Emptying the Notebook: That's the Filip Borovicanin who was supposed to be a Lobo starter

Here are some extra notes, quotes, stats, trends, videos and whatever else I managed to empty out of the old reporter's notebook after Sunday night's 99-68 Lobos win over Texas Southern in the Pit:

Fili B flashes his potential...

While all 12 Lobos who played Sunday scored and the bench got a lot of good run, maybe nothing was more surprising for fans, and possibly relieving for Lobo coaches, than the productive 9 minutes and 41 seconds of court time from 6-foot-9 Arizona transfer Filip Borovicanin.

"I hope so," said Lobos coach Richard Pitino, when asked if big games from Borovicanin should now be expected after what he did Sunday in UNM's 99-68 win over Texas Southern.

First, let me set up as to why his 11 point, two assist, four rebound game was so important.

Through the first four games of the regular season, and in a preseason scrimmage and exhibition game, Pitino continued to trot Borovicanin out on the court as the team's staring 3 (the Lobos third guard), despite him not exactly producing anywhere near as much as a starter should.

C.J. Noland, a veteran guard who has actually played big minutes at Oklahoma and North Texas before getting to UNM, was a more proven commodity, an experienced guard who could score and defend.

But he stands just 6-foot-4.

While the Lobos got to the NCAA Tournament last season starting three guards 6-2 or shorter, the hope this season was really to get some size, and the 6-9 Borovicanin's skill set made him an easy choice to start alongside 6-2 point guard Donovan Dent and 6-4 shooting guard Tru Washington.

After all, if the Lobos could get good minutes out of a 6-9 guard, that would be a matchup nightmare for most opposing teams. And based on the flashes he showed in practices, starting him was in some ways a no brainer.

The problem is, Borovicanin didn't exactly produce in games like he showed in practice. Like, not at all at times.

In his four starts, Borovicanin averaged 2.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.0 turnovers and just 3.2 shot attempts.

By the time he posted a nine minute 0-fer in the first half at St. John's on Nov. 17 (0 shot attempts, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists), Pitino had to move on.

Noland started the second half at St. John's (and was great in that second half) and has started UNM's two games back at home in the past week.

Sunday, Borovicanin didn't check into the game until the 9:41 mark of the second half with the game already well in hand.

But he did something he hadn't done before at UNM.

He kind of dominated. He was aggressive, assertive, confident, maybe even fearless with his offensive attack.

In fact, his 11 points all came in a 2 minute, 15 second span in the second half — from a layup at the 7:46 mark to another layup with 5:31 showing.

The Pit crowd, stunned, excited, and aware of his struggles so far this season, roared louder with each Borovicanin bucket.

"Happy for Filip," Pitino said. "To have his role change a little bit, and to come in there and do some amazing things was awesome to see. He's so coachable. He works very hard."

What does it mean moving forward? We'll see. But for now, it was just nice to see in a game what he's show in at times in practice for the Lobos.

"We gotta remember, although he went to Arizona, he did not play a lot," Pitino said. "So you gotta look at him like a freshman a little bit, and it's great to see him taste some success. Nobody works harder. We've wanted to have a big guard in there, and he has provided that. So, I believe in Filip, and hopefully this can be a confidence booster for him."

The gamer...

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

• Every Lobo scores in big win over Texas Southern

Amzil's milestone...

Feature the guy in your game preview in Sunday's Journal, he reaches a milestone in Sunday night's game.

It's much nicer when it works out that way over writing about a player who goes into a major slump after you give them some publicity.

Anyway, with his fifth point scored on Sunday vs. Texas Southern (he had 18 in all), 6-9 senior forward Mustapha Amzil from Finland reached the 1,000 point plateau for his college career.

If you want to blame the Journal jinx (or the Grammer jinx) on Amzil's five-game streak of at least one blocked shot coming to an end because I wrote about him in Sunday's Journal, that's fair game, too

But as for those points?

Amzils' college scoring:

• 700 points — three seasons at Dayton

• 313 points — one season, six games at UNM

• 1,013 points — college career (129 games)

Here's how that 1,000 point club looks for the current Lobo roster — the two there and the two closest to getting there.

Top scoring current Lobos:

• 1,555 — Nelly Junior Joseph (1,149 at Iona, 406 at UNM)

• 1,013 — Mustapha Amzil (700 at Dayton, 313 at UNM)

• 787 — Donovan Dent (787 at UNM)

• 585 — C.J. Noland (315 at North Texas, 213 at Oklahoma, 57 at UNM)

Turnover turnaround...

Entering Sunday's game, Texas Southern, who had already played the likes of the Big East's Xavier, the SEC's Georgia and the ACC's Georgia Tech, among others, had not just been handling the ball well, they'd been causing other teams to turn it over more.

Entering Sunday

11.8 — TSU avg. turnovers

13.2 — TSU opponents avg. turnovers

+1.4 — TSU turnover margin

Sunday vs. the Lobos, not so much.

TSU vs. UNM on Sunday

20 — TSU turnovers

7 — UNM turnovers

-13 — TSU turnover margin

Backups' dunks make starters go crazy...

All three of these clips happened in the second half on Sunday, which means it was on the south basket and in front of the Lobos bench.

So, as cool as it is just to see the backups making some highlight reel plays, I also enjoy watching the Lobo bench react to seeing the backups get in and make these plays.

The Quinton Web dunk in particular, which was a spectacular one with the foul, got a nice reaction from the starters.

• Quinton Webb dunk...

• Atiki Ally Atiki dunk...

• Ibrahima Sacko dunk...

Steve Kirkland Stat of the Night!

Here's the Steve Kirkland Stat of the Night, provided to me by UNM hoops Sports Information Director Steve Kirkland.

At the bottom of each box score/stat sheet after each game, there's a little box of "specialty stats" for each game. These generally include team comparisons for such stats as points off turnovers, points in the paint, second chance points, fast break points and bench points.

Steve let me know that three "specialty stats" from Sunday's game are Pitino-era highs:

• 30 — Points off turnovers

• 24 — Second chance points

• 29 — Fast break points

What's the point?

The Lobos' 61 points in the second half Sunday vs. Texas Southern is the most scored in a half by a Richard Pitino-coached Lobos team, besting the previous high of 57 points at Wyoming on Jan. 22, 2022.

The Lobos scored 1.605 points per possession (PPP) in the second half, easily their best half of scoring efficiency of the season.

3 highest PPP halves for UNM:

1.606 PPP — 2H vs. Texas Southern (61 points)

1.448 PPP — 2H at St. John's (42 points)

1.324 PPP — 1H vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (49 points)

3 lowest PPP halves for UNM:

.811 PPP — 1H vs. Grambling State (30 points)

.829 PPP — 1H vs. St. John's (29 points)

.838 PPP — 2H vs. UCLA (31 points)

The new guy...

In case you missed it, UNM on Sunday announced the hire of 36-year-old Fernando Lovo as the schools new Vice President/Director of Athletics, replacing seven-year AD Eddie Nuñez, who left for the same post at Houston on Aug. 17.

I was able to talk with Lovo on Sunday afternoon and here is the article I pieced together before Sunday night's game:

Get to know Fernando Lovo, New Mexico's new athletic director

Fernando Lovo, a 36-year-old senior associate athletics director at the University of Texas with an extensive background in football operation…

Stealing the show...

UNM's 10 steals on Thursday marked the fifth time in six games the Lobos have had double digit steals in a game, with the one miss in the season being a nine steal game in the loss at St. John's.

UNM's school record for double digit steal games is 12, something it has accomplished three times, including last season.

Most double-digit steal games in UNM history:

t1. 12 — 2023-24 (36 games)

t1. 12 — 2019-20 (33 games)

t1. 12 — 2004-05 (33 games)

—

This season: 5 in 6 games

Last season's Lobo team that tied the school record didn't have its first double digit steal game until Game 8. This season is at five such games by Game 6.

Also, it's already time to put some tracking on Tru Washington record chase. He has 19 steals in six games (3.2 per game), which would put him well on his way to the program record of 86 set by his buddy Jaelen House two seasons ago (House played 32 games in 2022-23 when he set the single season steal record with 86, or 2.7 per game).

Points off turnovers...

With all those steals, I can't help but update my favorite UNM Lobo stat of the Pitino era: The team's record when winning the points off turnover stat.

Sunday, the Lobos were about as good as they've ever been in not just turning an opponent over but in the rate at which they turned those turnovers into points at the other end.

UNM had 30 points off 20 TSU turnovers (TSU had two points off seven UNM turnovers).

Turning defense into offense is the name of the game for the Lobos...

2024-25 points off TO records

• 5-0 — Lobos win points off turnover stat

• 0-1 — Lobos lose points off turnover stat

• 0-0 — Lobos tie points off turnover stat

• RECORD: 5-1

Points off TOs in past 42 games

• 27-2 — Lobos win points off turnover stat

• 2-9 — Lobos lose points off turnover stat

• 2-0 — Lobos tie points off turnover stat

• FINAL RECORD: 31-11

How do you like them apples?

The note above was all about steals and points off turnovers. But the Lobos love to get out and run off blocked shots, too.

And who is the newest block master of the Lobos?

Braden Appelhans?

Yes, Braden Appelhans, he of the four career blocks in 31 games as a Lobo before Sunday, put together this magical moment that capped a 7-0 scoring run for the Lobos going into halftime, blocking a shot at one end and hitting the transition 3-pointer (his actual specialty for the team) for UNM's 38-31 lead at the break:

Appelhans had two first half blocks on Sunday, tying a career high, and finished with a solid, off-the-bench stat line of three points, two assists, two blocks and one steal in 14 minutes.

"I like what Braden is giving us off the bench," Pitino said after the game.

Appelhans has now played at least 14 minutes in back to back games (Grambling State and Texas Southern) for the first time in his Lobo career.

Nelly, Nelly, Nelly...

Nelly Junior Joseph had 8 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and a steal on Sunday. Not a bad game, but he also only had just four shot attempts, one of those being a 3-point attempt.

"Nelly's got to get more touches than four," Pitino said Sunday night.

Look at the splits on his stats since halftime of UNM's second game of the season — Nov. 8 vs. UCLA:

Nelly's first 60 minutes/1.5 games of season:

• 42 points

• 13-20 FGs (65.0%)

• 16-20 FTs (80.0)

• 60 minutes (1.5 games)

Nelly's past 180 minutes/4.5 games of season:

• 43 points

• 18-32 FGs (56.3%)

• 5-17 FTs (29.4%)

• 180 minutes (4.5 games)

As for that 3-pointer Junior Joseph shot in the second half?

"I told him, if he's wide open at the top, he could shoot a 3," Pitino said. "Can't be shooting any other one. So, yeah, he was open. He's gonna knock it down. He can knock it down in practice."

Attendance...

The announced attendance for Texas Southern vs. UNM in the Pit on Sunday night: 11,286

That's a wrap with the SWAC...

UNM beating Texas Southern on Sunday was the second-consecutive win for the Lobos against a SWAC team, having beat Grambling State on Thursday.

UNM is now 30-1 vs. the SWAC. The Lobos' only loss to a team from the SWAC was against Texas Southern in November 1994 in the Lobo Classic.

In that game, Lobo David Gibson had 14 points and seven assists and Clayton Shields had 14 points and seven rebounds, but TSU freshman Randy Bolden hit five 3-pointers and was 6-for-6 at the free throw line for a game-high 21 points in the upset of the Dave Bliss-coached team.

ICYMI, Habtom Samuel is a legend...

I interrupt this ETN for an update from the NCAA Cross Country Championships over the weekend...

Saturday morning in Wisconsin, Habtom Samuel, the UNM Lobo sophomore cross country star, had someone step on his shoe with about 5,000 meters remaining in the cold race that, obviously, was run outdoors on the freezing Wisconsin ground.

“I (looked) back almost like, ‘can I grab my shoes maybe?’” Samuel said after the race. “(But if) I look back and grab my shoes, the gap will be bigger. So (another racer) told me, just keep with this one.”

So, he did.

And despite getting spiked in the race, a common occurrence in races when there are tight packs of runners, and bleeding from his foot that required him to get stitches after the race and move around using crutches, Samuel just kept going.

Did he win? No. But he damn near won, finishing 1.7 seconds behind Harvard's Graham Blanks after having run the last 3 miles or so with one shoe on and one bloody foot.

Plus/minus...

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

NEW MEXICO

+28 Tru Washington (27:30)

+22 Mustapha Amzil (28:58)

+20 Atiki Ally Atiki (12:40)

+17 Nelly Junior Joseph (23:16)

+17 Donovan Dent (24:50)

+15 C.J. Noland (20:47)

+14 Kayde Dotson (15:10)

+10 Filip Borovicanin (9:41)

+10 Jovan Milicevic (9:41)

+7 Braden Appelhans (14:01)

+2 Quinton Webb (8:01)

-7 Ibrahima Sacko (5:25)

Line 'em up...

The UNM Lobos played 12 players and used 13 unique lineup combinations. The Texas Southern Tigers played 11 players and used 20 unique lineup combinations.

First off, you know how hard it is to play 12 players and have just 13 lineup combinations with all the substituting that goes on?

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

STARTING LINEUP and BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, C.J. Noland, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +16 (32-16)

• TIME ON COURT: 15:01

• NOTE: This is what a starting five is supposed to do. Play the most minutes together, even in a game like Sunday where you empty the bench early in the second half, and this unit should be the one that looks the best on the floor. As happy as Pitino and everyone seemed to be with the depth and bench production on Sunday, as well they should be, it's a nice day at the office when your starters double up the competition and account for 15 rebounds, eight steals and six assists while playing together.

SECOND BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Kayde Dotson, Quinton Webb, Filip Borovicanin, Jovan Milicevic, Atiki Ally Atiki

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +8 (18-10)

• TIME ON COURT: 3:57

• NOTE: Not one starter. All reserves, and a couple deep reserves and all they did was stretch the lead out when Pitino put them all in together in the second half. This unit scored 1.9 points per possession (very good number) and had four assists in under four minutes of court time together.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Kayde Dotson, Quinton Webb, Filip Borovicanin, Jovan Milicevic, Ibrahima Sacko

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -6 (4-10)

• TIME ON COURT: 4:04

• NOTE: On the other hand, sometimes this is what it looks like when you play your deep bench late in a blowout game. With basically the same time on the court as that lineup above and the only change being Ibrahima Sacko in for Atiki Ally Atiki, the Lobos gave up six points to the Tigers in this stretch. Not a huge deal in a blowout, but just 0.57 points per possession isn't going to get it done.

ONE OF THEIRS...

• Texas Souther's starting five was outscored by 13 points (15-2) in the 4 minutes, 23 seconds they were on the court together. They had six turnovers in that 4:23 and scored just 0.25 points per possession.

Meanwhile, earlier in the Pit...

Colleague Ken Sickenger was on duty covering the UNM women's game against Gonzaga on Sunday afternoon in the Pit. The visitors pulled away in the fourth quarter for an 81-68 win over the Lobos with Yvonne Ejim scoring a game-high 26 points to go along with 17 rebounds, eight assists and two blocked shots.

A near triple double? Yeah, I'd say that's pretty good.

Through six games...

Richard Pitino has coached UNM for three seasons and is now six games into his fourth season.

The Lobos have gotten off to good starts to the season since he's been here. His through-six-games combined record in those four seasons is 20-4.

4-2 — 2021-22

6-0 — 2022-23

5-1 — 2023-24

5-1 — 2024-25

VIDEO: Pitino and Washington ...

Here's the postgame media session with Richard Pitino and Tru Washington...

It's getting closer...

In my ETN after Thursday's Grambling State game for the Lobos, I posted the following early season stat for Mountain West games:

Through Thursday

• 48 — MW games played

• 1 — Decided by 1-3 points

• 16 — Decided by 4-9 points

• 31 — Decided by 10 or more points

Well, in the 10 games played since Thursday, things have started to tighten up for teams around the league. There have been four more "close" games and four more blowouts (with two in the common 4-9 point range).

Through Sunday

• 58 — MW games played

• 5 — Decided by 1-3 points

• 18 — Decided by 4-9 points

• 35 — Decided by 10 or more points

Blowouts are more common in November for a league like the Mountain West that plays buy games — either inviting lower competition or having to go on the road to play much better competition. But it was still pretty lopsided to have had only one "close" game this deep into the month. The past few days, the stat is looking a little more normal.

Meanwhile, in Charleston...

Nevada avoided disaster in the Charleston Classic after a Round 1 loss to Vanderbilt that sent them to the loser's bracket, which often means lesser opponents and less value to your computer rankings.

But the Charleston Classic, full of mostly Top 100 KenPom ranked teams, played out pretty well for Nevada even after the Game 1 loss. They beat VCU (KenPom 41) in Round 2 and Oklahoma State (KenPom 95) on Sunday. The VCU win has a chance to be a coveted Quad 1 victory for Nevada by season's end.

Around the Mountain...

There were four games Sunday and a couple more coming Monday around the Mountain (West). Here's a look at some recent results and some upcoming games.

SATURDAY

• UNLV 72, New Mexico State 65

• Fresno State 72, Long Beach State 69

SUNDAY

• Boise State 83, Hampton 69 (Cayman Islands Classic)

• Nevada 90, Oklahoma State 78 (Charleston Classic, 5th place game)

• Air Force 82, Mercyhurst 48

• New Mexico 99, Texas Southern 68

MONDAY

• Boise State vs. South Dakota State, 11:30 a.m. MST (Cayman Islands Classic, Round 2)

• UTEP vs. San Jose State, 6:30 p.m. MST (Ball Dawgs Classic — Henderson, Nev.)

TUESDAY

• San Diego State vs. No. 14 Creighton, noon MST (Players Era Festival — Las Vegas, Nev.)

• Wyoming vs. Tulane, 4 p.m. MST (Cancun Challenge)

• UNC Greensboro vs. San Jose State 9:30 p.m. MST (Ball Dawgs Classic — Henderson, Nev.)

• Fresno State vs. Washington State, 10 p.m. MST (Acrisure Holiday Invitational — Palm Springs, Calif.)

Mountain West standings...

Through Sunday's games, here are the records around the Mountain West conference:

5-0 Utah State

6-1 Nevada

5-1 New Mexico

4-1 Boise State

4-1 UNLV

4-1 Wyoming

2-1 San Diego State

3-2 Colorado State

3-2 Fresno State

2-4 Air Force

1-5 San Jose State

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted late Sunday night: New Mexico 99, Texas Southern 68

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 99, Texas Southern 68

Up next...

For New Mexico: The Lobos play Arizona State at 9:30 p.m. MST Thursday in Palm Springs, Calif., in the first of their two-day Acrisure Classic. The game will be broadcast on truTV. The Lobos will then play on Friday either USC or Saint Mary's.

For Texas Southern: The Tigers play Texas A&M-Kingsville at noon MST Wednesday in Houston.

Lobo schedule/results...