Lobo hoops notebook: Local walk-ons Douma-Sanchez, Agbaosi will redshirt

The late game chants of “We want Shane! We want Shane!” heard through a pair of exhibition games and last week’s season-opener against Texas Southern will have to be put on hold, at least for now.

Del Norte High graduate Shane Douma-Sanchez, a freshman walk-on guard with the UNM Lobos, and Deraje Agbaosi, a junior walk-on forward who attended Eldorado High School, have each informed Lobos head coach Richard Pitino their intention to use this season as redshirts — players who can still practice with the team but cannot play in games and in doing so preserve one year of playing eligibility in their college career.

Douma-Sanchez, the 6-foot-1 guard from Laguna Pueblo, is the all-time scoring leader at Del Norte High School, where he graduated last spring. He played a total of 1 minute, 46 seconds in two preseason exhibition games with 1 rebound and 1 assist.

Agbaosi, a 6-7 forward, played at Division I North Alabama the past two seasons, appearing in 33 games, before transferring to UNM as a walk-on. He played 1:12 in the team’s two exhibition games, recording 1 block and 1 rebound.

Hugh’s home away from home

Former Lobo fan favorite and four-year starting guard Hugh Greenwood is spending about a month back in the United States from his home in Australia. The now 31-year-old Greenwood is visiting friends and the family of his wife, Eldorado High school graduate and former UNM cheerleader Kjiersten Straub-Greenwood, along with their two young children, who are visiting the United States for the first time.

Greenwood is about to start his ninth season as a professional footballer in the Australian Football League (that’s Aussie Rules Football, not American football, and don’t let any “footie” player hear you call it rugby).

Before heading home for a several-month training camp with his new team, North Melbourne Football Club, Greenwood has taken in one Lobo game, will be at another on Thursday, has attended multiple Lobo basketball practices and been able to visit several friends and former teammates. Despite having last played at UNM in 2015, Greenwood has been warmly welcomed by fans who recognize him around town.

“Knowing how much this place meant to me, to for people to still to come up and have conversations and speak about their memories from my time here and my family as well, it certainly means a lot,” Greenwood told the Journal in a recent podcast conversation. “So it’s nice to know that we left some sort of of legacy here at UNM and in Albuquerque.”

Poll position

No Mountain West team was ranked in Monday’s first regular-season Associated Press Top 25 poll.

San Diego State, which was ranked No. 17 in the preseason AP poll, now is unranked, receiving 33 points (six spots from being ranked) and appearing on 10 of the AP’s 62 voter ballots. The high ballot of No. 19 belongs to ESPN’s Dick Vitale.

Boise State received one point, appearing at No. 25 on the ballot of Nevada Sports Net’s Chris Murray.

Saint Mary’s, the team UNM lost to in Moraga, Calif., last week while then holding the No. 23 position in the AP Top 25 didn’t do UNM any favors on Sunday.

The Gaels hosted Big Sky team Weber State on Sunday night, losing 61-57 and falling out of the Top 25 in Monday’s new poll. They received 20 points and sit eight spots outside of being ranked.

Players of the week

Nevada guard Kenan Blackshear is the first Mountain West men’s basketball player of the week, averaging 22.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in two wins last week for the Wolf Pack, including a career-high 31 points in Sunday’s win at Pac-12’s Washington.

Wyoming’s Cam Manyawu is the freshman of the week, averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds in two wins, becoming the first Cowboys player to record a double-double in his first two games with the program.