Emptying the Notebook: Lobos show off elite defensive effort to start Olen era

Here are some extra notes, quotes, stats and other odds & ends I emptied out of the old notebook after Wednesday night's 76-54 Lobos win in the Pit vs. East Texas A&M:

Elite defensive debut

Plenty has been made of the offense under new Lobos head coach Eric Olen.

Maybe not enough talk about the tricky zone defense his team at UC San Diego deployed last season, which ranked 30th in Division I in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom, and ranked No. 3 (of 364 Division I teams) in turnover rate (23.3%).

In their home opener Wednesday, the Lobos shot fine after a pair of exhibition games in which the shooting numbers had many Lobo fans a bit nervous.

But the defense was elite, holding the visiting Lions to just 0.7 points per possession, 33.9% shooting overall, 14.7% shooting from 3-point range and forcing 21 turnovers.

While that shooting, and the offense overall, is still coming into form with the roster comprised of 14 new players, Olen is happy to know his team's defense is already far ahead of schedule.

"I thought we were pretty connected," Olen said. "Our communication was good. We controlled the ball pretty well. I think deep into the first half there, their two baskets were transition opportunities off a turnover. So for the most part, I thought we did a nice job of keeping the ball out of the paint and getting shots contested. They had some looks, but I thought for the most part, everything was pretty difficult for them."

Just how good was the Lobos' zone defense?

Consider that an ETAM team that scored 119 points in Monday's season opener, albeit vs. an Arlington Baptist team that plays in the National Christian College Athletic Association, managed just 14 points in the first half Wednesday night. The visitors didn't hit a field goal in standard halfcourt offense for more than 13 minutes at the start of the game (they had two layups in transition among their first 16 shot attempts) A Damian Garcia two-pointer with 6:48 showing on the first half clock represented the Lions' first made basket out of their halfcourt offense.

The Lions missed their first 20 3-point shots, and just about all were heavily contested.

"Just crowding them on the catch," Lobos senior guard Tajavis Miller said when asked about the defensive success. "Whenever they get a catch, just be there on it — just ball pressure. That was really a main thing at the beginning of the game that coach was going over. Just don't let them be comfortable when they catch the ball. Just force them to drive. Don't let them get any open looks."

ETAM did manage to go on a rather respectable second half run offensively, scoring 40 points in the final 17:48 of the game, but only with the game already far out of reach and the Lobos emptying the bench.

For some historical context, here's a look at how many games of 70.1 defensive efficiency or better each Lobo coach oversaw in the Mountain West era starting in 1999 — including all those East Texas A&M-level games the previous coaches played, too.

DI games with 70.1 or better defensive efficiency:

Stats per KenPom.com

There have been 16 such games vs. DI opponents. Sorted by coaching era, here's the breakdown:

• 8 — Steve Alford era (207 games; 2007-08 to 2012-13)

• 3 — Ritchie McKay era (151 games; 2002-03 to 2006-07)

• 2 — Craig Neal era (128 games; 2013-14 to 2016-17)

• 1 — Eric Olen era (one game so far)

• 1 — Richard Pitino era (137 games; 2021-22 to 2024-25)

• 1 — Paul Weir era (121 games; 2017-18 to 2020-21)

“I think where we are, from an offensive execution standpoint, we’re going to rely on the defense here right now," Olen said. "I think it’s ahead of the offense at this stage."

The gamer

Here's the gamer I filed from the Pit media room on Wednesday night after UNM's win vs. East Texas A&M:

• UNM home opener: Lobos, led by freshmen, tame Lions

It's a Olen 1!

Wednesday was UNM coaching win No. 1 for Eric Olen, who had a career coaching record of 240-119 in 13 seasons as head coach of the UC San Diego Tritons.

"That was a lot of fun — a lot of fun to be part of,” Olen said after career coaching victory 241, but UNM coaching victory No. 1.

"This is a special place — walking down the ramp, jump-ball going up, I think everybody in our locker room had goosebumps for that, and so that was fun to experience. We’re looking forward to building on that."

Here's a look at the debut-game results of past UNM coaches (starting with the Bob King era):

• Eric Olen: 76-54 East Texas A&M (Nov. 5, 2025)

• Richard Pitino: W, 99-92 vs. Florida Atlantic (Nov. 10, 2021)

• Paul Weir: W, 147-76 vs. NAIA Northern New Mexico (Nov. 11, 2017)

• Craig Neal: W, 88-52 vs. Alabama A&M (Nov. 9, 2013)

• Steve Alford: W, 54-47 at Colorado (Nov. 9, 2007)

• Ritchie McKay: L, 76-68 vs. Cal (Nov. 23, 2002)

• Fran Fraschilla: W, 85-64 vs. Simon Fraser (Nov. 16, 1999)

• Dave Bliss: W, 96-71 vs. Loyola Maryland (Nov. 26, 1988)

• Gary Colson: L, 75-65 vs. Colorado (Nov. 28, 1980)

• Charlie Harrison: L, 86-78 at Colorado (Dec. 1, 1979)

• Norm Ellenberger: W, 83-50 vs. Cal Poly Pomona (Nov. 29, 1972)

• Bob King: W, 66-55 vs. Fort Hayes State (Dec. 1, 1962)

Steve Kirkland stat of the night

UNM Assistant Athletic Director for Communication Steve Kirkland offered up the following note (or series of notes, actually) related to the some of the fabulous freshman performances from Wednesday's season opener.

• Guard Jake Hall and forward Tomislav Buljan being in the starting five on Wednesday marked the first time since 2010 that two freshmen started the season opener for the Lobos. In that game, guard Kendall Williams and forward Alex Kirk, started for Steve Alford's Lobos against UC Riverside on Nov. 14, 2010.

Hall is a traditional freshman in that he joined UNM after playing high school basketball. Buljan, meanwhile, is anything but a typical freshman. The 22-year-old did play his first college game on Wednesday, but he's also already played three seasons of professional basketball in Croatia.

• Hall and Uriah Tenette, who each scored 14 points, led the team in scoring, marking the first time since Nov. 9, 2007, at Colorado — the first game of the Alford coaching era — that a freshman led UNM in scoring in a season opener 2007-08 that a freshman led the Lobos in scoring in a season opener. That season, it was Jonathan Wills who scored a team-high 13 points in the 54-47 win over the Buffaloes.

• Buljan finished with eight points and 15 rebounds. Those 15 boards (eight defensive, seven offensive) are the most ever for a Lobo freshman debut and are tied for the fifth most by a Lobo freshman in any game (Kenny Thomas' 17 boards vs. Utah in the 1996 WAC Tournament is the record). Buljan is now just one of three Lobo freshmen with at least 15 boards in a game, joining two highly-decorated former Lobos.

Most rebounds by UNM freshman:

17 — Kenny Thomas vs. Utah (March 9, 1996)

16 — J.T. Toppin vs. Fresno State (March 6, 2024)

16 — J.T. Toppin vs. San Diego State (Jan. 13, 2024)

16 — Kenny Thomas at Colorado State (Jan. 15, 1996)

15 — Tomislav Buljan vs. East Texas A&M (Wednesday)

15 — Kenny Thomas vs. Colorado State (Feb. 19, 1996)

Chol at the rim

In two exhibition games, 6-foot-9 junior transfer wing Antonio Chol averaged 15.5 points and hit 8-of-18 (44.4%) from the field. But of those 18 shot attempts, only one was actually from inside the arc with the other 17 being 3-point attempts.

Wednesday, as ETAM defenders closed out hard on him he was more than happy to step in and attack the rim as needed, scoring six of his nine points on dunks, like this one:

... and this one ...

... and this one ...

Chol in 2 exhibitions games:

• FGs: 8-18 (44.4%)

• 2FG: 1-1 (100%)

• 3FG: 7-17 (41.2%)

Chol on Wednesday:

• FGs: 4-10 (40.0%)

• 2FG: 3-4 (75.0%)

• 3FG: 1-6 (16.6%)

Well, shoot

After two poor-shooting exhibition games, the Lobos had much more respectable shooting numbers from the field on Wednesday (42.9% FG shooting overall and 40.0% from 3-point range).

But then there were those free throws.

The Lobos, led by Deyton Albury's aggressive style drawing a game-high six fouls, got to the line plenty (23 attempts), but managed to hit just 14 free throws (60.9%), leaving some points out there.

Remember these guys?

As we all know by now, every player on last season's UNM Lobo roster left the program.

Twelve of those players were on new college basketball rosters this week as the college basketball season began. Here's a look at where they are now and what they may have done in their first games with their new teams:

• F Deraje Agbaosi (walk-on with UNM), 6-7, D-II Cal State LA: The Golden Eagles, who boast former Lobo great Michael Cooper as an assistant coach, begin their regular season Nov. 14 vs. Biola University, according to the team's website.

•G Braden Appelhans, Drake: 14 points and 3-of-5 made 3-pointers in 27 minutes off the bench in Monday's come-from-behind win over Northern Arizona, the team the Lobos beat in the Pit last week in an exhibition.

•G/F Filip Borovicanin, Xavier: Playing for former UNM head coach Richard Pitino, Borovicanin started but played just 12 minutes in Monday's win over Marist, posting a statline of zero points, one rebound, one assist on 5-for-5 shooting.

•G Dylan Chavez (walk-on with UNM), D-II New Mexico Highlands: The former La Cueva graduate who initially committed to NMSU and then walked on at UNM last season was on the New Mexico Highlands University roster and traveled to Monday's loss at D-I North Texas, but logged less than one minute and as of Wednesday had left the team and is no longer listed on the Cowboys' roster.

•PG Donovan Dent, UCLA: The California kid went home to UCLA, received preseason AP All-America votes (he was sixth in preseason All-America voting for what officially is only a five-person team). In Monday's win over Eastern Washington, the new Bruin point guard had 21 pointes, four rebounds, nine assists, and one steal.

• PG Kayde Dotson, Loyola-Chicago: Now starting for the A-10's Ramblers, Dotson tied for a team-high 16 points with four assists, three rebounds, three steals and hit four 3-pointers in Monday's home win over Cleveland State.

• G Shane Douma-Sanchez (walk-on with UNM), Lower Columbia College (junior college): The Del Norte High graduate who was on the Lobos roster to each of the last two seasons (he left the team last December) has no game results posted by his new school on the team's website, but has posted himself on his X account that he had 16 points, six assists and three steals in an October game vs. West LA and and eight points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals in an October game vs. Lamar Community College.

• F Jovan Milicevic, Xavier: The now sophomore forward scored 14 points on 2-of-6 shooting, 6-of-7 free throws, four rebounds, two assists and a steal in 17 minutes off the bench in Monday's win over Marist.

• G Tru Washington, Miami: The defensive-minded shooting guard started and played a game-high 32 minutes for the Hurricanes in Monday's win over Jacksonville, scoring 12 points with four rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

• F Ibrahima Sacko, D-II New Mexico Highlands: Sacko initially transferred to New Mexico State, but was ruled ineligible. He is listed on the NMHU roster, but did not play in Monday's game at North Texas.

• F Daniel Thomas (used a redshirt season at UNM), UNC Asheville: Thomas had two points and two rebounds in eight minutes off the bench for the Bulldogs in Tuesday night's loss at Wichita State.

• G Quinton Webb, Cal State Northridge: Webb is injured and not playing, though on the roster, with the Matadors.

Another familiar face

UNM landed a deal with Altitude Sports to broadcast nine home games on the regional sports network based out of Colorado. The deal has UNM's primary radio broadcast team of Robert Portnoy and Hunter Greene doing the televised games while Jeff Siembieda steps in to do the radio play by play with radio newcomer and former Lobo fan favorite Daniel Faris on the analyst duties.

The remaining games being televised by Altitude are:

• Saturday: UT Arlington (Altitude)

• Nov. 11: UC Riverside (Altitude 2)

• Nov. 26: Alabama State (Altitude 2)

• Dec. 1: New Mexico Highlands (Altitude 2)

• Dec. 14: Florida Gulf Coast (Altitude)

• Dec. 20: San Jose State (Altitude)

• Jan. 13: Grand Canyon (Altitude 2)

• Feb. 17: Air Force (Altitude)

Redshirting

Guard Sir Marius Jones, the freshman from Sacramento who did not appear in either of UNM's two exhibition games but did suit up, was in warmups on the Lobos' bench Wednesday. The team announced he has decided to sit out this season and utilize a redshirt, maintaining on year of playing eligibility.

Family matters

UNM guard Tajavis Miller, the transfer from North Dakota State, had a really nice game Wednesday with 11 points in just 12:35 off the bench, hitting 3-of-3 attempts from 3-point range.

One might stay he had his best stuff against an East Texas A&M squad who he has quite a unique connection.

His mom, Brittany Miller, is the softball coach at ETAMU. When he committed to UNM in May, the Journal asked the younger Miller if he could hit a pitch off his mom, to which he said yes, though admitted he's certainly happy he chose basketball as his main sport.

"Haha, she’s got some heat, not gonna lie," he told the Journal in May. "I might be able to connect if she’s being nice, but if she’s bringing her A-game? Let’s just say I might have better luck sticking to basketball."

On Wednesday, the Journal asked Miller again about the pitching challenge after beating the school his mom works for. After his big game, Tajavis Miller leaned a little more heavily into the part of his previous answer about being able to hit a pitch off mom.

"I still stand on it," he said. "I can. I feel like I can, I'm going to still stand on it."

Either way, the younger Miller on Wednesday certainly had a 3-point shooting night mom would be proud of: 3 up, 3 down.

Attendance

The announced attendance for East Texas A&M vs. UNM in the Pit on Wednesday night: 10,726

Worth noting, the season ticket base for the season, at least as of earlier this week, was 8,535. That's up from last season's 8,253 and tickets will remain on sale through the end of next week (Nov. 14).

Series

UNM is now 4-0 all time against the Lions, but this is the first time the game has been played under the school's new name, East Texas A&M (previously Texas A&M Commerce).

What a drag

I interrupt this Lobo coverage to bring you the Mountain West Play of the Week, which was already won during Monday night's Boise State upset loss to Division II Hawaii Pacific, and wasn't actually won by a player at all, but rather the Broncos' team athletic trainer who had an interesting approach to "helping" an injured Sharks player (as a DII team, the Sharks didn't travel with a team trainer, so Boise State's walked across the court to help):

Eck of an ovation

Now if anybody could win a mayoral race in Albuquerque right now, it's UNM Lobo football coach Jason Eck.

Plus/minus

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

NEW MEXICO

+24 Jake Hall (25:10)

+21 Uriah Tenette (23:58)

+15 Luke Haupt (22:54)

+13 Tomislav Buljan (23:51)

+10 Chris Howell (20:32)

+6 Tajavis Miller (12:35)

+6 Kevin Patton Jr. (9:41)

+6 JT Rock (8:40)

+3 Antonio Chol (20:48)

+3 Timeo Pons (1:21)

+2 Deyton Albury (24:05)

+1 Milos Vicentic (6:25)

EAST TEXAS A&M

-1 Tay Mosher (7:44)

-3 Mykol Sanchez-Vega (1:21)

-5 Josh Taylor (9:25)

-6 Evan Phelps (20:27)

-8 Ronnie Harrison (23:02)

-9 London Fields (14:39)

-10 Vinny Sigona (24:17)

-10 Alex McCray (13:40)

-12 Gianni Hunt (28:59)

-12 Noah Pagotta (19:22)

-16 Damian Garcia (16:37)

-18 Michael Folarin (20:27)

Line 'em up

The UNM Lobos played 12 players and used 17 unique lineup combinations on Wednesday. The Lions played 12 players and used 25 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: +4 (13-9)

• TIME ON COURT: 7:43

• NOTE: Certainly bolstered by the start of the game when UNM's defense was at its best, the starting five was tremendous on Wednesday early (not nearly as much during some time on the floor together in the second half where the Lions got most of those nine points). Offensively, Olen would surely like to see better out of his starting five than the 0.90 point per possession they ended up with.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Jake Hall, Luke Haupt, Tajavis Miller, Tomislav Buljan

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +6 (6-0)

• TIME ON COURT: 1:34

• NOTE: Sample size is important, but 6-0 is 6-0 and it was working for the Lobos when this unit was on the floor, scoring at slightly above a 2.0 points per possession clip.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Deyton Albury, Uriah Tenette, Luke Haupt, Antonio Chol, Tomislav Buljan

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -2 (2-4)

• TIME ON COURT: 2:19

• NOTE: Scoring just 0.40 points per possession just isn't very good. Neither is the two turnovers and zero assists this unit had while on the floor together.

VIDEO: Olen, Miller and Hall

Here's my postgame press conference video from the Pit media room with Eric Olen, Tajavis Miller and Jake Hall:

Hey, remember before the game?

Here's the ABQJournal Sports Live! pregame show I did from the Pit on Wednesday night if you want to relive what I thought was going to happen:

As a reminder, I'll be doing pregame shows for all Lobo men's basketball games, colleague Sean Reider and I do postgame shows for all UNM Lobo football games our weekly UNM Lobo sports check-in show is Tuesdays at 1:30 (ish) p.m., depending on when the weekly Jason Eck press conference wraps up.

All are streamed live on the Journal's YouTube page and my X (Twitter) account and live questions and comments during the show through those platforms is possible.

Meanwhile, those other Lobos

The UNM Lobo women's basketball team is already off to a 1-0 start this season and plays Game No. 2 at Big 12 Colorado on Thursday night.

Here is colleague Ken Sickenger's preview article for that game:

• Power matchup: Lobo women face Big 12 test at Colorado

Tip of the cap: Heather Dyche

Albuquerque's own, and genuine awesome human being, Heather Dyche on Wednesday announced she's leaving UNM as the women's soccer coach after 11 successful seasons, accepting the head coaching job for the U.S. U-23 Women's National Team.

I've not met many people I think are as awesome as Heather — a coach I don't cover on any regular basis, but still has managed to impress me at every turn as a leader of young women, a role model for all and a genuine bad ass in her approach to it all.

My article from Wednesday morning is here:

• UNM women's soccer coach Heather Dyche steps down, assumes larger role with U.S. Soccer

Meanwhile in Fresno

Year 2 of the Vance Walberg era at Fresno State is off to a rough start with Wednesday's home loss to the University of South Carolina Upstate, a Big South team that had never beaten a Mountain West team before.

Around the Mountain

There were two Mountain West teams in action on Wednesday night, the 12th and 13th games for the league in the opening three days of the season.

Here's a look at this week's results and upcoming schedule:

MONDAY

• Belmont 79, Air Force 63

• Wyoming 99, D-II Northern State 75

• Utah State 110, D-II Westminster 54

• D-II Hawaii Pacific 79, Boise State 78

• Utah 84, San Jose State 75

• Colorado State 98, Incarnate Word 64

• Grand Canyon 90, Purdue Fort Wayne 71

• Fresno State 88, D-II Fresno Pacific 51

TUESDAY

• UT Martin 86, UNLV 81

• San Diego State 77, Long Beach State 45

• Nevada 77, Louisiana Tech 50

WEDNESDAY

• USC Upstate 67, Fresno State 66

• New Mexico 76, East Texas A&M 54

THURSDAY (no games)

FRIDAY

• VCU vs Utah State in Frisco, Texas, 6 MT

• Youngstown State at Grand Canyon, 7 MT (TheMW)

SATURDAY

• Utah Valley at Boise State, 2 MT (TheMW)

• UT Arlington at New Mexico, 2 MT (TheMW, Altitude)

• Cal State Fullerton at Wyoming, 2 MT (TheMW)

• San Jose State at UC Santa Barbara, 1 PT/2 MT (ESPN+)

• Austin Peay at Air Force, 2 MT (TheMW)

• Long Beach State at Fresno State, 2 PT/3 MT (TheMW)

• Chattanooga at UNLV, 6 PT/7 MT (TheMW)

• Pacific at Nevada, 7 PT/8 MT (TheMW)

SUNDAY

• Idaho State at San Diego State, 2 PT/3 MT (TheMW)

• Omaha at Colorado State, 4 MT (TheMW)

Stats and stats

Usually I post links to both the bod score pic from the game and the digital stats on UNM's website, but those aren't available as of posting this ETN.

So, here is the postgame stat sheet I posted Wednesday evening: New Mexico 76, East Texas A&M 54

Up next

For New Mexico: The Lobos host UT Arlington on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Pit

For East Texas A&M: The Lions play at Hawaii on Sunday.