Emptying the Notebook: When it comes to Lobos in Laradise, escaping with a win is all that ever matters

LARAMIE, Wyo. — Here are some extra notes, quotes, stats, videos, trends and other odd & ends I was able to empty out of the old reporter's notebook after Tuesday's 61-53 Lobos win at Wyoming:

'Nobody wants to come to Laradise. Good. Stay out.'

First-year Wyoming head coach Sundance Wicks, the high-energy Wyoming native, set the tone for Tuesday night (and any other night an opposing team plays his Cowboys in Laramie, for that matter) during his introductory press conference over the summer.

'Nobody wants to come to Laradise. Good. Stay out.'

Such a cool line about the unofficial nickname of Laramie, one of the toughest places to play in the country, that the team uses the audio of him saying that in his introductory presser at the top of their player introduction video played before each game.

The reason for mentioning it here is this: As awful as the Lobos' first half was on Tuesday, and as (expectedly) quick as some Lobo fans were to overreact to it, the reality is that what happened Tuesday isn't unusual.

In Laramie, opposing teams doing something unusual, uncommon, ugly, uncharacteristic, or just weird is sort of to be expected at this point.

It's why every team dreads going there and why Wicks and the program embrace getting in team's heads with the reminders that it is a tough place to play and they're just going to make tougher.

Escaping with a win — not necessarily a pretty one, not one a team can build anything off of, just a win — is pretty much all opposing coaches want, optics be damned.

Wicks is right. Teams around the Mountain West, and that includes the best Lobo teams of the Mountain West era, don't want to go to play in Laramie because something weird always seems to happen.

Like a 12-3, 4-0 Lobos team that leads the Mountain West in scoring and ranks ninth in the country in points per game at 87.0 points per game not just struggling a little, but going 1-for-16 from the field to start the game and ending up being held 26 points below their season scoring average.

Don't let me distract you for that shooting stat.

ONE. FOR. SIXTEEN! (6.3%)

And guess what? It doesn't really mean anything in the big picture. It rarely does. You can try to say it's a sign the Lobos have this or that wrong with them, but just know, some of the best Lobo teams in the Mountain West era — even a couple that stand their ground in arguments about the best Lobo teams in program history — have gone to Laramie and lost or struggled mightily, even against some of the worst of Wyoming teams.

It's just what Laramie does to teams.

Consider these examples of what some of the really good Lobo teams of the MW era have done in Laramie:

• Wyoming 81, UNM 71 (2/7/05)

Remember that 26-7, Danny Granger-led Lobos team that went to the NCAA Tournament under Ritchie McKay?

Well, on Feb. 7, 2005, in Laramie, that season's 15-13 Wyoming team handed Granger and the boys one of only five regular season losses that season.

And what did it mean for the Lobos? Well, they didn't lose again that season to a Mountain West school, winning the final six MW regular season games and all three in the MW Tournament to earn the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

• UNM 70, Wyoming 68 (1/16/10)

Remember that 30-win UNM Lobos team with Darington Hobson, Roman Martinez, Dairese Gary and others that went to the NCAA Tournament under Steve Alford?

That team, with all that firepower, had 18 turnovers, just 10 assists, hit just 3-of-19 3-pointers and scored just 0.86 points per possession in Laramie against a Wyoming team that finished that season just 10-21.

• UNM 63, Wyoming 59 (1/30/13)

Remember that 29-win UNM Lobos team that went to the NCAA Tournament under Alford?

That team, with three future NBA players (Tony Snell, Cameron Bairstow and Alex Kirk) along with Mountain West Player of the Year Kendall Williams went up against a Wyoming team that finished 4-12 in league play that season.

The Lobos escaped that game in Laramie with a four-point win — the closest margin of victory for the Lobos that they'd have the rest of the season.

• UNM 72, Wyoming 69 (1/8/14)

Remember that 27-win UNM Lobos team that went the NCAA Tournament under Craig Neal?

That squad went up to Laramie and needed overtime for a 72-69 win over the Pokes in a game that Cullen Neal got called for a technical foul for blowing a kiss to the student section.

• • •

The Pitino era's games in Laradise have included ...

• A 93-91 loss in a game Pitino earned a technical after Jamal Mashburn Jr. was called for a charge in the closing minutes.

• The Lobos did become 14-0 with a win in Laramie on Dec. 31, 2022, but the bad mojo the team had after a less-than-impressive 76-75 win in Laramie turned into a next-game loss at Fresno State.

• Tuesday's game that required a 14-point come back for the win.

So, you see?

Even the best of Lobo teams seem to go to Laramie and lay an egg, lose, struggle, or just plain have something weird happen.

And it pretty much never really served as an indicator of things to come.

The gamer ...

Here is the gamer I filed Tuesday from Arena-Auditorium in Laramie:

• Lobos come alive in second half to put away Wyoming

Third best conference start ever ...

The Lobos 5-0 start in league play is the best start in the Mountain West era and third best conference start for any Lobo team.

Best conference starts for UNM:

12-0 — 1944-45 Lobos (Border conference)

10-0 — 1977-78 Lobos (WAC)

*5-0 — 2024-25 Lobos (Mountain West)

4-0 — 2012-13 Lobos (Mountain West)

4-0 — 1991-92 Lobos (WAC)

4-0 — 1967-68 Lobos (WAC)

*Active

We're going streaking!

Similar to the post above, the Lobos have a nice little overall win streak going, too.

UNM has won six-consecutive games since that painful rivalry loss to New Mexico State in the Pit on Dec. 7.

It's the third longest win streak in the Richard Pitino era and the fifth longest for UNM in the past decade.

Longest Lobo win streaks past decade:

• 14 — 2022-23 season (Nov. 7 - Dec. 31)

• 11 — 2023-24 season (Nov. 16 - Dec. 29)

• 8 — 2019-20 season (Nov. 26 - Dec. 29)

• 7 — 2017-18 season (Feb. 14 - March 9)

• *6 — 2024-25 season (Dec. 14 - present)

*active

NOTE: 11 seasons ago, Craig Neal's Lobos had two six-game win streaks, but UNM never had one longer than six when he was head coach.

No hot mic, just hot shooting ...

Filip Borovicanin, he of dropping an "F" bomb on a live radio interview this past Friday fame, had his best game as a Lobo on Tuesday.

• 16 points (career high)

• 11 rebounds (career high)

• three 3-pointer made (career high)

• double-double (first of career)

Half the story ...

UNM didn't have a very good first half on Tuesday, in case you didn't know.

I mean, they hit one of their first 16 shots and ended up making only five of 27 shots in the opening 20 minutes — a first half FG% of 18.5%.

That's the fourth worst in program history for a half. And they trailed 32-18 at the break.

LAST TIME: The last time UNM shot worse in a half was on Jan. 26, 2013 against San Diego State — a season UNM won 29 games and was a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The 14-point halftime deficit ties for the fourth-largest Lobo rally for a win.

LAST TIME (TAKE TWO): The last time UNM erased a 14-point halftime deficit to win was, like the note two paragraphs above, during the 2012-13 season.

It was UNM's 86-81 win over Davidson in the season opener — a game that started at midnight for ESPN's 24-hour basketball marathon.

Half nots ...

UNM's FIVE lowest scoring halves this season:

• 18 — 1st half Tuesday at Wyoming

• 29 — 1st half Nov. 17 at St. John's

• 30 — 1st half Nov. 21 vs. Grambling State

• 31 — 2nd half Nov. 8 vs. UCLA

• 34 — 1st half Friday vs. Nevada

Wyoming's FIVE lowest scoring halves this season:

• 19 — 1st half Dec. 31 vs. Boise State

• 20 — 1st half Nov. 13 at Texas Tech

• 21 — 2nd half Tuesday vs. UNM

• 24 — 2nd half Dec. 14 at BYU

• 25 — 1st half Dec. 14 at BYU

Double-double machine ...

Nelly Junior Joseph, fresh off his Mountain West Player of the Week award on Monday, was at it again Tuesday with a double-double now in three consecutive games.

Look at the double-double tear NJJ is on the past five games:

Tuesday at Wyoming:

• POINTS: 12

• REBOUNDS: 12

• OTHER: 2 blocks

• DOUBLE-DOUBLE COUNT: 51

Friday vs. Nevada:

• POINTS: 20

• REBOUNDS: 10

• OTHER: 3 blocks

• DOUBLE-DOUBLE COUNT: 50

Dec. 31 at Fresno State:

• POINTS: 12

• REBOUNDS: 12

• OTHER: 4 blocks

• DOUBLE-DOUBLE COUNT: 49

Dec. 28 at Colorado State:

• POINTS: 9

• REBOUNDS: 11

• OTHER: 0 blocks, 0 steals for first time vs. DI team all season

• DOUBLE-DOUBLE COUNT: no double-double

Dec. 18 vs. VCU:

• POINTS: 15

• REBOUNDS: 11

• OTHER: 2 steals

• DOUBLE-DOUBLE COUNT: 47

Vanishing bench ...

UNM entered Tuesday's game with its bench outscoring the opposing bench, on average, 24.6-23.3.

For the first time this year, that season edge is now with the opposing bench after Tuesday's 8-point bench scoring for the Lobos (two points from C.J. Noland and six from freshman forward Jovan Milicevic, who arguably had his best game vs. a Division I opponent, playing well both on offense and defense).

Tuesday marked the fourth time this season UNM has had only two bench players score and the third time the bench failed to score at least in double figures.

UNM's single-digit bench scoring games:

• 6 — Dec. 18 vs. VCU

• 6 — Nov. 28 vs. Arizona State

• 8 — Tuesday at Wyoming

Injury updates ...

• Wyoming's Obi Agbim, the team's leading scorer and No. 2 scorer in the Mountain West, missed his second-consecutive game with an ankle injury.

• UNM's Ibrahima Sacko didn't travel with the team to Laramie due to an illness.

61 for you, 61 for you ...

The Lobos weren't the only ones happy to have gotten 61 points on Tuesday night.

Check out Lobo recruit signee Jaylen Petty:

We interrupt this men's hoops stuff ...

For those who didn't know, UNM Lobo women's basketball player Vianè Cumber, the Sandia High graduate, leads the nation (at the women's Division I level) in free throw shooting percentage at 97.9%.

Attendance ...

The announced attendance for UNM at Wyoming in Arena-Auditorium on Tuesday night: 2,938

I'm sharing my starting lineup post here to give you an idea of the crowd shortly before tipoff.

From a cold ticket to a hot ticket ...

Saturday's UNM Lobo/San Diego State game in the Pit will be a sell out.

Tuesday, new AD Fernando Lobo posted there are just 1,200 tickets remaining, which I doubt will still be around come Friday afternoon, let alone Saturday morning.

Plus/minus ...

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

NEW MEXICO

+16 Jovan Milicevic (17:37)

+13 Tru Washington (26:21)

+9 Filip Borovicanin (30:35)

+8 Nelly Junior Joseph (36:47)

+7 Donovan Dent (37:47)

+1 Kayde Dotson (3:55)

0 Braden Appelhans (7:06)

-2 Atiki Ally Atiki (1:29)

-6 Mustapha Amzil (24:07)

-6 C.J. Noland (14:16)

WYOMING

+3 Jordan Nesbitt (32:46)

+1 Touko Tainamo (14:46)

0 Abou Magassa (23:38)

-1 Dontaie Allen (33:50)

-2 Scottie Edube (00:10)

-5 Kobe Newton (27:26)

-7 Cole Henry (25:04)

-12 A.J. Wills (14:16)

-17 Matija Belic (28:04)

Line 'em up ...

The UNM Lobos played 10 players and used 12 unique lineup combinations. The Wyoming Cowboys played nine players and used 18 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: -1 (16-17)

• TIME ON COURT: 14:15

• NOTE: With as bad a start as the Lobos had, this isn't surprising, but it isn't good, either. No way the starting five should ever put up only 0.7505 points per possession as they did Tuesday.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, Filip Borovicanin, Jovan Milicevic, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +14 (22-8)

• TIME ON COURT: 9:16

• NOTE: Mix possibly Mustapha Amzil's worst college game and probably Jovan Milicevic's best game against a Division I opponent, and this is what you get. The only change here from the starting five is the swap of Milicevic for Amzil. And the offense scored 1.4286 points per possession, dished out three of the team's eight assists all game, and simply looked better at both ends than the starting five.

AND NO! I don't think this warrants a change in the starting five. Mustapha Amzil is still the starting 4, and should be.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Donovan Dent, C.J. Noland, Filip Borovicanin, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -4 (5-9)

• TIME ON COURT: 5:46

• NOTE: Amzil wasn't the only senior who struggled on Tuesday. So did C.J. Noland, who went 0-3 and his subbing in the starting five for Tru Washington clearly wasn't what UNM would have hoped for. Even worse than the starting five, this group scored just 0.5556 points per possession.

The road to Laradise ...

I'm normally a U.S. 287 from Denver to Laramie kind of guy, but with Laramie getting 5 inches of snow on Monday night/Tuesday morning, I figured I'd steer clear of the 2-lane, winding highway and stick to the Interstates, going through Cheyenne instead (which adds maybe 15-20 minutes on a clear day I think it is).

Anyway, the roads were great and the scenery in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming was awesome as always.

And this has been this ETN edition of travelin' with Geoff.

OK, Laradise. NOT COOL!

Or maybe I should say way too cool.

Here's what my rental car's temperature gauge read when I got back to my car after leaving Arena Auditorium after midnight Tuesday...

VIDEO: Pitino and Dent postgame ...

Here are my postgame interviews with Richard Pitino and Donovan Dent.

MORE VIDEO: Pregame from Laramie ...

And for anyone who wants to relive the pregame chatter, here you go...

Around the Mountain ...

There were four Mountain West games around the Mountain (West) on Tuesday and one more Wednesday to complete the midweek slate.

Here's a look at those and the weekend schedule.

TUESDAY

• Colorado State 91, Fresno State 64

• No. 25 Utah State 85, San Jose State 78

• New Mexico 61, Wyoming 53

• Boise State 81, UNLV 59

WEDNESDAY

• Air Force at San Diego State, 7:30 p.m. PT/8:30 p.m. MT (FS1)

SATURDAY

• San Diego State at New Mexico, 10 a.m. PT/11 a.m. MT (CBS)

• San Jose State at Air Force, noon PT/1 p.m. MT (TheMW)

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

• Nevada at Fresno State, 4 p.m. PT/5 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• Boise State at No. 25 Utah State, 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network)

Mountain West standings ...

Through Tuesday's games...

5-0 Utah State

5-0 New Mexico

4-1 Boise State

3-1 Colorado State

3-1 UNLV

2-1 San Diego State

2-3 Wyoming

0-3 Air Force

0-4 Nevada

0-5 San Jose State

0-5 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

-2 Nevada

-2 Air Force

-2 Fresno State

-3 San Jose State

Speaking of Mountain West news ...

It's officially official now. Northern Illinois is joining the Mountain West as a football-only member, expanding for the league its footprint and attractiveness for an upcoming media rights deal that can now have inventory for football games in time zones ranging from Central to Mountain to Pacific and all the way over (two time zone jump here) to Hawaii.

Stats and stats ...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted late Tuesday night: New Mexico 61, Wyoming 53

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 61, Wyoming 53

Grammer's Guesses ...

Take that, coin!

The Guesses went 3-1 on Tuesday and I'm now 11-13 on the season.

My daughter's coin flip picks went just 1-3 on Tuesday, but she's still at 15-9 on the season.

Up next ...

For New Mexico: The Lobos host San Diego State at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Pit in a game being broadcast on CBS.

For Wyoming: The Cowboys have the coming weekend off and next play at Boise State on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, at 7 p.m.

Until next time ...

Until next time, Arena-Auditorium on the campus of University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming…

Lobo schedule/results ...