATURDAY

• New Mexico 91, Air Force 49
• Grand Canyon 76, San Jose State 58
• Utah State 93, Boise State 68
• Nevada 92, Wyoming 83
• San Diego State 71, Fresno State 52

TUESDAY (Jan. 13)

• Grand Canyon at New Mexico, 7 p.m. MT (Altitude 2/TheMW)
• Colorado State at Fresno State, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW)
• Air Force at San Jose State, 8 p.m. MT (TheeMW)
• Boise State at UNLV, 9 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)

WEDNESDAY (Jan. 14)

• San Diego State at Wyoming, 6 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)
• Nevada at Utah State, 8 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)

FRIDAY (Jan. 16)

• Colorado State at Boise State, 8:30 p.m. MT (FS1)

SATURDAY (Jan. 17)

• Utah State at Grand Canyon, 12:30 p.m. MT (FS1)
• Nevada at Air Force, 2 p.m. MT (TheMW)
• UNLV at San Jose State, 3 p.m. MT (TheMW)
• Wyoming at Fresno State, 5 p.m. MT (TheMW)
• New Mexico at San Diego State, 6 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)

Mountain West standings

Here are the conference standings through Tuesday's games:

(listed alphabetically where records are same)

• 5-0 San Diego State
• 5-0 Utah State
• 4-1 Nevada
• 4-1 New Mexico
• 3-1 Grand Canyon
• 2-2 UNLV
• 2-3 Colorado State
• 2-3 Wyoming
• 1-4 Boise State
• 1-4 Fresno State
• 0-5 Air Force
• 0-5 San Jose State

Stats and stats

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted after Saturday's game: New Mexico 91, Air Force 49

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 91, Air Force 49

Up next

For New Mexico: The Lobos host Grand Canyon on Tuesday night in the Pit at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on TheMW.com, broadcast regionally on Altitude 2 and can be heard in New Mexico on 770 AM/96.3 FM.

For Air Force: The Falcons play fellow 0-5 San Jose State on Tuesday night in San Jose.

Grammer's Guesses

Look, I can only do so much. Taking my always 100% reliable picks and making money off them is entirely up to you. I mean, what could possible go wrong trusting my picks?

Don't look at history to answer that, please.

The Guesses go 4-1 against the point spread on Saturday and 5-1 on the weekend (Friday night was 1-0). My daughter's coin flips went 3-2 Saturday and 4-2 for weekend.

Season standings:

• Grammer's Guesses: 18-11
• My daughter's coin flips: 17-12

Until next time

Until next time, Clune Arena, in the Cadet Field House on the campus of U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado ...

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