Emptying the Notebook: No freshman wall for Hall, 'Shot Fake Jake' is on a heater

Here are some notes, quotes, stats, trends and other odds & ends I emptied out of the old notebook after Saturday's 80-73 UNM Lobos win over Nevada in the Pit:

No freshman wall for Hall

The UNM Lobos are the only team in the country with three freshmen averaging double-digit scoring.

In Saturday's 80-73 home win over the visiting Nevada Wolf Pack in the Pit, it was Jake Hall going for a team-high 19 points and hitting five 3-pointers, Tomislav Buljan going for an 11-point/15-rebound double-double and Uriah Tenette with 13 points, five assists and two steals plus a team-best plus-12 in the +/-.

All three were instrumental, again, in another big Lobos win.

And while it's been pretty consistent for the trio, first year UNM coach Eric Olen gets asked often in recent weeks about the dreaded freshman wall — the psychological or physical point of a players first season of playing college basketball that hit some (not all) first-year college players, assumed by many to be related to the fact they're playing more than they did in high school and are starting to wear out (some would argue the days of that being a statistical reality are over, though, as teenagers often play as much or even more basketball before college now between high school and club/travel ball).

Nevertheless, Olen gets asked about it. And here was how Olen answered a question just this past week on what he and the coaching staff are doing to make sure that freshman wall isn't hit.

"We're not doing anything. Hopefully they don't hit it," Olen said. "We think they're prepared physically, they're sharp, they're smart guys playing good basketball. So, yeah, just doing what we do, crossing our fingers, I guess."

If there was a freshman wall for Hall, it came a few weeks ago. At least that's what the scoring ledger would suggest. (really it was merely back-to-back game with OK, not great performances).

In UNM's Dec. 30 road loss at Boise State, Hall hit 1-of-10 shots (0-of-7 from 3) and finished with just two points. In the next game, a Jan. 3 home win over Wyoming), it was 3-of-10 shooting (3-of-8 from 3) and nine points.

It was the only back-to-back games Hall has had in a college uniform in which he didn't score in double figures.

In the six games since, let's just say the former world class junior surfer (oh, it's true, as we discussed here in Episode 122 of the Talking Grammer podcast) has been riding the wave of success — burying shot after shot despite being a secret no more and being atop of every opposing team's scouting report.

Jake Hall's past six games:

• Points: 19.0 per game
• 2-point FGs: 15-31 (48-4%)
• 3-point FGs: 21-41 (51.2%)
• Free throws: 21-30 (70.0%)
• Rebounds: 4.3 rebounds/game
• Assists: 2.5 assists/game
• Steals: 1.0 steals/game

"Terrific freshman," Nevada coach Steve Alford said late Saturday night of Hall. "He can really shoot it. ... Smart, really understands how to play. Never gets hurried up. He made big shots, and you have to give him credit for that."

Despite Hall having scored more than 3,000 points in high school, Olen was one of the few college coaches who recruited him, and maybe the only one who envisioned and trusted him stepping into such a high-volume role from Day 1 of his college career.

"Jake started out, I think he missed his first four, something like that (Hall did start 0-for-4 on Saturday, 0-2 from deep)," Olen said. "I told him at one point, 'Man, if you keep getting those looks, you're gonna you have a big night. Just keep being aggressive.'"

That trust in the freshman who has clearly proven to be more than just an outside shooter (though equally as clear he's a deadly outside shooter) has put Hall in a position to be in the running for Mountain West Freshman of the Year and he's putting together one of the best freshman seasons in UNM history.

Saturday, in just his 20th game, he set the UNM freshman 3-point makes record with his five 3-point performance — a record he set in 15 fewer games than the previous record holder and all-time Lobo great Kendall Williams.

Most 3s by UNM freshman

• 59 — Jake Hall, 2026 (20 games)
• 55 — Kendall Williams, 2011 (35 games)
• 54 — John Robinson II, 1999 (34 games)
• 44 — Kevin Henry, 1998 (32 games)
• 42 — Cullen Neal, 2014 (34 games)
• 40 — Charles Smith, 1994 (31 games)
• 40 — Rob Robbins, 1988 (36 games)

As for those five 3s, that's the sixth time this season he's had a game of five or more 3-pointers in a game. That's double what any other Mountain West player, regardless of class, has had this season (Colorado State's Josh Pascarelli and Utah State's M.J. Collins, bot seniors, have each had two such games).

The gamer

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

• Lobos top Wolf Pack, move into tie for second in Mountain West

The dagger

I wrote in that game story that this step-back three by Deyton Albury was pretty much the dagger. It put UNM up 74-67 (Nevada would finish with 73 points, so literally it was the shot that gave UNM enough points to win), but it was the moment it came in that was the reason I wrote that.

You could tell immediately that Steve Alford, having coached more games in that building than anyone of the 14,000 of us in there on Saturday night, knew what the moment meant. He called a timeout to try to avoid the avalanche that was to come, but it was no use.

The Pit, and its noise, helped the Lobos coast from there to the 80-73 victory.

3s, 3s, 3s

There was Albury's dagger 3, Jake Hall's five 3s, and plenty more from deep for the Lobos on Saturday. UNM was 12-of-28 (42.9%) from 3-point range on the night, out shooting a Nevada team that entered the game with the best 3-point shooting percentage in league play (the Wolf Pack was held to 26.1% 3-point shooting on 6-of-23 on Saturday).

UNM continues to become one of the more dangerous teams from 3-point range as of late, and as they do so, I'll continue updating this stat I've been using the past few ETNs about their 3-point shooting.

UNM 10 nonconfrence DI games

• Two times 10 or more made 3-pointers
• 85 made 3-pointers
• 8.5 made 3s per game

UNM nine conference games

• Six times 10 or more made 3-pointers
• 90 made 3-pointers
• 10.0 made 3s per game

Retro night win

Big time kudos to the entire crew at UNM who had a hand in the retro night, even if I am still a little bitter about them calling the 1990's a retro night worthy decade!

They killed it. From Matt Villareal to Chase Christiansen and Jonathan Tibbetts and everyone else (Senior Associate AD for External Relations Kasey Byers couldn't say "complete buy in" enough about the ambitious project and everyone who had a hand in it) who made the retro night work with pregame videos (in arena and on social over the past several days), the rollout, the 90s-themed living room set, the throwback jerseys, the in-game music and special touches (I see you Chase with the video board graphics!), it really was a home run.

Retro shooting shirts ...

That living room ...

All the way down to the final video game inspired score posting on social media ...

Rick is Wright

Best part about Saturday was getting to share press row with the great Rick Wright. And my colleague, as always, nailed it with another great column from the game.

• The 1990s were good to UNM hoops, and now they're back

They're still streaking

Another home win for the Lobos means the home win streak is up to 23 in a row — 12-0 this season plus the last 11 home games of last season.

That is the fifth longest active home win streak in Division I basketball and is the third longest in program history.

DI active home win streaks:

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

Longest home win streaks in Pit history:

• 41 — Feb. 10, 1996 to Feb. 26, 1998
• 24 — Dec. 3, 1973 to jan. 25, 1975
• 23 — Dec. 14, 2024 to present
• 22 — Dec. 28, 2004 to Feb. 1, 2006

How much do you bench?

In Steve Alford's postgame interview he noted that UNM's bench outplayed the Wolf Pack's reserves, which he felt was a big factor.

"We got beat 26-6 off the bench," Alford said. "That's something we've got to look at because our bench has been good at all year. Their bench outplayed our bench tonight."

When UNM's bench goes, it seems, so go the Lobos. Through nine Mountain West games, the Lobos are 7-0 when their bench outscores the opponent's bench and 0-2 when the opposing bench outscores the Lobos bench.

Obviously Uriah Tenette has been a big part of that offense for the Lobos, and on Saturday, so was JT Rock.

Lobos win bench scoring:

• 7-0 record

Lobos lose bench scoring:

• 0-2 record

UNM's game-by-game MW bench scoring:

• 36-25 — Win vs. San Jose State (Dec. 20)
• 7-37 — Loss at Boise State (Dec. 30)
• 25-17 — Win vs. Wyoming (Jan. 3)
• 28-21 — Win at Colorado State (Jan. 6)
• 34-16 — Win at Air Force (Jan. 10)
• 29-21 — Win vs. Grand Canyon (Jan. 13)
• 12-37 — Loss at San Diego State (Jan. 17)
• 27-17 — Win vs. Fresno State (Jan. 21)
• 26-6 — Win vs. Nevada (Saturday)

Bench scoring in wins

• UNM — 205 (29.3 points per game)
• Opponent — 123 (17.6 points per game)

Bench scoring in wins

• UNM — 19 (9.5 points per game)
• Opponent — 74 (37.0 points per game)

Rollin' with Olen

Eric Olen's 16-4 start to his UNM career is the second best 20-game start to a coaching career at UNM in the modern era (we count that as starting with Bob King in the 1962-63 season). And, considering what he started with (as in UNM had no returning players or coaches) and the pieces inherited by the others atop this list, there's a case to be made for Olen having the best start ever to a Lobo coaching career. 

First 20 games coached at UNM (modern era)

• 17-3 — Norm Ellenberger (1972-73)
• 16-4 — Eric Olen (2025-26)
• 16-4 — Craig Neal (2013-14)
• 16-4 — Steve Alford (2007-08)
• 15-5 — Dave Bliss (1988-89)
• 14-6 — Bob King (1962-63)
• 10-10 — Fran Fraschilla (1999-2000)
• 10-10 — Gary Colson (1980-81)
• 9-11 — Paul Weir (2017-18)
• 8-12 — Ritchie McKay (2002-03)
• 7-13 — Richard Pitino (2021-22)
• 6-14 — Charlie Harrison (1979-80)

Familiar faces

There were plenty of familiar faces for Lobo hoops fans honored at halftime on Saturday.

Tip of the cap to Vaughn Weems

Who?

Nevada guard Vaughn Weems had 16 points, eight rebounds and two steals on Saturday, but that's not what's getting my tip of the cap treatment here.

Weems had the Wolf Pack's best +/- of the game at plus-8 in 31 minutes, 14 seconds. Think about that breakdown for a game his team lost by seven.

• 31:14 with Weems on court: Nevada +8
• 8:46 with Weems on bench: Nevada -15

He also had this dunk, which is worth some props for, too...

No tic-tac-toe drama!

The streak is over. Saturday's tic-tac-toe layup game did NOT have a contestant who didn't know how to play tic-tac toe.

That breaks the streaks of consecutive home games where a contestant didn't understand how to play tic-tac-toe at three in a row, I believe (I only recorded the past two, though).

DISCLAIMER: For the sake of this bit, I'm just going to pretend I didn't see the cheerleaders helping the contestants by literally pointing to where they should put the game pieces.

Attendance

The announced attendance for Saturday's Nevada at New Mexico game in the Pit: 14,639

That is the largest home crowd of the season.

It's also slightly larger than last season's home game vs. Nevada that was the 1,000th men's game played in the Pit and ended on a Nelly Junior Joseph buzzer beater in overtime for the Lobos to win. That game had an announced home attendance of 14,622

Pit games 2025-26:

• 14,639 — Saturday vs. Nevada
• 13,763 — Jan. 3 vs. Wyoming
• 13,614 — Dec. 6 vs. Santa Clara
• 12,785 — Dec. 20 vs. San Jose State
• 12,512 — Jan. 13 vs. Grand Canyon
• 12,204 — Dec. 14 vs. Florida Gulf Coast
• 12,037 — Nov. 26 vs. Alabama State
• 11,924 — Wednesday vs. Fresno 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

And, since it was retro night, the light show promotion I like so much had a Tag Team sound track this time around:

Series notes

Nevada still leads the all-time series against UNM, 14-12. UNM now holds a 7-3 edge in the Pit.

UNM's current five-game win streak against the Wolf Pack represents the longest active losing streak Steve Alford has against Mountain West teams.

Last year's Nevada game in the Pit was an all-timer. In the 1,000th men's basketball game played in the six-decade old iconic arena, Nelly Junior Joseph gathered a loose ball pushed to him by Donovan Dent, who was on the floor in a scramble for the ball, then hit a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer in overtime for an 82-81 win.

The Lobos later beat Nevada 71-67 in Reno in another down-to-the-wire game.

Plus/minus

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

NEW MEXICO

• +12 Uriah Tenette (31:04)
• +11 Deyton Albury (25:32)
• +8 JT Rock (8:41)
• +5 Tomislav Buljan (27:19)
• +3 Jake Hall (35:53)
• +3 Tajavis Miller (14:47)
• +3 Antonio Chol (17:22)
• -4 Luke Haupt (35:22)
• -6 Milos Vicentic (4:00)

NEVADA

• +8 Vaughn Weems (31:14)
• +3 Elijah Price (28:33)
• +3 Kaleb Lowery (28:18)
• -1 Tayshawn Comer (25:47)
• -2 Corey Camper Jr. (35:32)
• -3 Tyler Rolison (12:03)
• -4 Myles Walker (2:42)
• -8 Jeriah Coleman (3:32)
• -9 Peyton White (17:11)
• -9 Amire Robinson (9:49)
• -13 Chuck Bailey III (5:20)

Line 'em up

The UNM Lobos played nine players and used * unique lineup combinations on Saturday. The Wolf Pack played 11 players and used 23 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: -7 (9-16)
• TIME ON COURT: 7:45
• NOTE: This could qualify as the worst lineup of the game for UNM since it is, technically, the one with the worst point differential. But I'll "give" the worst distinction to the unit you see below that went -6 in a much shorter time frame. For this starting five, however, what a mess offensively. Scoring 0.68 points per possession is probably the worst I can remember UNM's starting unit go all season.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Deyton Albury, Jake Hall, Luke Haupt, Tomislav Buljan
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +12 (28-16)
• TIME ON COURT: 11:56
• NOTE: I don't recall ever seeing this particular five-player lineup show up on one of my ETN "Line 'em up" sections for best or worst combination. Then, all of a sudden, we get a non-starting lineup combination that plays nearly 12 minutes together? This is a group I'm thinking needs to be examined a bit more, scoring 1.35 points per possession and more than 2.3 points per minute. That's some efficient offense.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Uriah Tenette, Jake Hall, Luke Haupt, Tajavis Miller, Milos Vicentic
• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -6 (0-6)
• TIME ON COURT: 2:39
• NOTE: Not the best of nights for Milos Vicentic, and running with this particular lineup was more than half of his four minutes played overall. No points from this group in 2:39 is really bad, especially considering Vicentic's minutes on the floor are pretty much always because they feel his offensive skill set should be an asset with a particular matchup. That didn't play out on Saturday.

AND THEM?

• NOTE: Nevada's starting five played almost 14 minutes together. That's a pretty high amount considering the foul trouble and considering there were 23 lineup combinations used (that 22 other unique combinations for the other 26 minutes of the game). Nevertheless, the starting five did well relative to a seven-point loss. The starting five of — Tashawn Comer, Corey Camper Jr., Vaughn Weems, Kaleb Lowery and Elijah Price — was plus-4 (outscoring UNM 23-19) in the 14 minutes they played together.

VIDEO: Olen, Buljan and Rock

Here's my postgame video with UNM coach Eric Olen and Lobo big men Tomislav Buljan and JT Rock:

Pregame in the Pit (w/Michael Wilder!)

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. Also, for the first 10 or so minutes, check out the expertise of UNM assistant coach Michael Wilder.

Meanwhile, in Fresno

Not a game of the night or anything, but when a Mountain West player dunks like this in a game, I feel I shoudl include it in my ETN.

GCU's Jaden Henley, everybody.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas

San Diego State coming off a big midweek loss.

UNLV coming off a huge midweek win.

Are the Rebels for real? Are the Aztecs doomed?

I guess not.

San Diego State picked up a solid double digit road win, 82-71, and remains alone in first place in the Mountain West standings.

Around the Mountain

There were two games around the Mountain West on Wednesday night. Here's a look at recent scores since the last Lobos game and some upcoming games around the league:

TUESDAY

• Boise State 81, Wyoming 65
• Colorado State 81, Air Force 52
• Nevada 87, San Jose State 54
• UNLV 86, Utah State 76

WEDNESDAY

• New Mexico 83, Fresno State 74
• Grand Canyon 70, San Diego State 69

FRIDAY

• Utah State 65, Colorado State 61

SATURDAY

• Wyoming 66, San Jose State 62
• San Diego State 82, UNLV 71
• Boise State 96, Air Force 54
• Grand Canyon 68, Fresno State 57
• New Mexico 80, Nevada 73

TUESDAY

• Boise State at San Jose State, 8 p.m. MT (TheMW)
• Grand Canyon at Nevada, 8:30 p.m. MT (FS1)
• New Mexico at UNLV, 9 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)

WEDNESDAY

• Wyoming at Utah State, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW)
• Colorado State at San Diego State, 8:30 p.m. (FS1)

Mountain West standings

Here are the conference standings through Saturday's games:

(listed alphabetically where records are same)

• 8-1 San Diego State
• 7-2 New Mexico
• 7-2 Utah State
• 6-2 Grand Canyon
• 6-3 Nevada
• 5-3 UNLV
• 4-5 Boise State
• 3-6 Fresno State
• 3-6 Colorado State
• 3-6 Wyoming
• 1-8 San Jose State
• 0-9 Air Force

Stats and stats

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted after Saturday's game: New Mexico 80, Nevada 73

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 80, Nevada 73

Grammer's Guesses

It's like I always say, I'm really good at this.

I go 1-4 on Saturday and the damn coin flip picks of my daughter go 4-1.

So, much to the delight of the world, she's back ahead of me in the season standings.

SEASON STANDINGS:

• My daughter's coin: 29-24
• Grammer's Guesses: 28-25

Up next

• For New Mexico: The Lobos play at UNLV at 8 p.m. PT/9 p.m. MT on Tuesday. The game is being televised on CBS Sports Network.
• For Nevada: The Wolf Pack hosts Grand Canyon on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. PT/8:30 p.m. MT on Tuesday. the game is being televised on FS1.

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