Emptying the Notebook: Lobos enjoy being on the right side of a buzzer-beater in the Pit for a change

Here are some extra notes, quotes, stats, videos, trends, and other odds & ends I managed to empty out of the old reporter's notebook after Friday's 82-81 Lobos win in overtime over Nevada:

Who knew that buzzer in the Pit could sound so good?

It isn't as though the Lobos didn't have a couple late-game wins last season. In fact, Donovan Dent sort of made a reputation for it.

But they weren't buzzer-beaters — one of the oddly most misused terms in the sport. Without a total sidetrack here, it's only a buzzer-beater if there is NO time lift on the clock after the shot. Not even 0.1 seconds. None. Nada.

Lobo fans, can, painfully so, tell you all about the helpless feeling Nevada players and fans felt Friday night — the feeling of not even getting one more desperation heave for a miracle show.

You see, buzzer-beaters haven't exactly been kind to Lobo fans in the Pit in the Richard Pitino era.

"I don't think so," Pitino said late Friday when asked if he had ever been a part of a finish quite like the one his Lobos experienced Friday night with the frantic Nelly Junior Joseph buzzer-beater in overtime.

"I'd have to think about it. I've been on the other side of a lot of them. We were on the other side of one here with them a couple years ago. ... I feel like I've lost at the buzzer a lot. I'm not sure I've won at the buzzer a lot."

Don't worry, coach. I'm here for you.

I dug up the receipts. Heck, there's even a Nevada one in there to add to the intrigue. So, let me remind you of three such painful memories (all, of course, in an effort for you and Lobo fans to appreciate even more what Junior Joseph pulled off on Friday).

• Dec. 6, 2021: New Mexico State 78, New Mexico 76 (OT)

• Feb. 7, 2023: Nevada 77, New Mexico 76

• Feb. 25, 2023: San Diego State 73, New Mexico 71

OK, OK, OK!!! Enough. We get it.

All of that is for Lobo fan to enjoy this even more.

Nelly Junior Joseph, your name is now forever etched in Pit lore.

Lots of angles to choose from (see the post below with all those), but here is the one pushed out by the UNM Lobo account off the FS1 broadcast, which shows the trap the Lobos had without fouling (and Nevada without a timeout had the throw the ball down court), leading to Junior Joseph's steal, the Donovan Dent fall and nudge/assist to Junior Joseph and the Lobo center's game-winner.

The gamer...

Here is the gamer filed late Friday after the game...

• What a finish! Lobos hit buzzer-beater to edge Nevada in 1,000th game in the Pit

Well lookie here... and here... and here...

Nothing too in depth here. Just a handful of different angles I saw on social media of the game-winner...

• From Nevada Sports Net on the north baseline:

• From Lobo fan Kaitlyn_Grace1:

• From JayMarkE:

• Another from UNM, but from multiple camera angles:

• And again from the FS1 broadcast:

Crying foul...

There were 54 fouls called in Friday's game, leading to a combined 76 free throw attempts.

Both Pitino and Alford are coaches who love to have their teams attack the rim in a fashion that draws fouls.

Lots, and lots of fouls.

So having free throw shooting contests in the Pit with these teams isn't entirely uncommon. But Friday's game had very little flow to it thanks in large part to the heavy use of the whistle.

And, it was tied for the most combined fouls in a Lobo game this season.

Combined fouls in UNM game (24-25):

54 — UNM 82, Nevada 81 OT (Friday)

54 — UNM 100, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 81 (Nov. 12)

50 — UNM 72, UCLA 64 (Nov. 8)

47 — Arizona State 85, UNM 82 (Nov. 28)

40 — UNM 78, VCU 71 (Dec. 18)

40 — UNM 91, Nicholls 84 (Nov. 4)

So, what did Richard Pitino think?

Pit win .pct update

With Friday being Lobo men's basketball game No. 1,000 in the Pit, here is the updated record for the Lobos in the Pit:

• 804-196

For those scoring at home, that's a win .pct of .804. You're welcome.

Get to the point...

The 82 points UNM scored against Nevada on Friday, at a 1.108 Points Per Possession rate, was the most points scored on the Wolf Pack in a game this season, though the 70 UNM had at the end of regulation was not.

Most points allowed by Nevada:

82 — UNM 82, Nevada 81 OT (Friday)

78 — Nevada 90, Oklahoma State 78 (Nov. 24)

75 — Nevada 91, Sam Houston State 75 (Nov. 4)

73 — Vanderbilt 73, Nevada 71 (Nov. 21)

73 — Nevada 105, Texas Southern 73 (Dec. 14)

(70 — What UNM scored in regulation Friday)

Whoa Nelly!

Nelly Junior Joseph will have more written about him, and this shot. I promise.

For now, how about the non-shot stuff he's been doing.

First off, he's locked up Mountain West Player of the Week. I can't imagine they'd give it to anyone else after the Friday finish alone, but also the stats — a 20/10 double-double (and three blocks). And Tuesday, on the road, it was 12 point, 10 rebounds (4 blocks) double-double.

Friday was Nelly's 50th career double-double.

NCAA D-I active double-doubles

75 — Norchad Omier, Baylor

69 — Johni Broome, Auburn

55 — Hunter Dickenson, Kansas

50 — Nelly Junior Joseph, UNM

And it's fitting. Nelly scored the first points of that Pit Classic game, it was only right he also scored the last.

Donnie Dimes update...

Dent, despite being denied the ball all night by the Wolf Pack and having a hard time finding the gaps to drive against the Nevada pack-line defense he normally does, still had himself a game.

• POINTS: 20

• ASSISTS: 6

• FOULS DRAWN: 6

• STEALS: 1

• BLOCKS: 1

• TURNOVERS: 5

Here was one of the few times Dent found some room to get to the rim...

Well, and there was this one...

Those six assists have him moving on up, again, on the Lobos' career assists chart, passing on Friday a Lobo fan favorite who played for Steve Alford and Craig Neal.

UNM career assists

1. Darrell McGee, 1987-90 — 684 (137 games)

—

10. Marlon Parmer, 2000-2002 — 384 (84 games)

11. Donovan Dent, 2023-present — 374 (84 games)

12. Hugh Greenwood, 2012-2015 — 372 (130 games)

13. Charles Smith, 1994-97 — 358 (126 games)

Here was Dent's fifth assist of the night, setting up a huge corner 3 by C.J. Noland.

The first 999...

It's time to revise my list.

Not sure where Friday night goes (let my ears stop hurting for a minute before I think about it), but I can assure you this: Friday's game, in No. 1,000 in the Pit, is absolutely on the list of the Top 10 Lobo games in the Pit.

Here is the column I wrote for Friday's Albuquerque Journal with my swing at naming the 10 best games in the Pit (again, Lobo men's basketball, only) over the first 999 of them.

• Grammer: Friday night is the 1,000th Lobo game in the Pit. Here are the 10 best.

While the explanation in the link will help you understand the "why" for each of these games/decisions, I figure for here, I would still just drop the list for you to see:

1. UNM 61, No. 1 Arizona 59 (Jan. 2, 1988)

2. UNM 77, No. 3 Utah 74 (Feb. 1, 1998)

3. UNM 68, NMSU 66 (Feb. 1, 1969)

4. UNM 104, Fresno State 99 3OT (March 8, 1996, WAC Tournament semifinals)

5. UTEP 71, UNM 70 OT (Jan. 25, 1986)

6. No. 23 UNM 76, No. 12 BYU 72 (Jan. 27, 2010)

7. Nevada 105, UNM 104 OT (Jan. 7, 2017)

8. UNM 88, San Diego State 86 OT (Feb. 6, 2010)

9. UNM 59, UTEP 58 (March 6, 1976)

10a. New Mexico 59, Arizona 58 (Dec. 21, 1984)

10b. No. 1 Georgetown 69, New Mexico 61 (Dec. 22, 1984)

COVER YOUR EARS! (But listen, too)

OK, of all the things that happened Friday night, this may have been my favorite.

In a live postgame radio interview with Robert Portnoy on KKOB 770 AM/96.3 FM, Serbian Lobo Filip Borovicanin said the quiet part out loud.

And it was awesome!

So, about next week...

I'll sneak this in toward the top because being a week away from a game like this and there still being no posted starting time is making a lot of people a little anxious.

As of Friday, there is still not a set start time for next Saturday's (Jan. 11) game in the Pit between San Diego State and New Mexico.

The reason? It will be broadcast live on network television on CBS (that's the big boy, main channel CBS) at either 1 p.m. MT or 2 p.m. MT, but until CBS knows for sure all of next weekend's NFL Wildcard matchups for the first weekend of the playoffs, they can't commit to either time.

So, I would think we know an answer to the SDSU/UNM start time as early as sometime Saturday or, more likely, sometime Sunday when all NFL games are completed.

OK, back to the UNM/Nevada game...

The previous coaches... the current coach...

Here was the ramp walk down and warm welcome for Nevada head coach Steve Alford and Nevada Associate head coach Craig Neal on Friday night...

And here were UNM Lobo fans with a much more welcoming reaction to UNM coach Richard Pitino's ramp walk...

Just how bad was losing to NMSU?

These numbers will change (somewhat) on Saturday when some of these teams play, but the point is the same.

The Lobos' good this season has been not just good, it's been arguably better than anyone in the Mountain West other than Utah State at the moment, certainly when using the NCAA's NET rankings tool and its quadrant system.

Among the top five Mountain West teams in the NET rankings, UNM and Utah State have 11 of the league's Quad 1 and 2 wins.

But the Lobos have the only Quad 3 or 4 loss (a Quad 4 one, to be exact, thanks to the NMSU Aggies being ranked way down at 234 in the NET through Friday's games).

That one difference means the Lobos are the lowest of the five Mountain West schools with Top 100 NET rankings.

The 4-0, league leading (for the moment) Lobos, with more Quad 1+2 wins than all but one Mountain West team, are ranked fifth.

NCAA NET ranking as of Saturday morning:

24 — Utah State

48 — San Diego State

51 — Boise State

64 — Nevada

76 — New Mexico

NET Quad 1+2 wins:

6 — Utah State (3 Q1, 3 Q2)

5 — New Mexico (1 Q1, 4 Q2)

3 — San Diego State (1 Q1, 2 Q2)

2 — Boise State (1 Q1, 1 Q2)

2 — Nevada (0 Q1, 2 Q2)

NET Quad 3+4 losses:

1 — New Mexico (0 Q3, 1 Q4)

0 — Utah State

0 — San Diego State

0 — Boise State

0 — Nevada

These guys coached a lot of 'em...

Of those 1,000 Lobo men's basketball games played in the Pit, three of the men who coached nearly a quarter of those games were on the sidelines.

Here are the updates on the Pit records for each, as the Lobos head coach:

Steve Alford (103 games):

6 seasons at Lobos coach: 92-11 (.893)

AS NEVADA COACH: 2-2 (.500)

Craig Neal (61 games)

4 seasons as Lobos coach: 49-12 (.803)

Richard Pitino (63 games):

3 1/2 seasons as Lobos coach: 47-16 (.746)

Familiar faces...

As they do each year when Nevada comes to Albuquerque since Steve Alford and Craig Neal, both former UNM Lobo head coaches now coaching the Wolf Pack, invite former players, managers and their families to the Pit for their game day shootaround.

And as you've seen this picture evolve through the years, some of those kids are growing up pretty fast, even one (Brandon Mason, Jr.,) who you can see standing taller than Craig Neal there at the end who happens to be being recruited by both the UNM Lobos and Nevada Wolf Pack (among lots of other programs).

Attendance...

The announced attendance for Friday's Nevada at UNM game in the Pit: 14,622

Plus/minus...

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

NEW MEXICO

+8 C.J. Noland (22:33)

+5 Nelly Junior Joseph (39:03)

+3 Braden Appelhans (15:38)

+3 Kayde Dotson (5:52)

+2 Filip Borovicanin (27:03)

+1 Mustapha Amzil (38:51)

0 Jovan Milicevic (6:09)

-2 Donovan Dent (39:08)

-4 Atiki Ally Atiki (5:57)

-10 Tru Washington (24:47)

NEVADA

+5 Daniel Foster (37:13)

+4 Chuck Bailey III (16:53)

+3 Nick Davidson (41:13)

+1 K.J. Hymes (19:30)

-1 Kobe Sanders (39:01)

-1 Justin McBride (16:45)

-4 Tre Coleman (38:54)

-5 Xavier DuSell (8:06)

-7 Brandon Love (7:26)

Line 'em up...

The UNM Lobos played 10 players and used 13 unique lineup combinations. The Nevada Wolf Pack played nine players and used 17 unique lineup combinations.

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

STARTING LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, Filip Borovicanin, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +3 (20-17)

• TIME ON COURT: 12:27

• NOTE: The starters looked OK, certainly not great together on Friday night. In a little more than a quarter of the game (45 minutes with the overtime) on the court, the starters scored just 0.9804 points per possession and committed seven of the Lobos' 15 turnovers. Can't be too critical, though, as the starting five did out-score Nevada by three while on the court together.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, C.J. Noland, Braden Appelhans, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +5 (8-3)

• TIME ON COURT: 3:12

• NOTE: It was only for three minutes, but if Appelhans plays right out of the gate like he's ready to shoot and stretch the floor, this second wave might be a regular under the "BEST LINEUP" category.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, Braden Appelhans, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -6 (9-15)

• TIME ON COURT: 4:22

• NOTE: Such a slight difference from the "BEST" lineup. C.J. Noland in at the "2" over Tru Washington helps right now as Washington has been in a bit of a funk. He had a team-worst +/- stat on Friday and his minutes just aren't flowing very nicely when he's on the court.

One note on the Wolf Pack lineups:

• 17 — The number of lineup combinations Steve Alford used for Nevada on Friday.

• 1 — Number of those 17 lineup combinations that had a point differential greater than 2 (positive or negative).

So, just to make sure we're clear, Nevada has 17 lineup combinations that all pretty much played to a draw.

VIDEO: Postgame with Pitino and Nelly Junior Joseph...

Here is the postgame media session with UNM Lobo coach Richard Pitino and senior center Nelly Junior Joseph...

VIDEO: Pregame from the Pit...

Here was my pregame show from the Pit on Friday night...

Meanwhile, in Mountain West football news...

Looks like the Mountain (West), naturally, will now extend from Hawaii to Illinois.

Brett McMurphy reported Friday that it looks like the Mountain West has succeeded in luring football-only membership from Northern Illinois to join the league starting July 1, 2026.

Not a bad get at all just in terms of adding a really good football piece of the puzzle.

Geography is another matter, but this opens up a new time zone, and offers new coveted time slot flexibility for the league's new media rights package to come. The MW now will have football game inventory throughout the year, depending on home/road scheduling, of course in from the Hawaii time zone to the central time zone.

Around the Mountain...

UNM and Nevada was the only game in the Mountain West on Friday with four more coming on Saturday. Here's a look at the weekend and upcoming midweek slate of league games around the Mountain (West):

FRIDAY

• New Mexico 82, Nevada 81 (OT)

SATURDAY

• San Diego State at Boise State, 2 p.m. MT (CBS)

• Wyoming at Air Force, 3 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• San Jose State at UNLV, 4 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• Fresno State at Utah State, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW)

TUESDAY

• Fresno State at Colorado State, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• New Mexico at Wyoming, 8 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)

• Utah State at San Jose State, 8 p.m. MT (TheMW)

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

WEDNESDAY

• Air Force at San Diego State, 8:30 p.m. MT (FS1)

Mountain West standings...

Through Friday's game, here are the Mountain West standings:

4-0 New Mexico

3-0 Utah State

3-0 Boise State

2-0 UNLV

2-1 Colorado State

1-1 San Diego State

1-2 Wyoming

0-2 Air Force

0-3 San Jose State

0-3 Fresno State

0-4 Nevada

Mountain West home/road standings...

A team gets a +1 for a road win and -1 for a home loss:

+2 Boise State

+2 New Mexico

+2 Utah State

+1 Colorado State

+1 UNLV

0 San Diego State

-1 Air Force

-1 Wyoming

-2 Fresno State

-2 Nevada

-2 San Jose State

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted late Friday night: New Mexico 82, Nevada 81 (OT)

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 82, Nevada 81 (OT)

Grammer's Guesses...

Only one Mountain West game on Friday night meant I could only lose one game!

And I did.

The Grammer's Guesses are now 6-10 on the season picking games against the point spread and my daughter's coin flip picks are 12-4.

Up next...

For New Mexico: The Lobos play at Wyoming at 8 p.m. Tuesday in a game that will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

For Nevada: The Wolf Pack has a "bye" spot in the schedule for a midweek game coming up and next plays at Fresno State on Saturday, Jan. 11.

Lobo schedule/results...