Lobo basketball takes first dip into transfer portal, lands veteran senior shooting guard

The UNM Lobos haven’t lost nearly as much as other Mountain West men’s basketball programs have this offseason.

However, the players who have left UNM — three via expired eligibility and two via the transfer portal — represented 573 Division I games played over 24 combined seasons.

Sunday, with their first offseason addition from the transfer portal, the Lobos addressed some of that departing experience, landing a commitment from veteran shooting guard C.J. Noland, a transfer from the University of North Texas.

Noland was rated as a 4-star recruit in the Class of 2021 coming out of Waxahachie (Texas) High School. He played two years at Oklahoma, including being named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team in 2022.

The fourth-year senior with one season of eligibility remaining took a recruiting visit to UNM this past week and announced his commitment via social media on Sunday afternoon.

Text messages left by the Journal with Noland with an interview request about his decision went unreturned Sunday.

He has played in 88 games in his first three seasons of college basketball.

This past season at North Texas playing for first-year coach Ross Hodge, Noland started 20 of 29 games, averaging 10.9 points per game (16.0 over the final five games, which included two American Athletic Conference Tournament games and two NIT games). The Mean Green finished 19-15 overall, 10-8 in the AAC and advanced to the second round of the NIT before falling to eventual champion Seton Hall.

Noland shot 38.4% on 86 3-point attempts in 29 games (just under 3.0 attempts per game).

His season high was 23 points against Tulane on March 14 in the opening game of the AAC Tournament. He also put up 21 on the road at LSU in the second round of the NIT on March 19.

The Lobos’ backcourt currently consists of scholarship players Donovan Dent (6-2), Tru Washington (6-4), Quinton Webb (6-6) and Braden Appelhans (6-7) and walk-on Shane Douma-Sanchez (6-1). Joining that group will be Noland (6-4) and Texas prep standout Kayde Dotson (6-2) of Beaumont (Texas) United High School.

UNM has filled or committed 10 of its 13 available scholarships:

• 7 returning scholarship players (Appelhans, Dent, Washington, Webb, JT Toppin, Nelly Junior Joseph and Mustapha Amzil)

• 3 available scholarships

• 1 committed transfer (Noland)

• 2 incoming freshmen (Dotson and forward Jovan Milicevic)

The NCAA transfer portal closes May 1, meaning players wanting to be eligible for next season at a new school must announce their intention of transferring by then. Adding new players, however, can happen at any time before the fall semester in September.