Emptying the Notebook: JT Rock love, the last opposing coach ejected in the Pit and midrange mania

Here are some notes, quotes, stats, trends and other odds & ends I emptied out of the old notebook after Tuesday's 87-64 UNM Lobos win over Grand Canyon University in the Pit:

Rock and roll

With Tomislav Buljan getting into early foul trouble and having his minutes limited Tuesday against a big Grand Canyon roster, the Lobos needed JT Rock more than ever.

And the 7-foot-1 reserve center delivered, and then some.

Rock scored a career-high 13 points, hit a career-high two 3-pointers and had a career-high four blocked shots.

"Our guards do a great job of getting downhill," Rock said. "And if my defender goes to help, I can just be in the right position for our offense and create easy dump off opportunities for our guards, and they did a good job hitting me tonight, and we had good end of drive decisions, like we talk about a lot in preparation for every game. But (I) kind of made it to the right place at the right time tonight, and finished the play at the rim."

UNM coach Eric Olen noted the improvement from Iowa State transfer has been a huge boost for the Lobos.

"I thought he did a great job. He's continues to get better," Olen said. "He impacted us in a real positive way, tonight, blocked four shots, hit a couple 3s. ... I thought JT played great tonight, and it was important, given Tomislav's foul trouble."

The gamer

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

• Hall gets hot, Lobos rout Lopes

Steve Kirkland stat of the night!

Obviously a big part of Tuesday's game was visiting coach Bryce Drew getting ejected with 10:51 left in the second half. Which brings me to this doozy of a Steve Kirkland State of the Night!

But first, the set up.

Drew clearly deserved a technical. Many Lobo fans and the crowd mentality of the Pit certainly felt he earned the quick-trigger second technically from Kevin Brill, too, by his continued antics and yelling across the court at another official, Mike Littlewood (no, Drew was not yelling at or getting in the face of UNM's Deyton Albury as many people reacting on social media have said it appeared to be).

As I quoted in the game story from his postgame radio comments, Drew felt he didn't say any "magic words" or do anything he felt deserved the second technical and ejection.

"I've been around basketball a lot my life, lots of levels, seen lots of different things. Been at GCU, this is my sixth year," Drew said on his postgame radio show. "I was proud of our guys. They fought. First 30 minutes of the second half, we fought, you know? We had a chance to take the lead in the second half.

"We had a stretch there where we had some guys really go to the ground hard. Then I definitely wanted the first technical. The second one, I was very surprised, just to be flat honest, very surprised and shocked that I'd get a second like that without even having a chance to walk to the bench. And especially when I don't curse, I don't degrade anybody, I don't yell at the other team. It was really shocking."

Again, I tend to agree with Drew that the second tech wasn't warranted. I just don't think you throw a coach out of any game, but especially an important league game, for getting two tech for essentially the same action (it was all one rant). I am positive I've seen other opposing and past Lobo coaches do more than did Drew and not get tossed.

Which brings us to the Steve Kirkland Stat of the Night from UNM's men's basketball sports information director.

How long has it actually been since an opposing coach was tossed from a game in the Pit — something Pit fans clamor for almost every game?

Per Steve, the last opposing coach to get ejected in the Pit was nearly a quarter century ago and none other than legendary New Mexico State University head coach Lou Henson in a game Dec. 16, 2001.

So I went to the Journal archives and looked it up.

Like Drew on Tuesday, Henson got two technicals fouls for complaining about officiating in the second half of a game that was getting away from him in the hostile Pit environment.

And, like Drew on Tuesday, Henson was on record in the next day's Albuquerque Journal saying, "I earned the first one. ... I didn't earn the second one."

And, like the Journal did on Tuesday, it asked for comment about what warranted the second technical foul of Henson, getting a remarkably similar answer both times.

"It's not open to rules interpretation," the official said in 2001.

Tuesday, the Mountain West office gave the official statement that it was a "judgment call" and that there was nothing the refs needed to say themselves because "there is no rule to interpret."

By the way, though it's impossible to tell by the dark image from the archive, but that that "23" in the middle of the main photo on the Journal sports section from Dec. 17, 2001, is former Aggie player and former UNM coach, and now local prep school coach, Brandon Mason. And the image to the top right of that sports page is of Henson being escorted out of the game after his ejection.

How's your oxygen?

Monday, Grand Canyon pictured an ominous social media post of players entering the Pit — one walking down the ramp reading the "Welcome to the Pit. A mile high and louder than ..." lettering on the wall and a second picture of a player walking in front of the sign UNM has in the mid-ramp area near the visiting locker room that reads: "You are now 5,326 feet above sea level. 83% available oxygen molecules. Welcome the Pit."

The visitors from 1,086 feet above sea level apparently came prepared for the thin, mile-high air of Albuquerque with several available cans of air on the team bench for players to use during the game.

Canned air isn't a common thing for visiting teams, but as GCU has already played at, and won at, places with higher elevations than their home town like Laramie (7,220 feet) and Boise (2,703 feet) and the cans of air were used then, why not keep it flowing Tuesday in Albuquerque?

And tip of the hat to my colleague Eddie Moore for getting some pictures of the canned oxygen consumption during the game when I told him I saw the Lopes doing it at past games.

I clearly have no idea whether the cans of air helped GCU or not, nor do I know if the elevation thing was a distraction, but it is clear it was something GCU thought about before the game, at least enough to come with a case of the stuff.

Return of the midrange game?

Eric Olen's offense essentially wants efficiency. What coach wouldn't want that.

Efficient offense is about the most valuable shots possible, which most any coach will tell you is a 2-point shot at the rim or an open 3-pointer.

What any coach who values winning would also tell you is that the best shot in the game is the one you know you have a good chance of making, no matter where it is.

That brings us to, for the first time this season, a UNM emphasis on the midrange game on Tuesday night against GCU.

The Lopes are big, like Boise State was in the Dec. 30 Lobos loss.

GCU's defense makes it hard on UNM to score at the rim and on the perimeter, but Olen and staff knew that because of a lot of the drop coverage the Lopes do — dropping back toward the rim to protect the paint on pick and roll coverage — there was going to be opportunities for shots between the two usual sweet spots.

"Prepping for this game, they told us that they (the Lopes) were going to be in that drop coverage, specifically telling me and Jake that that middie pull up is going to be there and we got to take advantage of that. So we did tonight," said freshman point guard Uriah Tenette.

UNM was 6-of-9 on 2s outside the paint. Only one other game had UNM even attempted five mid-range shots and ever other game it was between one and four attempts.

"We knew that it was going to be a challenge to get get all the way the rim out of some of the ball screens the way we would like to normally. They peel switch if you get too much depth and get some separation," said Olen. "So Jake and Uriah both knew that some mid-range jump shots would be there. We're not always hunting those as early in the clock, but we wanted those guys to be aggressive."

He added after a follow up question, "It felt like we took more than normal. But specifically, we talked to Jake and Uriah about, hey, that that's something that you're going to have to look for and be aggressive. We're not telling them when to shoot or anything, but we just want them to understand, what the look they're going to get is and what might be available to them."

They're still streaking...

Another home win for the Lobos means the home win streak is up to 21 in a row — 10-0 this season plus the last 11 home games of last season. That is tied for the fifth longest active home win streak in Division I basketball:

• 27 — St. Thomas (Summit League)
• 25 — Duke (ACC)
• 25 — Akron (MAC)
• 25 — Miami (Ohio) (MAC)
• 21 — New Mexico (Mountain West)
• 21 — Utah Valley (WAC)
• 20 — Saint Mary's (WCC)
• 20 — McNeese (Southland)

There are no other Division I teams with more than 15-consecutive home wins through Tuesday's games.

If you've been following this list of streaking teams I've been posting here and UNM has been including in its game notes all season (there is a home win streak tracker on the NCAA's stat's page, too), then you may notice this list is one shorter than it has been much of the season.

At the time of the last ETN after a Lobos home game (that was Jan. 3 vs. Wyoming), Louisville was on this list at 19 home wins in a row. The Cardinals have actually lost two home games since then, last Tuesday to Duke and this Tuesday to Virginia.

As for the rest of the teams on this list, here's a list of their next home games:

• St. Thomas: Jan. 22 vs. South Dakota State
• Duke: Jan. 24 vs. Wake Forest
• Akron: Saturday vs. Western Michigan
• Miami (Ohio): Saturday vs. Buffalo
• New Mexico: Jan. 21 vs. Fresno State
• Utah Valley: Saturday vs. UT Arlington
• Saint Mary's: Jan. 21 vs. Oregon State
• McNeese: Jan. 24 vs. New Orleans

Is less more?

UNM shot a season-high 50.0% from 3-point range on Tuesday vs. Grand Canyon.

UNM also attempted a season-low 16 3-pointers on Tuesday vs. Grand Canyon.

No, there's not really any trend to point to here suggesting the Lobos are better at 3s when they shoot fewer 3s. It just worked out that way on Tuesday.

Truth is, whether they take a few (16 attempts on Tuesday) or a lot (36 attempts on Saturday), the Lobos are on a now four-game stretch of hitting those threes at a high clip.

UNM's four-game win streak

• 3-pointers made: 42
• 3-pointers attempted: 99
• 3-point percentage: 42.9%

UNM's first 13 games

• 3-pointers made: 118
• 3-pointers attempted: 369
• 3-point percentage: 32.0%

So, naturally, Olen was asked (not by me) if there was something to the recent hot streak from deep. And the enlightening, peek behind the curtain Olen gave to the secret to the recent shooting surge from outside for his team was:

"No, it's just the variance that comes with shooting," Olen said.

Front runners

While Tuesday was the first Mountain West game this season the Lobos haven't trailed, they've gotten close several times and have held the lead most of the conference season.

Here's how long the Lobos have trailed in each Mountain West game so far this season:

• 00:00 of 40:00 — Tuesday vs. Grand Canyon (win)
• 01:53 of 40:00 — Saturday at Air Force (win)
• 00:37 of 40:00 — Jan. 6 at Colorado State (win)
• 14:52 of 40:00 — Jan. 3 vs. Wyoming (win)
• 16:47 of 40:00 — Dec. 30 at Boise State (loss)
• 00:28 of 40:00 — Dec. 20 vs. San Jost State (win)

Total MW minutes played: 240 minutes

Total minutes trailing: 34 minutes, 37 seconds

Jake N' Bake

Jake Hall had another big game on Tuesday night, this time going a game-high 22 points on 5-of-9 shooting on 2s, 2-of-3 on 3-pointers and 6-of-7 on free throws.

He continues to show he's a complete scorer, able to score at all three levels and has an impressive ability to get defenders to fall for his shot fakes. Like here:

His 22 points, by the way, make it Game No. 6 in which he's scored at least 20 points, already a program record for a Lobo freshman.

Tic Tac Toe

As great as the Lobo football season was and as great as Lobo men's basketball has been so far this season, nobody is having as good a run as the UNM game-day events crew over the past couple seasons.

There are 14 people in the world (trust me on this, I'm sure it's right) who don't know how to play tic-tac-toe and UNM's marketing and promotions teams always comes through and finds one of them to play in this in-game promotion:

He's coming around!

I pointed out to Eric Olen after the Air Force game that his Lobos had an 88-plus minute stretch of game time in which it hadn't allowed an opponent to go on a scoring run of 6-0 or better — a span that started in the Jan. 3 game vs. Wyoming, covered the entire Jan. 6 game at Colorado State and just over a half of Saturday's game against the Falcons.

He said he felt it's a good sign of complementary basketball — Lobos playing well offensively and defensively. But he also noted during Monday's press conference that I was "cherry picking" a random stretch of the season and that there wasn't much really to explain why those 88 minutes were particularly different than most other stretches of time for UNM.

Well, Tuesday, it was another full 40 minute game without a run of 6-0 or better by GCU (the Lobos, meanwhile, had four runs better than 6-0).

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to point that stat out.

He laughed.

"I mean, that sample size is getting bigger," he acknowledged. "So, maybe there is something there."

Uriah "SportsCenter Top" Tenette

Another game, another highlight for the Lobos little big man, Uriah Tenette. No, not of the dunk variety this time, but of the halftime buzzer beater variety, giving UNM a 38-33 lead at the break.

The set up here was that GCU's Brian Moore Jr. hit a tough shot with 4 seconds left in the half to pull the Lopes within a bucket of the Lobos. Olen called a timeout, and here's what he said of the timeout and ensuing buzzer beater:

"That was big shot," Olen said. "Moore hit a tough shot, and so that was a little deflating. And so it was nice to kind of get the juice back with that one. We wanted to just try to get it in Uriah or DA's hands. We weren't being too choosy in that one. It landed on Uriah. We thought maybe we could kind of get a little pitch back to Jake for a deep one, but Uriah got a little separation, so he just shot it."

Said Tenette, "You just got to be confident that you're going to go make it. Coach put me in. He puts me in those situations all the time. I got to be out there and be ready to make that play for us."

Speaking of highlight reels

One of these in game has been a long time coming.

While Tenette has had a few in-game dunks of note, starting point guard Deyton Albury has had a couple would-be highlight reel dunks come up short — either getting fouled or just missing the dunk.

Well, he sure didn't miss this one...

Half the story

Check out these shooting halves:

First half shooting:

• 40.0% (12-of-30) — Grand Canyon
• 48.4% (15-of-31) — New Mexico

Second half shooting:

• 28.6%% (10-of-35) — Grand Canyon
• 58.3% (14-of-24) — New Mexico

UNM has shot better than 50% in the second half in each of its UNM shot 58.3% (14-24) from the floor in the second half, the fourth straight game shooting over 50 percent in the second half.

Meanwhile, at halftime...

The halftime entertainment definitely had its ups and downs.

Attendance...

The announced attendance for Tuesday's Grand Canyon at New Mexico game in the Pit: 12,512

Pit games 2025-26:

• 13,763 — Jan. 3 vs. Wyoming
• 13,614 — Dec. 6 vs. Santa Clara
• 12,785 — Dec. 20 vs. San Jose State
• 12,512 — Tuesday vs. Grand Canyon
• 12,204 — Dec. 14 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

Series notes

UNM now leads the all-time series with Grand Canyon 5-1, including a 5-0 record in the Pit.

The one loss was one of those dreaded "game before Christmas" slip-ups for UNM on Dec. 23, 2014, in a game where Hugh Greenwood scored 20 points, Deshawn Delaney added 13 and Jordan Goodman scored 10 off the bench in a 68-65 Lopes win in Phoenix.

The Lobos play at GCU for the first time since that 2014 loss on Wednesday, Feb. 11.

Plus/minus...

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

NEW MEXICO

• +23 Luke Haupt (27:33)
• +23 Jake Hall (29:35)
• +16 Deyton Albury (24:58)
• +15 Antonio Chol (29:26)
• +13 Tomislav Buljan (20:14)
• +12 Uriah Tenette (24:18)
• +10 JT Rock (19:46)
• +3 Tajavis Miller (24:10)

GRAND CANYON

• +5 Wilhelm Breidenbach (14:13)
• 0 Evan Boisdur (2:47)
• -1 Kaleb Smith (3:25)
• -5 Dusty Stromer (14:52)
• -12 Makaih Williams (31:16)
• -14 Brian Moore Jr. (20:42)
• -19 Nana Owusu-Anane (31:39)
• -20 Jaden Henley (33:47)
• -24 Efe Demirel (25:05)
• -25 Caleb Shaw (22:14)

Line 'em up...

The UNM Lobos played eight players and used 14 unique lineup combinations on Tuesday. The Lopes played 10 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: +6 (21-15)
• TIME ON COURT: 7:40
• NOTE: Not a bad showing for the starters after that unit actually was outscored Saturday in a blowout win at Air Force. Scoring 21 points together in just 7:40 on the court is efficient, for sure.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Jake Hall, Tajavis Miller, Luke Haupt, Tomislav Buljan
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +12 (18-6)
• TIME ON COURT: 7:31
• NOTE: Haupt and Miller getting in on the best lineup note again, Tenette seems to be a regular here too. This grouping holding GCU to just the six points in over seven and a half minutes is what is most impressive.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Jake Hall, Tajavis Miller, Luke Haupt, JT Rock
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -4 (2-6)
• TIME ON COURT: 2:54
• NOTE: A surprising number here, but a very small sample size. I thought JT Rock played great minutes on Tuesday, but his addition here for Tomislav Buljan is the only difference between this "worst" linup combination for UNM in the game and the team's "best" combination.

AND THEM?

• NOTE: The best combination of players the Lopes ran out on the floor could do no better than a plus-3 clip, outscoring the Lobos 12-9 over 4:25 of total court time with Makaih Williams, Brian Moore Jr., Jaden Henley, Nana Owusu-Anane and Efe Demirel on the court. Their starting five, meanwhile, was -8 (21-13, Lobos advantage) over 8:40.

VIDEO: Eric Olen, JT Rock, Uriah Tenette

Here's my postgame video with UNM coach Eric Olen, center JT Rock and point guard Uriah Tenette.

Pregame in 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...

How about another overtime game for Boise State? Sure.

How about another loss for Boise State? Are you serious?!?!

Boise State lost to UNLV on Tuesday, 89-85, and the head scratching for a team that thought it was a Mountain West title contender continues.

The Broncos are now 1-5 in Mountain West play and tied for the 10th/11th place spot in the standings with San Jose State, who beat winless Air Force on Tuesday night. But, the Broncos did beat the Lobos.

Around the Mountain...

There were four games around the Mountain West on Tuesday and two more coming on Wednesday. Here's a look at recent scores and upcoming games around the league:

TUESDAY (Jan. 13)

• New Mexico 87, Grand Canyon 64
• Fresno State 79, Colorado State 69
• San Jose State 70, Air Force 62
• UNLV 89, Boise State 85 (OT)

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
• 5-1 New Mexico
• 4-1 Nevada
• 3-2 Grand Canyon
• 3-2 UNLV
• 2-3 Wyoming
• 2-4 Colorado State
• 2-4 Fresno State
• 1-5 Boise State
• 1-5 San Jose State
• 0-6 Air Force

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted after Tuesday's game: New Mexico 87, Grand Canyon 64

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 87, Grand Canyon 64

Grammer's Guesses

It's like I always say, NEVER follow my advice picking games!

I had an 0-fer Tuesday night with the Guesses, not getting one game right against the point spread. My daughter's coin went 2-2, which isn't great if you're actually betting money, but against your old man for bragging rights, it's good enough to take the season lead.

SEASON STANDINGS:

• My daughter's coin: 19-14
• Grammer's Guesses: 18-15

Up next...

• For New Mexico: The Lobos play at San Diego State on Saturday in Viejas Arena.
• For Grand Canyon: The Lopes host No. 23 Utah State on Saturday.

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