Emptying the Notebook: Three days later, the 'other guys' disappear for Lobos in road loss

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Here are some extra notes, quotes, stats, videos, streaks, trends, videos and whatever else I could find emptying out the old notebook after Tuesday's 71-70 Lobos loss in San Jose:

Where did the 'other guys' go?

Saturday, all was right in Lobo land.

UNM's basketball team got more than enough scoring help from guys not named Donovan Dent and Nelly Junior Joseph to dominate perennial Mountain West title contender San Diego State, who leading up to the game made clear their priority was to try and slow those two players.

Tuesday, in a 71-70 loss to San Jose State, not so much.

Dent (17 points) and Junior Joseph (20 points) were again a two-man show in a game that the usually high-scoring Lobos, for the first time in 18 games, didn't get at least three players to double digit scoring (Mustapha Amzil did score 9).

Saturday, Dent + Junior Joseph points: 22 points (35.5% of UNM's scoring)

Saturday, every other Lobo: 40 points (64.5% of UNM's scoring)

•••

Tuesday, Dent + Junior Joseph points: 37 points (52.9% of UNM's scoring)

Tuesday, every other Lobo: 33 points (47.1% of UNM's scoring)

Remember, leading into the SDSU game, Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher made clear what the defensive priority was.

(The next two quotes were used verbatim in Saturday's ETN column in which I sang the praises of the "other guys" stepping up offensively to make the Aztecs pay for spending so much energy and effort trying to slow the high pick-and-roll action of the Lobo stars.)

“Dent and Joseph are as good a point guard/center combination as there is in the country," Dutcher said before Saturday's game. "Most good teams are really good up the middle, and they’re good up the middle — center and point guard. So we have to do a good job dealing with the ball screens and find a way to slow Dent and Joseph down.”

Countered UNM coach Richard Pitino in anticipation of SDSU's defensive attack: “Donovan’s always going to find guys, but the pick and roll, it’s five guys really connected, not just Nelly and Donnie. So, the other three guys gotta make them pay.”

Saturday, the Lobos' other three starters, Filip Borovicanin (9), Tru Washington (13) and Mustapha Amzil (10) had 32 points and grabbed 25 rebounds while the Lobo bench was outscored by only one point (9-8).

Tuesday, Borovicanin (2 points), Washington (6) and Amzil (9) — all below their season average — combined for 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while the Lobo bench was outscored by 11 points (27-16).

Dent looked like he was running on fumes in the second half and was also bothered down the stretch after taking a hard hit to the face early in the second half.

As for Junior Joseph, he picked up his fourth foul with 10:26 left in the game with UNM leading 55-53 when he went to the bench. He checked back in at the 4:19 mark with SJSU having outscored UNM 10-4 in the span, leading 63-59 by then.

"Nelly being in foul trouble hurt," Pitino said. "You know, offensively, when you've got Filip (shooting) 1-for-7, Tru 2-for-7 and C.J. (Noland, off the bench) 1-for-9 — Nelly was giving us a lot, and we just, we couldn't get them back in the game because of all the foul trouble."

Saturday, the 'other guys' showed the high-end potential of this Lobos team can be really, really good with weapons all around.

On Tuesday, the 'other guys' needed to have Dent and Junior Joseph's back a little more.

They didn't.

The gamer...

Here is the gamer I filed Tuesday night from the Provident Credit Union Event Center in San Jose:

• Spartan surprise: San Jose State hands Lobos their first Mountain West loss

California crushed...

Oh, so close. With the loss, the Lobos fall to 5-1 this season against teams from California and 20-9 in the Richard Pitino era.

UNM vs. California teams this season:

• W, 72-64 over UCLA — in Henderson, Nevada (Nov. 8)

• W, 83-73 over USC — in Palm Springs, California (Nov. 29)

• W, 83-77 over San Jose State — in the Pit (Dec. 4)

• W, 103-89 over Fresno State — in Fresno (Dec. 31)

• W, 62-48 over San Diego State — in the Pit (Jan. 11)

• L, 71-70 to San Jose State — in San Jose (Jan. 14)

• TBD, vs. Fresno State — in the Pit (Jan. 20)

• TBD, at San Diego State — in San Diego (Feb. 25)

Pitino's year-by-year vs. California:

• 5-1 — 2024-25 season

• 8-2 — 2023-24 season

• 6-2 — 2022-23 season

• 1-4 — 2021-22 season

• TOTAL: 20-9

Who the heck is that guy?

San Jose State's Jermaine Washington, a freshman guard, had a career-high 13 points and hit a career-high three 3-pointers for the Spartans.

What's more impressive? In his 28:05 on the court, the Spartans outscored the Lobos by 18 points — EIGHTEEN POINTS! — in a game the won by just one point.

Washington's +18 on the stat sheet (again, the +/- stat shows what a team's scoring differential does in the time a player is in the game), is the most from any Mountain West opponent against the Lobos this season and tied for the second highest +/- of any player. The other two on this list are, more understandably, starters.

Largest +/- for Lobo opponent (DI games):

+20 — Robert Carpenter, NMSU (Dec. 7)

+18 — Jermaine Washington, SJSU (Tuesday)

+18 — Aaron Scott, St. John's (Nov. 17)

What's the point?

Since scoring 103 points on Dec. 31 at Fresno State, the third time this season UNM had reached the century mark, the team has been held well below its scoring average for four-consecutive games (the Jan. 3 Nevada game was below UNM's scoring average both at the end of regulation and still after the overtime period).

• -17.4 points — 70-70 vs. Nevada (end of regulation): UNM's scoring average entering game: 87.4. Final score after overtime was 82-81, still 5.4 points below the season average.

• -26 points — 61 points at Wyoming: Scoring average entering game: 87.0

• -23.4 points — 62 points vs. San Diego State: Scoring average entering the game: 85.4

• -14 points — 70 points at San Jose State: Scoring average entering game: 84.0

Losing it at the 3-point line...

The Lobos don't shoot many 3-pointers.

The team's 21.6 3-point attempts per game ranks 232 out of 364 Division I teams and eighth in the 11-team Mountain Wes.t

On Tuesday, they only took 15 3-pointers, hitting only three of them (one by Mustapha Amzil and two from freshman Jovan Milicevic).

San Jose State, meanwhile, hit 10 3-pointers, just their fourth game this season hitting double-digit 3s, with two of those four being vs. the Lobos.

So, for those scoring at home, the Lobos were outscored 30-9 (minus-21 points) at the 3-point line.

Such a discrepancy is often a recipe for a loss. Well, at least it seems like it would be.

Oddly enough, this was the fourth time this season the Lobos have lost the scoring comparison at the 3-point line by double digits (at least 12 points/four made 3s differential), and UNM is actually 2-2 in those games with the other two being a one-point game (Tuesday) and a game that was tied after 40 minutes and went to overtime.

UNM's largest 3FG differentials this season:

• minus-24 points: 45-21 — UNM, 91, Nicholls State 84 (Nov. 4)

• minus-21 points: 30-9 — San Jose State 71, UNM 70 (Tuesday)

• minus-21 points: 30-9 — UNM 78, VCU 71 (Dec. 18)

• minus-12 points: 42-30 — NMSU 89, UNM 83 (Dec. 7)

It's like Windex: No streaks...

With the 71-70 loss at San Jose State:

• UNM's seven-game win streak is gone.

• UNM's six-game conference win streak to start a season is gone. It was the third best in program history, regardless of conference, and UNM's best streak to start conference play in Mountain West history.

• UNM's 10-game Mountain West win streak, counting regular season and MW Tournament games, is gone. It was the second best streak in the Mountain West era behind the 2010 Lobos, who wont 15 in a row (14 regular season MW games and one MW Tournament game).

• UNM's seven game win streak over California schools is gone. The last lost to a California school was Feb. 16 last season at San Diego State.

• UNM's 17-game streak of having at least three players score in double figures is gone. The last game UNM had just two players reach 10 or more points was in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in March vs. Clemson when Nelly Junior Joseph (14) and Jaelen House (12) were the only two Lobos to score in double figures.

Yo-Yo effect...

Call it an excuse. Call it a reason. Call it just random numbers.

Whatever the effect it may, or may not, have on a team's performance, the Lobos are in about as unique a stretch in the schedule as any team in any season in terms of attendance from game to game.

Sure teams play in empty arenas every season in November tournaments or in arenas that just don't draw many fans, and they may counter that the very next game with a huge crowd, 15,000-plus.

But tournaments usually include a few games in a row. And big crowds for most programs actually aren't the 15K variety like the Lobos enjoy, and the teams who do get those, especially in league play, are usually getting the big crowd treatment every night because they're in a big conference.

But this random quirkiness of the Mountain West schedule that the Lobos are in is just, well, weird.

Whatever the case, look at this six-game span for the UNM Lobos with the attendance jumps and drops from game-to-game:

• 5,583 — at Fresno State on Dec. 31 (actual attendance was more like 2,000)

• 14,622 — vs. Nevada in the Pit on Jan. 3

• 2,938 — at Wyoming on Jan. 7

• 15,428 — vs. San Diego State on Saturday

• 1,853 — at San Jose State on Tuesday

• *14,000 — Friday vs. Boise State

* = projected to be at least 14,000.

For those who don't want to do the math, here is the plus/minus stats for those attendance figures:

↑ 9,039 fans (from Fresno State game to Nevada game)

↓ 11,684 fans (from Nevada game to Wyoming game)

↑ 12,490 fans (from Wyoming game to San Diego State game)

↓ 13,575 fans (From San Diego State game to San Jose State game)

↑ *12,147 fans (From San Jose State game to Friday's projected attendance vs. Boise State)

* = Based on projection of upcoming ticket sales.

For comparison sake, here is what the Lobos played in three days prior to Tuesday in front of a sold-out Pit:

Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025 — SDSU vs. UNM in the Pit:

And here is what the Lobos played in Tuesday in San Jose:

Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025 — UNM vs. SJSU in the Provident Event Center:

"I don't think they didn't have energy, or didn't play hard, or were dead (to start the game)," Pitino said of his team in the low-energy environment on Tuesday night. "I could see, maybe if you said Wyoming first half, we were a little bit dead (UNM opened the game in Wyoming hitting just 1 of its first 16 shots and shot 18.5% for the first half), but we were ready to go."

No, I haven't done the research, but I am fairly confident there is not a single other program in the country, Division I or otherwise, who has as six-game span of, on average, just under a 12,000 fan per game differential every game.

Now, does it affect team play? Of course. It must.

"It probably has some kind of effect," Lobo forward Mustapha Amzil told the Journal after Tuesday's game. "It shouldn't. We should be the best team and perform that way, but today we didn't do it."

And there isn't much room to gripe about a home court advantage created by the number of fans in the stands when the Lobos benefit season after season from the home court advantage created by the number of fans in the stands at the Pit.

UNM needs to find a way in San Jose...

Since joining the Mountain West in the 2013-14 season, San Jose State has, largely, struggled mightily in hoops.

The Spartans have an all-time record vs. Mountain West schools (regular season and MW Tournament) of 36-178 (.168) since joining the league.

And who have they beat?

10 — Air Force

6 — New Mexico

4 — UNLV

3 — Fresno State

3 — Nevada

2 — Colorado State

2 — Boise State

2 — Utah State

2 — Wyoming

1 — San Diego State

In the Mountain West era, UNM has played in the Provident Event Center eight times. San Jose State has out-performed the computer predictions in six of those, including against the 27-win, NCAA Tournament team in 2014.

Using historical KenPom.com pregame predictions as the point spread, here are the six times the Spartans have covered the spread at homve vs. the Lobos:

• Jan. 11, 2014: UNM 69, SJSU 65 (UNM was favored by 9)

• Feb. 3, 2018: UNM 71, SJSU 68 (UNM was favored by 8)

• Feb. 26, 2019: SJSU 89, UNM 82 (UNM was favored by 11)

• Jan. 1, 2020: SJSU 88, UNM 85 (UNM was favored by 12)

• Feb. 20, 2022: SJSU 71, UNM 55 (UNM was favored by 7)

• Tuesday: SJSU 71, UNM 70 (UNM was favored by 9.5)

What a difference a week makes...

Here's a look at my rental car temperature gauge last Tuesday in Laramie, Wyo., when I left the arena and a look at my rental car temperature gauge on Tuesday when I got to the arena in San Jose.

-2 on one Tuesday, 57 the next.

That's so Mountain West...

A little help?

The Lobos had just 10 assists on Tuesday, tied for the third lowest number of assists in a game this season:

Fewest assists for UNM this season:

6 — vs. VCU (Dec. 18)

8 — at Wyoming (Jan. 7)

10 — at San Jose State (Tuesday)

10 — vs. Arizona State (Nov. 28)

In case you missed it...

The Mountain West weekly award winners from Monday were: UNM's Donovan Dent was named Player of the Week and Wyoming's Abou Magassa was named Freshman of the Week.

Attendance...

The announced attendance at the Provident Credit Event Center for UNM at SJSU on Tuesday night: 1,853

Making a second appearance in this ETN, here's that crowd video from the final media timeout of the first half on Tuesday night in the Event Center.

Plus/minus...

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

NEW MEXICO

+12 Nelly Junior Joseph (20:05)

+8 C.J. Noland (22:10)

+4 Mustapha Amzil (25:31)

+4 Donovan Dent (34:06)

+1 Braden Appelhans (3:37)

-3 Kayde Dotson (5:14)

-4 Filip Borovicanin (29:21)

-5 Ibrahima Sacko (1:32)

-7 Jovan Milicevic (15:09)

-7 Tru Washington (24:52)

-8 Atiki Ally Atiki (18:23)

SAN JOSE STATE

+18 Jermaine Washington (28:05)

+7 Robert Vaihola (31:26)

+3 Will McClendon (35:32)

+3 Josh Uduje (33:32)

-1 Sadraque NgaNga (9:22)

-2 Sadaidriene Hall (28:49)

-4 Latrell Davis (20:46)

-4 Chol Marial (1:43)

-15 Donavan Yap Jr. (10:45)

Line 'em up...

The UNM Lobos played 11 players and used 21 unique lineup combinations. The San Jose State Spartans played nine players and used 14 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: +6 (26-20)

• TIME ON COURT: 10:57

• NOTE: The starters were fine, until Nelly Junior Joseph just could stay on the court due to foul trouble. Had the Lobos got more than 10:57 of playing time together out of this group, they would have won the game.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, C.J. Noland, Filip Borovicanin, Jovan Milicevic, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +6 (8-2)

• TIME ON COURT: 2:09

• NOTE: Two things land this unit under the "BEST LINEUP" heading, despite having the same point differential as the starting five, which played much longer. Freshman Jovan Milicevic going 2-for-2 on 3s helped the cause here.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, C.J. Noland, Filip Borovicanin, Jovan Milicevic, Atiki Ally Atike

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -5 (5-10)

• TIME ON COURT: 4:24

• NOTE: There was another lineup that also had a minus-5, but that was in just 1 minute of play and the Lobos outscored them 5-0 (telling me they hit two shots while SJSU did not). That's not really worth diving too deep into.

So, in my estimation, Tuesday's worst lineup combination was this one I'm listing here, scoring just 0.556 points per possession surrendering well over two points per minute in a game SJSU finished with 71.

ONE OF THEIRS (Starting 5)

• WHO: Donovan Yap, Will McClendon, Sadaidriene Hall, Josh Uduje, Robert Vaihola

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -16 (4-20)

• TIME ON COURT: 6:34

• NOTE: San Jose State's starting five were outscored in just six and a half minutes together on the court, but 16 points! For the Spartans, thank goodness Jermaine Washington blew up off the bench with a plus-18 on the +/-.

This same SJSU starting five, just for comparison, went -4 in the Pit on Dec. 4.

New Talking Grammer podcast episode...

Rob Dauster of the Field of 68 podcast network and I recorded an all-things-Mountain West podcast this week (ahead of Tuesday's games), covering the season title contenders, postseason hopes and much more.

You can give it a watch here or on the Field of 68 as both outlets posted our conversation on their own platforms.

VIDEO: Postgame with Pitino and Amzil...

Here is my postgame interview videos with UNM Lobo coach Richard Pitino and senior forward Mustpaha Amzil...

VIDEO: Pregame from Provident Event Center...

Here is the pregame show I did courtside from the Provident Credit Union Event Center on Tuesday night in San Jose...

Meanwhile, in San Diego ...

Unlike Saturday in the Pit, the Aztecs rebounded on Tuesday — in the game and from the loss to the Lobos, beating Colorado State by 15 in Viejas Arena.

Around the Mountain...

There were four games around the Mountain West on Tuesday night, one more coming to complete the midweek slate of games and then five more coming this weekend (two on Friday, three on Saturday):

TUESDAY

• Boise Stat3 96, Wyoming 55

• Nevada 68, Air Force 62

• San Jose State 71, New Mexico 70

• San Diego State 75, Colorado State 60

WEDNESDAY

• No. 22 Utah State at UNLV, 8 p.m. PT/9 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)

FRIDAY

• Air Force at Fresno State, 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• Boise State at New Mexico, 8 p.m. PT/9 p.m. MT (FS1)

SATURDAY

• Colorado State at Wyoming, 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• San Jose State at Nevada, 3 p.m. PT/4 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• UNLV at San Diego State, 5 p.m. PT/6 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)

Mountain West standings...

Through Tuesday...

6-0 Utah State

6-1 New Mexico

5-2 Boise State

4-2 San Diego State

4-2 Colorado State

3-2 UNLV

2-4 Wyoming

2-4 Nevada

2-5 San Jose State

0-6 Air Force

0-6 Fresno State

Home/Road standings

A team gets +1 for a road win and -1 for a home loss.

+3 Utah State

+3 New Mexico

+1 San Diego State

+1 Boise State

+1 Colorado State

+1 UNLV

-1 Wyoming

-1 Nevada

-2 San Jose State

-3 Air Force

-3 Fresno State

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted late Tuesday night: San Jose State 71, New Mexico 70

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: San Jose State 71, New Mexico 70

Grammer's Guesses...

And now, for the most important result from Tuesday night...

TAKE THAT, COIN!

The Guesses go 3-1 on Tuesday and I'm back o .500 for the season.

And my daughter's precious little coin, who was getting a little big for his coin britches if you ask me, went just 1-3 and can feel me gaining! OK, the coin flips are still a rather impressive 20-14 on the season, again, a record that would be making you some serious coin, if you will, if you just followed what the coin tells you.

Up next...

For New Mexico: The Lobos host Boise State on Friday night in the Pit at 9 p.m. MT in a game being broadcast on FS1.

For San Jose State: The Spartans plat at Nevada on Saturday at 3 p.m. PT/4 p.m. MT in a game streams on TheMW.com.

Until next time...

Until next time, Provident Credit Union Event Center, on the campus of San Jose State University...

Lobo schedule/results...