Emptying the Notebook: NMSU's 3-point barrage came easy vs. a frustratingly listless Lobo D

Here are some more stats, notes, quotes, videos and more I managed to empty out of the old notebook after Saturday's 89-83 NMSU Aggies overtime win over UNM Lobos in the Pit:

It's raining 3s...

Want to know how important the 3-point line can be in modern college basketball?

Consider this from Saturday's 89-83 overtime win for the Aggies.

Points scored off 3-pointers:

• 42 — NM State (14 made 3s)

• 30 — New Mexico (10 made 3s)

• NET: +12 in Aggies favor

Significant statistics won by UNM:

• Rebounds (46-45)

• Offensive rebounds (23-8)

• Free throws made (13-11)

• 2-pointers made (20-18)

• Turnovers (6-17)

• Steals (9-4)

• Blocks (5-3)

• Points off turnovers (17-10)

• Points in the paint (40-28)

• Second chance points (16-15)

• Points on fast break (24-11)

UNM ended up winning all that, but those 3-pointers. Oh, those 3-pointers — the ones that Lobo fans swear fall like crazy for opposing teams on a regular basis but rarely do for the home team.

"We didn't play with enough intensity," UNM senior guard C.J. Noland said. "We didn't come out ready to play. I thought we were just letting guys, like you said, T up in our face."

NMSU hit 14-of-31 (45.2%) 3-pointers after entering the game having hit 30.1% against Division I opponents with a previous season high of eight made 3s in DI games.

Player specific, Robert Carpenter hit a career-high six 3-pointers on 12 attempts (50.0%) against the Lobos after entering the game hitting 26.7% from beyond the arc this season in DI games.

As for Christian Cook, he tied a career high with his six made 3-pointers on nine attempts (66.7%). He entered Saturday's game shooting 31.7% on 3s vs. DI opponents.

During one mind-boggling stretch in the first half for the Aggies, they hit nine consecutive shots, eight of which were 3-pointers.

I'm going to go ahead and retype that sentence to make sure I got it right.

During one mind-boggling stretch in the first half for the Aggies, they hit nine consecutive shots, eight of which were 3-pointers.

Here's a post I made showing the shot log right before Cook hit another 3 in that stretch.

UNM coach Richard Pitino was bothered by how comfortable the Aggies seemed to be on offense — a feeling opposing teams haven't often felt this season against the Lobos, who more often than not have been a team that has been very good with high-pressure defense, making opposing teams play rushed or, at a minimum, uncomfortable.

Saturday, that first half stretch in particular, not so much.

"They seemed real comfortable offensively, you know?" Pitino said. "We needed to get to those shooters better. We did not play good defense in the first half. So, credit to them. They made them, but I did not think we were intense enough to make them uncomfortable."

Obviously making more 3-pointers than your opponent is a good thing, but usually there are ways around relying on that one stat being so telling.

But take a look at the past 27 Lobo losses. No mater how all the other stats turn out, 88.9% of those losses came when their opponent scored more at the 3-point line than did the Lobos.

3-point comparison, UNM's last 27 losses:

• 24 times — Opponent scores more points off 3-pointers

• 1 time — UNM scores more off 3-pointers

• 2 times — UNM and opponent score same amount.

The gamer...

Here is the gamer I filed Saturday night from the Pit media room:

• New Mexico State gets hot from outside, takes down Lobos in overtime

Where was Appelhans late?

Braden Appelhans wasn't very good overall in Wednesday's game against San Jose State, and I will be the first to tell you as I noted on my legal pad on press row a couple times, he wasn't always great on defense on Saturday against the NMSU Aggies, which is part of why his minutes weren't big late in the game.

But what the third-year Lobo was, of course, was a sharp-shooting offensive threat that spread the floor because of his 3-point ability.

He scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half on 4-of-5 shooting (3-of-4 from 3-point range). But he saw his minutes drop from 10 in the opening 20 minutes to just six in the second 20 minutes and zero in overtime.

It begs the question, why wasn't the Lobos‘ only 3-point shooter (they have other guys who can hit 3s, but UNM has only one guy you'd describe first as a 3-pointer shooter and that is Appelhans) on the floor much down the stretch?

"A little bit, more defense," Richard Pitino said when I asked if Appelhans wasn't in the game down the stretch more because of defense or because the lineup that was in much of the second half that included freshman Kayde Dotson was playing so well.

"We came back. I didn't want to mess with that lineup too much, but he certainly could have got a little bit more minutes. He played well."

Maybe the most boneheaded play I've ever seen...

Robert Carpenter had himself a hell of a Saturday night.

He had 20 points, a career-high six made 3-pointers, grabbed eight rebounds, had two steals and left Albuquerque with a huge rivalry win.

So I say this with all that in mind: He made what might have been the stupidest play I've ever seen.

With just 3 seconds left in the game and the Aggie leading the Lobos by three, 73-70, NMSU probably should have fouled the Lobos so they'd get two free throws instead of having a shot at a game-tying 3-pointer.

Not only did they not foul, the Lobos got the ball in the hands of Appelhans, the best 3-point shooter on either team, for a corner 3-point attempt.

The ball wasn't going in, but for some reason, Carpenter jumped up and hit the rim anyway, getting called for a goal tend, sending the game into overtime.

Fortunately for Carpenter and the Aggies, NMSU ran away with things in overtime, so all’s well that ends well for the visitors.

Said UNM coach Richard Pitino of the goal tend: “It was a gift that we did not take advantage of."

One team was hot, one was not...

NMSU shot a season's best 51.6% from the field on Saturday.

UNM shot a season's worst 35.7% from the field on Saturday.

Most consecutive made shots Saturday:

• 9 (NMSU) — NMSU made nine consecutive shots, including a head-shaking eight 3-pointers in a 5 minute, 49 seconds stretch of the first half. The stretch coincided with NMSU scoring 26 of the points in their 28-4 run late in the half.

• 6 (UNM) — UNM made six in a row early in the first half to take a 25-15 lead.

• 4 (NMSU) — After starting just 4-for-12 shooting, the Aggies hit four straight from 13:22 to 10:12 in the first half, really just warming them up for that nine-in-a-row run.

• 4 (NMSU) — Well, the Lobos completed their improbable comeback with the craziest of plays to end regulation and then started overtime with two free throws to take the lead. All the Aggies did after that was hit four straight shots.

NOTE: Other than UNM's run of six straight makes early in the first half, the Lobos never had a streak of more than two made shots in a row the rest of the game.

Most consecutive missed shots Saturday:

• 16 (UNM) — Yeah, that's right. Sixteen. The Lobos missed 16 consecutive shots from a C.J. Noland missed 3-pointer with 5:20 left in the first half to missed Nelly Junior Joseph shot with 17:21 in the second half. The 16 misses in a row included hitting 3-of-6 free throws, but there were nine misses from the field to end the first half and seven misses to start the second half.

• 8 (UNM) — Tying the game at the end of regulation the way the Lobos did apparently took all they had left in the tank. UNM started overtime 0-8 from the field.

• 6 (NMSU) — The Aggies missed their final six shots of regulation in the final five minutes. They did hit three free throws in the closing seconds, but nothing from the field while the Lobos completed their come back.

Hairless Nelly still stuffs stat sheet...

Nelly Junior Joseph showed up to Saturday's game with his head shaved. I didn't get an answer Saturday as to why, but one thing is clear, he's still a stat sheet stuffer.

Junior Joseph had 16 points, 17 rebounds (seven were offensive boards), four steals and two blocked shots. He also drew six fouls, though he was just 2-of-5 at the free throw line.

Steve Kirkland stat of the night...

Even in defeat, Lobo hoops SID Steve Kirkland delivered a good nugget worthy of ETN, and it belongs right here riding the coattails of the Nelly Junior Joseph note above.

Nelly Junior Joseph is averaging a double-double (13.5 points/10.0 rebounds) through the Lobos' 10th game. That makes him the first Lobo since the late Drew Gordon to be averaging a double-double through 10 games.

Nelly Junior Joseph (2024-25)

Through 10 games

• Points: 13.5

• Rebounds: 10.0

• End of season: TBD

Drew Gordon (2011-12)

Through 10 games

• Points: 11.1

• Rebounds: 10.6

• End of season: 13.7 points/11.1 rebounds

And another Nelly section gives us an excuse for another Nelly dunk...

Some streaks that ended...

Several streaks ended in Saturday's 89-83 NMSU overtime win. They include:

• NSMU's five-game losing streak

• UNM's NCAA-leading 15-game December nonconference win streak. Kansas had the previous high mark of 24 in a row until losing to Creighton on Wednesday night.

• Donovan Dent's 15 points and four assists ends his nine-game stretch to open the season of having at least 10 points and at least five assists in each game. He was the only player in the country to have had that stretch going.

Dent's dimes...

Donavan Dent has had better games. He seemed tired in the second half or just not himself in some way, missing more shots at the rim than I can recall seeing him do every before.

His final stat line was 15 points, four assists, three rebounds, a steal and two turnovers. He shot 5-12 from the field (41.7%) and 5-8 from the free throw line (62.5%).

His four assists, while under five for the first time this season, give him 75 for the season, the fourth most through 10 games ever in Lobo history.

Now at 344 assists for his career, Dent is six behind Rob Robbins (350 career assists) for 15th all time.

That's so offensive...

UNM's 23 offensive rebounds on Saturday is tied for seventh most in program history (or at least since the 1986-87 season when offensive boards started being differentiated from just rebounds on a stat sheet).

UNM's most offensive rebounds in a game:

• 32 — vs. D-III LeTourneau (Dec. 17, 2020)

• 26 — at San Jose State (Feb. 16, 2019)

• 25 — vs. UAB 2OT (Nov. 21, 2013 - Charleston Classic)

• 25 — vs. New Mexico State 2OT (Dec. 11, 1993)

• 24 — vs. UNLV OT (Feb. 5, 2002)

• 24 — vs. Stanford (Nov. 17, 2001)

• 23 — vs. New Mexico State (Saturday)

• 23 — at USC (Nov. 21, 2015)

• 23 — vs. Centenary (Nov. 27, 1996)

• 23 — vs. Hawaii (Jan. 15, 1994)

Misery loves company...

Yes, the scores from Saturday's Mountain West games are still located in their usual spot toward the bottom of this ETN, but Saturday's miserable day around the league earned its own section up here, too.

And, frankly, days like Saturday might make the Mountain West go from four teams in the NCAA Tournament (2022), four teams in (2023) and six teams in (2024) to as poor as a one- or two-bid league come this March.

There simply aren't many good quality wins to push a team's computer rankings up very high and now there are several bad losses starting to pile up, too.

Here's a look at Saturday's bad losses and what the computer projections said should happen at KenPom.com and what the Vegas betting line was:

Washington State 74, Boise State 69

• The game was at Idaho Central Arena, it was in Boise and will count by the NCAA as a home game loss for the Broncos.

• Betting line: Boise State by 8.5

• KenPom: Boise State by 6

• Actual: Washington State by 5

Colorado 72, Colorado State 55

• Betting line: Colorado by 2.5

• KenPom: Colorado by 5

• Actual: Colorado by 17

New Mexico State 89, New Mexico 83 (OT)

• Betting line: New Mexico by 19.5

• KenPom: New Mexico by 17

• Actual: New Mexico State by 6

Loyola Marymount 68, Nevada 64

• Betting line: Nevada by 7.5

• KenPom: Nevada by 9

• Actual: Loyola Marymount by 4

Creighton 83, UNLV 65

• Betting line: Creighton by 11.5

• KenPom: Creighton by 11

• Actual: Creighton by 18

Santa Clara 81, Fresno State 66

• Betting line: Santa Clara by 16

• KenPom: Santa Clara by 15

• Actual: Santa Clara by 15

Hey, at least San Diego State and Utah State won, albeit home games against bad teams that won't help their rankings much. But after Saturday for the rest of the league, a win in any fashion would have been nice for other teams. Air Force also beat Stony Brook.

So long, Jack Nixon...

Kudos to UNM, and specifically Associate AD for Communications Frank Mercogliano, for making sure to honor longtime NMSU play-by-play broadcast Jack Nixon, who is retiring at the end of the season after 45 years as the 'Voice of the Aggies.'

He called his last football rivalry game in Las Cruces in the fall and although he's calling the rest of the season, Saturday was his final rivalry game in hoops.

I think most would agree just honoring Jack was a nice enough gesture. UNM really went all out by giving him one last win in the rivalry, too.

Also, I wrote on Jack's retirement season ahead of his final football game in the rivalry. Here's that article.

• Giving voice to the Aggies for four decades, retiring broadcaster calls his last Aggie/Lobo football game

I also did a podcast interview with Jack that you can watch here:

Working overtime...

There have been 14 overtime games in the 229-game Rio Grande Rivalry with UNM winning seven and NMSU winning seven.

The road team has won five of the last six overtime games in the series:

• NMSU 89, UNM 83 — The Pit (Saturday)

• NMSU 78, UNM 76 — The Pit (Dec. 6, 2021)

• UNM 84, NMSU 78 — Pan Am Center (Dec. 4, 2010)

• UNM 71, NMSU 68 — The Pit (Dec. 13, 2005)

• NMSU 79, UNM 68 — The Pit (Jan. 6, 2001)

• UNM 68, NMSU 65 — Pan Am Center (Dec. 7, 2000)

A new traveling trophy...

A nice gesture from UNM in honoring Jack Nixon above and another nice gesture in the rivalry as students from both schools created and paid for a new traveling trophy they hope will become a regular fixture in the Rio Grande Rivalry.

Here's a look at the trophy:

You can read more about the trophy in my article that ran in Saturday's Journal here:

• UNM, NMSU students working together create trophy for Rio Grande Rivalry men's basketball game

Injuries...

• UNM guard C.J. Noland, who missed Wednesday's game against San Jose State with a thumb injury, was back in the starting lineup on Saturday.

• UNM backup center Atiki Ally Atiki dislocated his left thumb in Wednesday's game was did not suit up for Saturday's loss.

Attendance...

The announced attendance for Saturday's Rio Grande Rivalry game in the Pit between the NMSU Aggies and UNM Lobos: 15,411

Here's some video of what the Pit looked like before starting lineups were introduced on Saturday night as some fans were still getting in the building.

Packed house...

While the game certainly does well each season, the NMSU game lost its status as the biggest game attendance-wise each season in the Pit an while ago. There have been more San Diego State sellouts than NMSU sellouts in the past 10-15 years.

But, the rivalry has now sold out in back-to-back seasons in the Pit, accounting for two of the three sellout wins the past 10 times the game was played in the Pit.

Attendance past 10 NMSU/UNM games in the Pit:

• 15,411 — Dec. 7, 2024 (sellout)

• 15,435 — Dec. 2, 2023 (sellout)

• 13,019 — Dec. 6, 2021

• 14,488 — Dec. 14, 2019

• 14,393 — Nov. 17, 2018

• 12,768 — Dec. 9, 2017

• 13,892 — Nov. 18, 2016

• 15,362 — Dec. 16, 2015

• 15,335 — Dec. 3, 2014

• 15,411 — Dec. 17, 2013 (sellout)

Interesting side note for the NMSU side of things, that means Jason Hooten's two games in the Pit were both sellouts with the last time there was a sellout being when Marvin Menzies was coach.

Salt on the X...

It was a rough week for the Lobos, to say the least.

Aside from the Saturday night loss to the Aggies, among the other issues the UNM Athletic Department was hit with in the past seven days was the departure of one-year football coach Bronco Mendenhall, whose team motto repeated throughout the season was "Earned, not Given."

Apparently the social media crew down the road was well aware of the motto, using the big news of the week to add a little rivalry salt in the wound, using that phrase along with their #AggieUp victory post after the game.

That's two for Tru...

Lobo defensive ace Tru Washington has had back-to-back games without a steal after have at least one in the team's first eight games and averaging 2.9 per game through eight.

Plus/minus...

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

NEW MEXICO

+7 Kayde Dotson (17:19)

+6 Braden Appelhans (16:14)

+2 Jovan Milicevic (6:33)

+1 C.J. Noland (31:08)

0 Ibrahima Sacko (7:53)

-1 Filip Borovicanin (12:40)

-6 Nelly Junior Joseph (37:07)

-8 Mustapha Amzil (38:27)

-14 Donovan Dent (36:53)

-17 Tru Washington (20:46)

NM STATE

+20 Robert Carpenter (30:15)

+18 Zawdie Jackson (29:11)

+12 Christian Cook (39:24)

+9 Dionte Bostick (39:07)

+7 Peter Filipovity (34:13)

-2 Carl Cherenfant (00:57)

-5 Nate Tshimanga (8:14)

-7 Jaden Harris (18:30)

-8 Emmanuel Tshimanga (16:21)

-14 Gabe Pickens (8:48)

Line 'em up...

The UNM Lobos played 10 players and used 16 unique lineup combinations. The NMSU Aggies played 10 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, C.J. Noland, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -6 (13-19)

• TIME ON COURT: 12:38

• NOTE: Sure, the starters grabbed an impressive 16 rebounds in under 13 minutes on the floor together, but that's due in large part to the fact they couldn't hit shots and there were plenty of rebounds to go get. The starting five struggled Wednesday against San Jose State when Braden Appelhans was inserted for the injured C.J. Noland. Well, Noland was back in the starting five on Saturday and the starters still struggled, scoring just 0.7 points per possession and accounting for three of the Lobos six turnovers in the game.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Kayde Dotson, Braden Appelhans, Filip Borovicanin, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +6 (8-2)

• TIME ON COURT: 1:07

• NOTE: In my pregame show on Saturday night, I actually talked about the backup 3s — Braden Appelhans and Filip Borovicanin — seemingly alternating good games lately and wondered if they'd ever actually get minutes together. Lo and behold, the best Lobos lineup of Saturday's game was with those two on the floor together. It was a brief run, but also the most offensively impactful at 2.8 points per possession, which is maybe more surprising for the presence of Kayde Dotson over Donovan Dent rather than the two 3s playing together.

WORST LINEUP

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

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -6 (0-6)

• TIME ON COURT: 1:12

• NOTE: This group started Wednesday's game and was bad, too. That's a lot of bad minutes that included Dent, Washington, either Noland or Appelhans at the 3, Amzil and Junior Joseph together recently. Not sure what the problem is with the guys Pitino and staff rely on the most, but it's not a good look right now for the Lobos with the key guys so consistently (well, for two games in a row, anyway), finding themselves in the "worst" lineup category.

ONE FOR THE AGGIES

• WHO: Zawdie Jackosn, Dionte Bostick, Christian Cook, Philip Filipovity, Robert Carpenter

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +17 (26-9)

• TIME ON COURT: 10:59

• NOTE: No surprise that this group was on the floor for most of that net-scorching 28-4 first half scoring run by the Aggies. Specifically, this unit was on for 5 minutes, 14 seconds of that stretch and outscored UNM 17-3. A lineup swapping just Emmanuel Tshimanga for Philip Filipovity also had a plus-8 (10-2) run against UNM in a 2:52 span. That's a plus-25 in 14 minutes for two lineups swapping just one player. Above, the Lobos had a minus-12 run for two lineups swapping just one player.

VIDEO: Richard Pitino and C.J. Noland postgame...

Here's the postgame video of Lobo senior guard C.J. Noland and UNM coach Richard Pitino talking to reporters.

More video...

Here's video of Saturday's ABQJournal Sports Live! pregame show where I was joined by UNM top Sports Information Director Frank Mercogliano talking about the crazy week that was for Lobo athletics.

Photos, photos, photos!

The great Chancey Bush has a photo gallery from Saturday's game that you're not going to want to miss...

• PHOTO GALLERY: NM State beats UNM

TIME CHANGE!

Next weekend's Dec. 14 home game against Division II Western New Mexico University will be at 5 p.m., not at 2 p.m. as previously scheduled.

The game time has been updated on the school's GoLobos.com website, but is still showing up as 2 p.m. in some other places, even as recent as the game notes package for Wednesday's game.

Meanwhile, in Seattle...

Normally I throw in a Mountain West game update here, but since I had a Mountain West section up above, how about checking in on that USC team the Lobos beat up on just 8 days prior to Saturday's bad loss. The Trojans looked to be in trouble then, but since the Lobos game (which was the day after getting embarrassed by Saint Mary's), all USC has done is take a very good Oregon team down to the wire on Wednesday then thump Washington on the road by 24 points in a game the Huskies were favored by seven on their home court.

Around the Mountain...

There was almost a full slate of games around the Mountain (West) on Saturday with nine of 11 league teams in action. Also a look at some upcoming games as schools start hitting finals weeks and schedules lighten up a bit for a week.

SATURDAY

• Air Force 69, Stony Brook 61 — Legends Showcase (Frisco, Texas)

• Washington State 74, Boise State 69

• Creighton 83, UNLV 65

• Santa Clara 81, Fresno State 66

• Colorado 72, Colorado State 55

• Utah State 92, Utah Tech 62

• New Mexico State 89, New Mexico 83 (OT)

• Loyola Marymount 68, Nevada 64

• No. 24 San Diego State 74, San Diego 57

MONDAY

• NAIA Lincoln (Calif.) University at San Jose State, 7 p.m. PST/8 p.m. MST (TheMW)

TUESDAY

• Wyoming at South Dakota State, 6 p.m. MST

WEDNESDAY

• Fresno State at BYU, 6 p.m. PST/7 p.m. MST (ESPN+)

• Cal-Baptists at No. 24 San Diego State, 7 p.m. PST/8 p.m. MST (TheMW)

• South Dakota State at Nevada, 7 p.m. PST/8 p.m. MST (TheMW)

Mountain West standings...

With the three early conference games that were played on Wednesday, the conference standings will look like this for a couple weeks. I'm including overall record in parenthesis to the right, though standings are sorted alphabetically where conference records are same.

1-0 New Mexico (7-3)

1-0 San Diego State (6-2)

1-0 Utah State (9-0)

0-0 Air Force (3-7)

0-0 Boise State (6-3)

0-0 Colorado State (5-4)

0-0 Nevada (6-3)

0-0 UNLV (4-4)

0-1 Fresno State (3-6)

0-1 San Jose State (4-6)

0-1 Wyoming (5-3)

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted Saturday night: New Mexico State 89, New Mexico 83 (OT)

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico State 89, New Mexico 83 (OT)

Up next...

For New Mexico: The Lobos host their one non-Division I game of the season next Saturday vs. D-II Western New Mexico at 5 p.m. Original schedules released listed this game as being at 2 p.m. It has been moved to 5 p.m.

For NM State: The Aggies are at Texas on Thursday at 6 p.m. MST/7 p.m. CST in Austin.

Lobo schedule/results...