Emptying the Notebook: Lobos use Air Force game to get back on the run heading into final week

Here are some extra notes, quotes, stats, videos, trends and other odds & ends I emptied out of the old notebook after Saturday's 92-71 UNM Lobo win over Air Force in the Pit:

Running through the tape...

The Lobos have one week and two games left in the regular season.

And after their first two-game losing streak, albeit road losses at tough opponents, they made it a point on Saturday against out-manned Air Force to focus on getting back to what made them so dynamic all season: Running, running and running.

"That is our game," UNM coach Richard Pitino said. "That's what we're pretty good at."

It's exactly what San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher earlier in the week said was the No. 1 priority against the Lobos: Don't let them get out and run. The Aztecs held UNM to 2 fast break points.

The Lobos entered Saturday's game third in the nation in fast break points, averaging 16.71 per game.

Saturday, the Lobos had 28 fast break points and, not so coincidentally, they also had 28 points off of turnovers, forcing Air Force into 20 turnovers. Defense has set up UNM's transition offense all season.

Most of the running the Lobos did Saturday, came directly off their 12 steals, setting up live-ball turnover situations that often led to fast break buckets at the other end for UNM — "pick-6's" as the team calls them.

And the Lobos hit the Falcons from all over the roster.

Here's one from Lobo guard Tru Washington...

Here's one from guard C.J. Noland...

Here's one from center Nelly Junior Joseph...

And here's one from forward Mustapha Amzil...

The Lobos are now 7-0 vs. Division I teams when scoring 25 or more fast break points. Six of those seven games have been games in the Pit where the Lobos thrive off the energy of the home crowd.

In those seven wins when reaching 25 fast break points, the average margin of victory has been 15.9 points.

Simply put, the Lobos are at their best when that particular box on the stat sheet is getting checked. (Though it's also worth noting arguably their best win all season — the 19-point road win at Utah State — came in a game they recorded 0 fast break points, so they've shown they can, at times, adapt).

Lobos with 25 fast break points:

• 35 — UNM 103, Fresno State 89 (Dec. 31, Fresno)

• 29 — UNM 99, Texas Southern 68 (Nov. 24, the Pit)

• 29 — UNM 84, Boise State 65 (Jan. 17, the Pit)

• 28 — UNM 92, Air Force 71 (Saturday, the Pit)

• 27 — UNM 91, Nicholls 84 (Nov. 4, the Pit)

• 26 — UNM 95, Fresno State 67 (Jan. 20, the Pit)

• 25 — UNM 100, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 81 (Nov. 12, the Pit)

NOTE: UNM also had 38 points vs. Division II Western New Mexico and almost all of UNM's season highs are from that game. It was a D-II opponent. I'm not counting it here.

The Lobos' 28 points Saturday helped them move back up a spot to No. 2 in the national rankings in fast break points.

DI leaders fast break points:

1. 17.97/game — Milwaukee (Horizon League)

2. 17.10/game — New Mexico (Mountain West)

3. 16.93/game — Florida (SEC)

4. 16.64/game — Michigan State (Big Ten)

5. 16.29/game — UAB (American)

The gamer...

Here is the gamer I filed Saturday afternoon from the Pit:

• Lobos get right in afternoon blowout over Air Force

15 Mountain West wins...

Saturday's win matches for the Lobos the most Mountain West wins in program history. This season's team matches the 2013-14 team that won 15 games.

Both teams reached 15 wins in 18 games — this season's team still has two more Mountain West West games to play in the first year of a 20-game league schedule while the 2013-14 team was playing in the first year of an 18-game Mountain West schedule.

Most Mountain West wins for UNM:

• 15 — 2024-25 (18 of 20 games played)

• 15 — 2013-14 (18 game season)

• 14 — 2009-10 (16 game season)

• 13 — 2012-13 (16 game season)

• 12 — 2017-18 (18 game season)

• 12 — 2008-09 (16 game season)

Nelly's big game...

Richard Pitino says after getting back from Tuesday's game against San Diego State, he asked his team how many of them felt they had a bad game.

Among those who raised their hand was Nelly Junior Joseph, who had six points and 16 rebounds while drawing five fouls in the loss.

"Nelly raised his hand. I said, they had a lot to do with that," Pitino said, referring to SDSU's effective defensive game plan to double and sometimes triple team Junior Joseph in the post. The defensive pressure made the Lobo center appear to be, at times, gun shy when he did get the ball down low, although the reality was the larger issue may have been the Lobo guards' inability to get him the ball in good positions in the post.

"(Saturday), our guys found Nelly," Pitino said. "So, it was a good bounce back game for him."

It was clear the Lobos were going to go to Nelly early, and often.

How good a bounce back game was it?

Nelly had a double-double by halftime — 10 points, 10 rebounds a block and a steal. It marked UNM's first double-double by halftime since he also had one last season against Division II Eastern New Mexico.

Junior Joseph's statline on Saturday:

POINTS: 14

SHOOTING: 7-8 FG

REBOUNDS: 13 (2 offensive)

STEALS: 2

BLOCKS: 3

FOULS DRAWN: 4

It was season double-double No. 14 for Nelly and No. 57 of his career.

Mountain West double-double leaders (overall):

• 14 — Nelly Junior Joseph, New Mexico

• 13 — Nique Clifford, Colorado State

• 8 — Elijah Price, Fresno State

• 7 — Jordan Nesbitt, Wyoming

• 5 — Tyson Degenhart, Boise State

Mountain West double-double leaders (MW games):

• 10 — Nelly Junior Joseph, New Mexico

• 8 — Nique Clifford, Colorado State

• 5 — Elijah Price, Fresno State

• 3 — Tyson Degenhard, Boise State

• 3 — Magoon Gwath, San Diego State

Oh yeah, and he can pass, too.

Nelly had one assist on Saturday, and made sure it was a memorable one.

Stealing the show...

UNM's 12 steals on Saturday gave the team 12 double-digit steal games this season, tied for the most in program history.

UNM's most double-digit steals games

• 12 — 2024-25 season (two regular season games to go)

• 12 — 2023-24 season

• 12 — 2019-20 season

• 12 — 2004-05 season

• 11 — 1977-78 season

The real star of the day...

My favorite National Anthem performer every year at UNM Lobo and Albuquerque Isotopes games was back Saturday in the Pit, where he's performed twice this season.

Give a listen to 94-year-old Korean War veteran Jake Griego!

Steve Kirkland Stat of the Game!

Here's the latest Steve Kirkland Stat of the Game from UNM hoops sports information director Steve Kirkland.

The Lobos had five players score 14 or more points on Saturday:

23 — Donovan Dent

15 — Mustapha Amzil

14 — Nelly Junior Joseph

14 — Tru Washington

14 — C.J. Noland

It marks the first time UNM has had five players score at least 14 points in the same game since Dec. 22, 2019, in a 107-88 home win over Houston Baptist:

21 — Corey Manigault

19 — JaQuan Lyle

19 — Makuach Maluach

19 — Zane Martin

14 — Vance Jackson

The C.J. spin cycle...

C.J. Noland had another big game for the Lobos — 14 points, three steals.

"I thought C.J. was terrific off the bench," Pitino said. "I always consider him a sixth starter."

Noland had plenty of highlights to choose from to look back on, but how about this spin move in transition?

And since Saturday's game was against Air Force, how about a couple of back cuts slipping in behind the defense like the Falcons used to get with such regularity in their Princeton offense?

Part 1:

Part 2:

Sacko, Atiki, Mustapha, Chavez ...

Some roster/playing time updates/comments from Pitino:

• Ibrahima Sacko played over Atiki Ally Atiki on Saturday not because of anything Atiki did, or didn't do, but because Sacko has just been killing it in practice lately and Pitino went with him instead.

No injury. No discipline.

• Mustapha Amzil scored 15 points and played 25:07, his most for both since Feb. 1 when he scored 16 points and played 28 minutes in the blowout win at Utah State.

He had missed three of the past four games altogether and hasn't been practicing on any regular basis for a month while trying to get rest for the plantar fasciitis in his foot.

Said Pitino: "I still don't think he's moving like he was moving. I was going to maybe sit him out as we built the lead, but the more I thought about it, I thought maybe it's good to get him back in rhythm a little bit. I asked him during the game.

• Dylan Chavez, the local walk-on, was not on the Lobos bench on Saturday due to a disciplinary matter. He should be back on the team's bench for the next home game.

Braden hits a pair of 3's...

Braden Appelhans hit a pair of 3-pointers Saturday, always to the crowd's delight.

His six points was tied for the most he's had since going for 18 in the win over D-II Western New Mexico back on Dec. 14.

He also scored six off two 3-pointers in UNM's Jan. 20 home win over Fresno State.

Extended runs...

They hadn't had any in awhile. In fact, not really since UNM's last game against the Falcons.

But Saturday, the Lobos go back to stringing together those crushing, extended runs — ones larger than just the quick, 10-0 type spurts. Saturday, UNM had two of those long runs that really change the complexion of a game, adding to a pretty impressive list of them during conference play this season.

vs. Air Force, Saturday

• 17-2 run — 6:06 — pushed 6-5 lead to 23-7

• 19-3 run — 4:24 — pushed 36-30 lead to 55-33

at Air Force, Feb. 8

• 20-3 run — 5:20 — pushed 36-31 lead to 56-34

vs. Colorado State, Feb. 5

• 38-15 run — final 12:51 of game — turned a 50-49 Colorado State lead into an 87-65 UNM win

at Utah State, Feb. 1

• 43-15 run — final 15:24 of game — turned a 48-39 Utah State lead into an 82-63 UNM win

vs. Fresno State, Jan. 20

• 25-4 run — first 8:10 of game — UNM jumped out to a 25-4 lead, won game by 28

vs. Boise State, Jan. 17

• 23-2 run — final 7:17 fist half — turned 25-19 lead into 48-21 halftime lead

at Wyoming, Jan. 7

• 17-1 run — first 6:16 to start 2nd half — turned 31-18 halftime deficit into 35-33 lead

at Colorado State, Dec. 28

• 21-0 run — 6:15 — turned 16-16 tie game into a 37-16 Lobos lead

vs. San Jose State, Dec. 4

• 22-8 run — final 8:47 of game — turned 69-61 deficit into 83-77 win

Oh yeah, the Player of the Year...

Donovan Dent played on Saturday, too.

In fact, he was pretty darn good.

Dent's statline: 23 points, 6 assists, 6 fouls drawn, 7-8 FTs, 2 steals.

His 23 points gave him his 14th 20-point game of the season and, again, has him moving past some pretty impressive names on UNM's all-time scoring list.

POINTS:

• Dent — 1,263 (22nd)

• Up next: Elijah Brown — 1,276 (21st)

• Passed Saturday: Tony Danridge — 1,260 (now 23rd)

• Passed Saturday: Marvin Johnson — 1,246 (now 24th)

ASSISTS:

• Dent — 458 (8th)

• Up next: David Gibson — 460 (7th)

STEALS:

• Dent — 127 (17th)

• Up next: Royce Olney — 130 (16th)

Sweep, sweep success...

UNM's win on Saturday completed the sweep of Air Force, the Lobos' fifth sweep of the season with two series (Nevada and UNLV) still pending.

Lobo sweeps this season:

• Air Force

• Colorado State

• Fresno State

• Utah State

• Wyoming

Lobo non-sweeps this season:

• Boise State (1-1 record)

• San Diego State (1-1 record)

• San Jose State (1-1 record)

Series not completed:

• Nevada (UNM up 1-0)

• UNLV (UNM up 1-0)

No upsets from the bottom this year!

With Saturday's win, the Lobos completed the sweep of both Air Force (1-17) and Fresno State (1-17), the two Mountain West teams currently tied for last place in the league standings and locked into finishing either tied for last or second to last and last.

In either case, the Lobos know they avoided losing to the league's worst teams.

Doesn't sound like much, but consider the following unusual reality for UNM.

Taking away the one season the Lobos finished alone in last place in the Mountain West (2021), the UNM Lobos have had a loss to the league's last place team in 11 of 25 seasons. Of the other 14 seasons, four were seasons that the last place team went winless.

This stretch has hit five of the six Lobo coached of the Mountain West era (Steve Alford was the only one to avoid such an upset), has happened in each of the previous three seasons under Richard Pitino, and has even hit two of UNM's six NCAA Tournament teams in the MW era (the Danny Granger-led 2005 NCAA Tournament team lost to last place BYU and last season's NCAA Tournament team lost to last place Air Force).

Air Force, in particular, has been a last-place thorn in the Lobos side, four times beating UNM in a season the Falcons finished dead last in the conference.

UNM losses to last place MW team:

2024 — Air Force (2-16, tied for last)

2023 — Wyoming (4-14, last)

2022 — San Jose State (1-17, last)

2019 — San Jose State (1-17, last)

2017 — UNLV (4-14, tied for last)

2007 — TCU (4-12, tied for last with UNM)

2005 — BYU (3-11, tied for last)

2004 — Colorado State and Wyoming (4-10, each tied for last, UNM lost to each)

2003 — Air Force (3-11, last)

2002 — Air Force (3-11, tied for last)

2001 — Air Force (3-11, last)

Attendance...

The announced attendance for Saturday's noon tipoff game in the Pit between last place Air Force and first place UNM: 15,054

Meanwhile, in Fresno...

Here is colleague Ken Sickenger's write up on the UNM Lobo women's basketball upset of the Fresno State Bulldogs on the road on Saturday:

• Stunner in Fresno: Lobo women erase 22-point deficit in 65-61 win

Photos...

Here is a link to photos from Mike Sandoval for the Journal from Saturday's game:

• Air Force at UNM (3/1/25) PHOTO GALLERY

Plus/minus...

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

NEW MEXICO

+23 Nelly Junior Joseph (30:11)

+23 Donovan Dent (36:41)

+15 C.J. Noland (20:11)

+14 Filip Borovicanin (18:56)

+13 Tru Washington (27:58)

+12 Mustapha Amzil (25:07)

+8 Jovan Milicevic (14:53)

+5 Braden Appelhans (11:39)

-1 Quinton Webb (3:59)

-3 Kayde Dotson (4:32)

-4 Ibrahima Sacko (5:53)

AIR FORCE

-1 Beau Becker (2:08)

-3 Will Cooper (28:16)

-5 Byron Brown (1:46)

-8 Kyle Marshall (29:45)

-9 Caleb Walker (26:45)

-11 Wesley Celichowski (11:07)

-12 Chase Beasley (27:46)

-13 Jeffrey Mills (21:24)

-17 Luke Kearney (22:43)

-26 Ethan Taylor (28:20)

Line 'em up...

The UNM Lobos played 11 players and used 17 unique lineup combinations. The Air Force Falcons played 10 players and used 20 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: 0 (17-17)

• TIME ON COURT: 9:22

• NOTE: When the Lobos beat the Falcons by 35 points on Feb. 8, the starting five (then with Jovan Milicevic in place of Mustapha Amzil) had a minus-10 point differential — a really bad number in a game the team won by 35 (yes, that's a 45-point swing when the non-starting lineup played).

On Saturday, with Amzil back in the lineup, in a 21-point win, the starting five played Air Force ... even? That's not very good, either. I'm not really sure what this speaks to considering the Lobos had so much success with all other lineup combinations. But when the first place team playing the last place team to a 35-point win and then a 21-point win and your starters go -10 and 0, that's just weird.

BEST LINEUP

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

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +8 (13-5)

• TIME ON COURT: 4:08

• NOTE: It was good to see the ball go through the hoop again for Braden Appelhans. His insertion into the lineup for Filip Borovicanin swung that starting five's zero point differential to a plus-8 in just four minutes.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, C.J. Noland, Jovan Milicevic, Ibrahima Sacko

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -4 (8-12)

• TIME ON COURT: 3:19

• NOTE: A Sacko/Milicevic frontcourt is something I can't remember seeing much, if at all, this season. This late in the year, if you're seeing a new combination, it probably makes sense this was a minus-4 lineup combination. This appears to be about defense, or a lack of, more than anything. Air Force scoring 12 points in 3 minutes is way too much.

VIDEO: Postgame with Pitino and Dent...

Here is the postgame presser video with Richard Pitino and Donovan Dent...

VIDEO: Pregame from the Pit...

Here is the pregame preview show with me answering questions about the game and the league...

Meanwhile, in Fort Collins...

Excuse me?

Around the Mountain...

There were four games in the Mountain West on Saturday, five more coming up on Tuesday and let's just throw in the final weekend slate of games to look at, too.

FRIDAY

• UNLV 68, Nevada 55

SATURDAY

• New Mexico 92, Air Force 71

• Colorado State 93, Utah State 66

• Boise State 66, Fresno State 61

• San Diego State 72, Wyoming 69

TUESDAY

• New Mexico at Nevada, 6 PST/7 MST (CBS Sports Network)

• San Jose State at Colorado State, 6 PST/7 MST (TheMW)

• Boise State at Air Force, 6 PST/7 MST (TheMW)

• Wyoming at Fresno State, 7 PST/8 MST (TheMW)

• San Diego State at UNLV, 8 MST/9 PST (CBS Sports Network)

FRIDAY

• UNLV at New Mexico, 7 PST/8 MST (CBS Sports Network)

• Colorado State at Boise State, 7 PST/8 MST (FS1)

SATURDAY

• Air Force at Utah State, 1 PST/2 MST (TheMW)

• Fresno State at San Jose State, 2 PST/3 MST (TheMW)

• Nevada at San Diego State, 7:30 PST/8:30 MST (FS1)

— END REGULAR SEASON —

Mountain West standings...

Mountain West standings through Saturday's games (100 of 110 games played):

15-3 New Mexico

14-4 Colorado State

14-5 Utah State

13-5 San Diego State

13-5 Boise State

10-8 UNLV

8-10 Nevada

6-12 San Jose State

5-14 Wyoming

1-17 Fresno State

1-17 Air Force

MW Home/Road standings...

Teams get +1 for a road win, -1 for a home loss.

+6 New Mexico

+5 Colorado State

+5 Utah State

+4 San Diego State

+4 Boise State

+1 UNLV

-1 Nevada

-3 San Jose State

-5 Wyoming

-8 Fresno State

-8 Air Force

Mountain West Tournament seeds...

Through 100 games and with just 10 left to play, here are all the seeds in next week's Mountain West Tournament we know for sure are locked in as of now:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

You're welcome.

Possible seeds...

Maybe this one will be a little more helpful.

Here are the possible seeds for the Mountain West men's tournament, with all of the top five seeds that get a bye into the Thursday (March 13) quarterfinals and all of the six teams having to play in the first round on Wednesday (March 12) known, just not what seed.

The top five is still uncertain, though taking form. The bottom six have at least split off into pairs for us.

With 10 games left, here is who is alive for each seed for the Mountain West Tournament (we do now have the top five and the bottom six locked in):

1. (Colorado State/New Mexico/San Diego State)

2. (Boise State/Colorado State/New Mexico/San Diego State/Utah State)

3. (Boise State/Colorado State/San Diego State/Utah State)

4. (Boise State/Colorado State/San Diego State/Utah State)

5. (Boise State/Colorado State/San Diego State/Utah State)

• First round bye •

6. (Nevada/UNLV)

7. (Nevada/UNLV)

8. (San Jose State/Wyoming)

9. (San Jose State/Wyoming)

10. (Air Force/Fresno State)

11. (Air Force/Fresno State)

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted Saturday: New Mexico 92, Air Force 71

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 92, Air Force 71

Grammer's Guesses...

The Guesses and the Coin both went 2-2 on Saturday, both hitting the Wyoming +7.5 correctly while I got CSU -1.5 right and the coin got Fresno State +17.5 right.

Standings with 10 games left:

• My daughter's coin flips: 51-49

• Grammer's Guesses: 46-54

(I know, I know. It's not looking good for the guy who actually gets paid to cover this league and know at least a little something about these games).

Up next...

For New Mexico: The Lobos play at Nevada on Tuesday at 6 p.m. PST/7 p.m. MST in a game televised on CBS Sports Network.

For Air Force: The Falcons host Boise State on Tuesday.

Lobo schedule/results...