Lobo hoops notebook: Nelly Junior Joseph shines again, UNM officially announces three signees

It wasn’t the Pit, but Nelly Junior Joseph looked right at home at the P.I.T.

The former Lobo center was named the Most Valuable Player of the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament over the weekend — a postseason showcase tournament open exclusively to college seniors seeking professional careers.

The invitation-only event has been running for 71 years and is attended by scouts from every NBA team and dozens of professional teams overseas.

Junior Joseph in three wins for his team, which won the event’s championship, averaged 17.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1 steals and 1.0 blocks in the tournament. He shot 67.9% from the field and 77.8% from the free throw line.

In Saturday’s championship game, Junior Joseph had 28 points and nine rebounds on 11-of-13 shooting.

Junior Joseph was named First Team All-Mountain West this past season for the Lobos and was the only player in the league to average a double-double with 14.2 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, in addition to 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.

In the April 4 NABC-Reese’s College Basketball All-Star game, Junior Joseph scored 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the Alamodome, home of this year’s Final Four.

Junior Joseph, who is from Nigeria, is now weighing options on a professional playing contract either overseas or in the United States with the hopes of eventually making it to the NBA.

Officially official: While they made their announcements on social media known over the past two weeks, and the Journal has reported on each one of their commitments since new coach Eric Olen has been named the new coach of the UNM basketball team, the school on Monday officially announced the signing of three new Lobos: junior college transfer Antonio Chol and USC transfers, and brothers, Kevin Patton, Jr., and Kallai Patton.

The official announcement from the school allows for the first time Olen to make public comments about them.

“We are excited to welcome Antonio Chol to our Lobo family,” Olen said of the 6-foot-9 Chol, who is ranked a five-star junior college recruit and the No. 5 overall junior college player according to JucoRecruiting.com.

He averaged 19.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game for Garden City (Kansas) Community College this past season.”

“He’s a talented scorer who will help us be explosive on offense,” Olen added. “His size and length on the wing will be impactful defensively as well. I can’t wait to get to work with Antonio and I know our fans will enjoy watching him compete.”

Kevin Patton, Jr., the 6-8 guard/forward from California, played 28 games this past season at USC and was on the West Coast Conference All-Freshman team in 2024 after averaging 9.8 points and 4.4 rebounds at the University of San Diego.

His younger brother, 6-4 guard Kallai Patton, was a walk-on this past season at USC and sat out as a redshirt freshman. The brothers played together in high school at Rancho Christian High School in Murrieta, California.

Both will be on scholarship at UNM.

“Kevin and Kallai are terrific young men and talented basketball players,” said Olen. “They are both just scratching the surface with their best basketball ahead of them. In addition to the highlight plays, the Pattons bring high basketball IQ and a competitive nature that Lobo Nation will love. We are thrilled to add Kevin and Kallai to our program.”