Emptying the Notebook: Who knew Lobos could dominate a game in the paint?

Here are some extra notes, quotes, stats and other odds & ends I emptied out of the old notebook after Tuesday's 82-64 Lobos win in the Pit vs. UC Riverside:

Paint party

OK. Now I think they're just messing with us, right?

The team I thought could shoot the lights out from deep, the team that hoisted up 44 3-pointers in its first exhibition game on the road at Washington State, the team that was recruited specifically to play in Eric Olen's high-volume 3-point shooting offense seems to have just completely flipped the script on us.

In Tuesday's 82-68 win over UC Riverside, the Lobos outside shot, again, wasn't really falling as efficiently as they would have liked. Well, based on the quick reaction assumptions most of us made about Olen's offense — that it was a live by the 3, die by the 3 brand of ball — it was safe to assume many of us probably figured Tuesday night the team wouldn't be able to survive a game it was outscored at the 3-point line 42-15.

But, despite playing without its two best penetrating, rim attacking guards (point guards Deyton Albury and Uriah Tenette were both out with leg injuries), the Lobos went ahead and scored 52 — FIFTY TWO! — points in the paint and pulled away from the Highlanders in the second half with a stretch that saw 11 of their made field goals in a row come at the rim (one was a baseline jumper from Tomislav Buljan that was just about six or seven feet away, but didn't actually get counted as a bucket in the paint).

Should we have been shocked by the Lobos success at the rim?

Not if we had been listening.

Since he was hired, Olen has emphasized his offense isn't merely a fire up a bunch of 3s sort of scheme, but one predicated on "rim pressure" and using success at the rim to open up those outside shots.

"When I think about our efficiency," Olen said on Monday morning, the day before his team played the Highlanders, "I think it's easy to look at how we're shooting the ball from the perimeter ... and think that's where the issue is. But I think it's more about how we finish around the basket. You know, I think really good offensive teams are good and efficient around the rim, from 2, at the free throw line, right? There's more variance from 3, and so you need that stability around the rim."

Last season, his UC San Diego Tritons team that played in the NCAA Tournament had a season high of 48 points in the paint (a 95-68 win over Cal Poly on Jan. 9). The Tritons didn't score more than 42 points in the paint in any other game all season.

So if you didn't see 52 points in the paint coming, you aren't alone.

Interestingly enough, the Lobos played nine players on Tuesday and the only one who did not score in the paint was 7-foot-1 center JT Rock, though Olen had much praise for his play nonetheless.

"JT Rock didn't scratch in terms of points, but he's plus-12 (UNM outscored UCR by 12 points when Rock was on the court) in nine and a half minutes," Olen said. "So we felt his presence out there, just his size when they were trying to attack the basket."

Lobos points in the paint:

14 — Chris Howell

10 — Tomislav Buljan

8 — Luke Haupt

8 — Tajavis Miller

4 — Jake Hall

4 — Antonio Chol

2 — Kevin Patton Jr.

2 — Milos Vicentic

0 — JT Rock

Steve Kirkland stat of the night

Steve's stat of the night happens to be about points in the paint, so let's throw it in the lead section of this edition of ETN.

His stat: The Lobos' plus-42 advantage for points in the paint (52-10) is the largest such margin against a Division I opponent since that stat has been regularly tracked, starting in the 2013-14 season.

The school record for largest margin of outscoring an opponent in points in the paint is plus-48 when Paul Weir's COVID-season Lobos outscored Division III LeTourneau University 68-20 on Dec. 17, 2020, in a game played at Rice University.

The gamer

Here's the gamer I filed from the Pit media room on Tuesday night after UNM's 82-68 win over UC Riverside:

• UNM's balanced scoring attack overwhelms UC Riverside

Well, that was new

After UNM's first two games of the season, it seemed like the Lobos had some magic potient defending the 3.

As it turns out, they don't.

Opponents 3-pt shooting Games 1-2:

• East Texas A&M: 5-34 (14.7%)

• UT Arlington: 3-25 (12.0%)

• Two game total: 8-59 (13.6%)

Opponents 3-pt shooting Tuesday:

• UC Riverside: 14-27 (51.9%)

In fact, there have only been 12 games in Lobo history where a team made more than 14 3-pointers.

NOTE: Three of the worst four games in program history for total number of opponent 3s game in the same month of 2020. Those three games:

1. 19 — at Colorado State (Jan. 15, 2020)

2. 17 — at Nevada (Jan. 25, 2020)

t4. 15 — vs. San Diego State (Jan. 29, 2020)

Finally, a kill shot!

A "kill shot" is a scoring run of at least 10-0 in a game.

It's the stuff the Pit lives for, often a flurry of excitement that includes both strong defense and strong offense.

For the Lobos, they went without either surrendering a single 10-0 run or getting one of their own through their first two games.

Tuesday night, in the second half, they finally got one — a 14-0 run that had the Pit going crazy.

A 53-53 game turned into a 67-53 Lobos lead in a matter of 4 minutes, 5 seconds — the first six baskets of the run being layups, dunks or a floater in the lane. The last was a Jake Hall 3-pointer.

In all, the kill shot was part of a larger 22-6 run that included just two made FGs, albeit both being 3-pointers, by UC Riverside in a span of 8 minutes, 17 seconds.

The game was changed.

Injuries

There wasn’t much information given on the injuries of Albury and Tenette after the game with Olen only saying they each had “lower body” injuries — a more vague approach than media or Lobo fans are used to from previous Lobo coaches who, at least after a game, would generally disclose the nature of any injury that kept a player out.

Olen said both are “day to day” and “we’ll see how they respond to treatment” but would not discuss whether decisions have been made about the pair’s status for Saturday’s rivalry game in Las Cruces against New Mexico State.

Tenette was in street clothes and did not warm up on Tuesday. Albury was suited up, warmed up and was said to be available, but then did not play.

So, about that dunk

With 4:18 left in the game, Chris Howell saw a lane.

Like, a huge lane. The kind of lane that even a guy who teammates joke with about being one of the old men on the team (make no mistake, there are a bunch of old men on this Lobos team) couldn't pass up.

So, he darted to his right, blew by UC Riverside guard Marqui Worthy and dunked the ball — a roar from the Pit crowd, an "I told you so" look to his teammates on the bench and a timeout by UC Riverside that allowed for some rather interesting celebration from teammates.

"You don't see that often in practice, let's just say that," Howell said with a grin of the dunk. "I get the old man treatment with these guys. Same with Luke Haupt. I think ... yeah ... you just don't see that often nowadays from me"

Olen got a kick out of the moment, too, but says he's not surprised Howell dunked in a game.

"I've seen Chris dunk plenty, but they like to give each other a hard time about who can dunk and who can't," Olen said. "That was cool to see everybody get going. It was a fun moment."

The other old timer

Luke Haupt, the sixth-year grad transfer who played his first five seasons at the Division II level, stepped in the starting lineup to replace the injured Albury.

It was easily his best game as a Lobo, on both ends of the floor:

• Points: 11

• Rebounds: 3

• Assists: 2

• FG: 66.7% (4-6)

• Fouls drawn: 7

• FT: 60.0% (3-5)

• Steal: 1

• Blocks: 1

"Luke is a fantastic ball player. He had five amazing years at Point Loma," said Lobo guard Chris Howell, referring to the Division II team in Southern California where Haupt played before transferring to UNM. "If you go look at the stats there and all he did there, tonight is just another game for him. I think he really got to show it — stepping up with a lot more minutes, a lot more impact going into the game."

Howell noted that while UC Riverside's Andrew Henderson went off for 27 points and hit seven of the Highlanders' 14 3-pointers, it was when Haupt locked in on him in the second half that the onslaught finally ended.

The old freshman

Let's keep the theme of the old timers rolling, but this time check in on the impact of 22-year-old freshman Tomislav Buljan, who posted his first double-double of the season (11 points, 11 rebounds).

"Tomislav is a big part of what we're doing on both ends of the floor," Olen said. "He impacts the game in a lot of ways. Tonight he had some finishes around the rim. He was terrific defensively. And he was a monster on the glass. So we needed all of that."

Through three games, Buljan's averages:

• Points: 12.0

• Rebounds: 10.0

• FG: 53.8% (14-26)

• Fouls drawn: 9 (3.0 per game)

• FT: 72.7% (8-11)

A number to know: 5

UNM's five turnovers were the program's fewest in a game since committing four of them on March 16, 2024, against San Diego State in the 2024 Mountain West Tournament championship game, won by the Lobos to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

Random tip of the cap: Jake Griego!

Who else but my guy Jake Griego, the 95-year-old Korean War veteran, to perform the National Anthem on Veterans Day in the Pit?

Home sweet home

We can update this again, pretty much until it's over...

With Tuesday's win over UC Riverside, UNM has now won 14 consecutive home games, which is the sixth longest active home win streak in the country among 365 Division I teams.

Longest active D-I home win streaks:

1. 19 — St. Thomas (Summit League)

t2. 18 — Akron (MAC)

t2. 18 — Duke (ACC)

4. 17 — Miami, Ohio (MAC)

5. 15 — North Alabama (Atlantic Sun)

t6. 14 — New Mexico (Mountain West)

t6. 14 — Louisville (ACC)

t8. 13 — Utah Valley (WAC)

t8. 13 — McNeese (Southland)

t10. 12 — Saint Mary's (WCC)

t10. 12 — Portland State (Big Sky)

Eck on elk

We interrupt this ETN to check in on Tuesday's football press conference with head coach Jason Eck being asked about the challenge of keeping a team that's already bowl eligible and coming off a bye week from getting complacent.

Points per possession

UC Riverside

• First half: 1.067

• Second half: 1.091

• Game: 1.063

New Mexico

• First half: 1.161

• Second half: 1.394

• Game: 1.281

• • • • •

Probably needless to say, that was the highest points per possession game the Lobos have allowed. That's what happens when on 14 possession a team buries a 3-pointer and racks up three points. It takes a lot of empty possessions to get that number back down.

Here are UNM's final PPP numbers for each of its three games this season:

GAME 1:

East Texas A&M — 0.730

New Mexico — 1.041

GAME 2:

UT Arlington — 0.800

New Mexico — 1.042

GAME 3:

UC Riverside — 1.063

New Mexico — 1.281

Attendance...

The announced attendance for UC Riverside vs. UNM in the Pit on Tuesday night: 11,689

WHAT NORTHERN LIGHTS?

Yeah there were northern lights photos all over social media on Tuesday night, but the Pit had its own light show.

And as cool as it was, I'm really just posting this because it does a good job highlighting the number of empty seats on the east side of the Pit, which always has fewer fans than the west side bleachers, but still this was a lot of open space for a Lobo hoops game. No, it's not crisis levels (how quickly people forget the realities of the past decade before the past two seasons), but it aint great, either.

Series...

UNM is now 2-0 all time against the Highlanders, both wins coming in the Pit.

The last game? Here's a brief recap that ran in Tuesday's preview story:

Nov. 14, 2009: A 67-51 win to open a 30-win season for the Lobos, eventual Mountain West Player of the Year Darington Hobson had 16 points, seven rebounds, six assists, one turnover, one block and a steal in his first Division I game. A.J. Hardeman added 14 points, six rebounds and three blocks and Roman Martinez had a game-high 18 points to go along with four steals.

Plus/minus...

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

NEW MEXICO

+15 Chris Howell (30:41)

+12 Antonio Chol (29:37)

+12 Luke Haupt (31:50)

+12 JT Rock (9:38)

+10 Tajavis Miller (24:07)

+5 Tomislav Buljan (26:12)

+5 Jake Hall (33:22)

+2 Kevin Patton Jr. (10:23)

-3 Milos Vicentic (4:10)

UC RIVERSIDE

+6 Daniel Tobiloba (7:00)

+2 Jailen Daniel-Dalton (14:39)

-2 Ben Waller (2:51)

-5 Dylan Godfrey (2:55)

-7 Denzel Hines (24:36)

-9 BJ Kolly (13:06)

-9 Osiris Grady (35:32)

-14 Andrew Henderson (39:48)

-16 Marqui Worthy (32:37)

-16 De'Undrae Perteete (27:05)

Line 'em up...

The UNM Lobos played nine players and used 13 unique lineup combinations on Tuesday. The Highlanders played 10 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: Luke Haupt, Jake Hall, Chris Howell, Antonio Chol, Tomislav Buljan

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +4 (18-14)

• TIME ON COURT: 10:45

• NOTE: Solid. Not great. But solid. And without the starting point guard in the mix, even inserting a veteran like Luke Haupt who played well can usually make a starting unit struggle, so this was a good outing by the starters overall.

BEST LINEUP

• WHO: Tajavis Miller, Jake Hall, Chris Howell, Kevin Patton Jr., Tomislav Buljan

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +7 (16-9)

• TIME ON COURT: 5:57

• NOTE: It's good to see Kevin Patton Jr. in a unit that had such a good +/- night. He's played active, hustle minutes, but Tuesday was as good a run as he's had with real solid contributions, his being in this grouping shows that. This group of five had no turnovers, six rebounds, two steals, two assists and scored 1.43 points per possession.

WORST LINEUP

• WHO: Tajavis Miller, Jake Hall, Chris Howell, Antonio Chol, Tomislav Buljan

• POINT DIFFERENTIAL: -5 (0-5)

• TIME ON COURT: 2:13

• NOTE: This is just the starting five with Tajavis Miller and Luke Haupt switched. Interesting because both Miller and Haupt had good games and good +/- numbers individually (Haupt at +12 and Miller at +10), but in the 2:13 Miller played with the other starting four, the group gout outscored 5-0.

VIDEO: Olen, and Howell...

Here's my postgame press conference video from the Pit media room with coach Eric Olen andguard Chris Howell (Tajavis Miller spoke to media, too, but I was on deadline and couldn't stay for his portion of the presser, so my video has just Olen and Howell:

Hey, remember before the game?

Here's the ABQJournal Sports Live! pregame show I did from the Pit on Tuesday if you want to relive what I thought was going to happen:

As a reminder, I'll be doing pregame shows for all Lobo men's basketball games, colleague Sean Reider and I do postgame shows for all UNM Lobo football games our weekly UNM Lobo sports check-in show is Tuesdays at 1:30 (ish) p.m., depending on when the weekly Jason Eck press conference wraps up.

All are streamed live on the Journal's YouTube page and my X (Twitter) account and live questions and comments during the show through those platforms is possible.

Speaking of...

Tuesday's afternoon weekly show with colleague Sean Reider this week including an hourlong special guest, UNM Athletic Director Fernando Lovo joining us and answering all the reader questions you all threw at him. It was good stuff from Fern. Take a look:

Meanwhile, those other Lobos...

The UNM Lobo women's basketball team plays a day game on Wednesday.

Here is colleague Ken Sickenger's preview article for that game:

• Early action: Lobo women host New Orleans for hoops matinee

Meanwhile, down the road in Las Cruces...

It wasn't pretty, but it was a win — 74-58 over Division II New Mexico Highlands — down the road in Las Cruces for the NMSU Aggies, who move to 2-0, albeit against two non-Division I teams, ahead of Saturday's in-state rivalry game against the Lobos.

Meanwhile in Las Vegas...

The rough start for the Josh Pastner era as UNLV's coach continues. This time, the home loss comes at the hands of Big Sky squad Montana, 102-93.

ALBUQUERQUE's OWN!

Volcano Vista grad Kenyon Aguino starter for Montana in the upset and had himself a game, scoring 15 points including this bucket on a nice post move.

Around the Mountain...

There were five Mountain West teams in action on Tuesday and four more on coming up on Wednesday.

Here's a look at some recent results and upcoming games:

MONDAY

• Grand Canyon 88, Northern Illinois 59

TUESDAY

• Long Island University 76, Air Force 72

• Wyoming 79, Austin Peay 65

• New Mexico 82, UC Riverside 68

• Boise State 85, UT Rio Grande Valley 65

• Montana 102, UNLV 93

WEDNESDAY (no games)

• Weber State at Utah State, 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• UC San Diego at Fresno State, 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• Cal Poly at Colorado State, 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• Southern Illinois at Nevada, 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT (TheMW)

THURSDAY (no games)

• San Jose State at Michigan State, 3:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. MT (Big Ten Network)

FRIDAY (no games)

SATURDAY

• Miami (Ohio) at Air Force, 11 a.m. PT/noon MT (TheMW)

• UTEP at Utah State, 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• Montana State at Boise State, 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. MT (TheMW)

• Nevada at Santa Clara, 4 p.m. PT/5 p.m. MT (ESPN+)

• Grand Canyon at Saint Louis, 5 p.m. PT/6 p.m. MT (ESPN+)

• New Mexico at New Mexico State, 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT (ESPN+)

• Portland at Wyoming, 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT (TheMW)

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

SUNDAY

• UNLV at Memphis, 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT (ESPN)

• Colorado State at Loyola Chicago, 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT (ESPN+)

Stats and stats...

Here is the postgame stat sheet I posted after Tuesday's game: New Mexico 82, UC Riverside 68

And if you prefer the digital version, here you go: New Mexico 82, UC Riverside 68

Up next...

For New Mexico: The Lobos play at New Mexico State on Saturday at 7 p.m. in a game that will be streamed on ESPN+

For UC Riverside: The Highlanders host North Dakota on Saturday in a rare nonconference, non in-state rivalry home-and-home series (UCR beat North Dakota on the road this past Thursday).