Lobos aren't content, see Fresno State as next opportunity

There's nothing for the Lobos to hang their heads about after Saturday's nail-biter four-point road loss at first-place San Diego State.

In one of the toughest arenas to play throughout college basketball, the Lobos battled back from 15 points down in the second half, and even took a lead into the final minute of the game before the Aztecs prevailed, 83-79.

Not hanging your heads is one thing; being proud, or finding some sort of moral victory in the close call, on the other hand, isn't something Eric Olen is here for, nor is it something he's trying to instill in his team.

"I don't know how Lobo Nation feels about it. We're disappointed," Olen said on Tuesday when someone suggested to him that some Lobo fans seemed to be somewhat happy with Saturday's performance.

"We felt like it was an opportunity to get a win on the road. But you know, conference play is kind of relentless. Next one up. If you're still worried about the one before, then it can affect the one that's coming up. And so our job is to not allow that to happen."

As Olen's Lobos (14-4, 5-2 Mountain West) host Fresno State (9-9, 3-4 MW) on Wednesday night in the Pit, the first-year UNM coach spent part of Tuesday's weekly media availability again answering a series of questions that seemed to be suggesting the Lobos outperformed expectations — both Saturday and all season long.

Like he has done all season, he calmly, even stoically, explained that's never been how he, or his coaching staff, have approached any game this season.

"We don't feel like, 'Oh, we did great. We came close.' That's not our mindset," Olen said. "We missed an opportunity. We're disappointed in the result. ... We feel like if we play good basketball, then we can get a positive result every time out. So we don't feel content with coming close. That's not really the expectation."

It isn't that those expectations are just starting to be defined by Olen, it seems maybe we're all just now listening to him about it.

While the first year coach and his entirely rebuilt Lobo roster came into the season with modest postseason expectations, they are now sitting on the inside of several prominent NCAA Tournament projections — holding a NET rating of 40 and a KenPom ranking of 45, second best in the Mountain West.

It's not a surprise to those inside the Pit walls.

"No, we think we have good players. We expect to play good basketball," Olen said.

Hey, don't forget DA

Amid the drama of Saturday night's Lobos loss in the Pit, the scoring of senior point guard Deyton Albury's 1,000th career Division I point was overlooked in postgame coverage.

Albury scored nine points in the loss to the Aztecs, giving him 1,004 in his two and a half seasons of Division I basketball. If you add in his time at Chipola (junior) College in Marianna Florida, he's scored 1,515 collegiate points.

Deyton Albury DI scoring

• 544 — Queens College (2023-24)
• 265 — Utah State (2024-25)
• 195 — New Mexico (2025-26)
• 1,004 — TOTAL (83 DI games/12.1 ppg)

"Not a lot of guys score 1,000 points in their college basketball career, so congratulations to Deyton for that," Olen said. "... These guys put a lot of time and effort into not just our team, but their careers, so anytime they accomplish milestones we certainly want to recognize them and congratulate them."

Still streaking

UNM's home win streak is at 21 — sixth-best in Division I.

Series notes

The all-time series is tied 21-21 with the Lobos having won the last four games they've played against the Bulldogs to even things up.

This is the first time the two teams have played when both programs have a .500 or better record since March 3, 2018, in the Pit — the regular season finale between a 21-9 (11-6 MW) Fresno State team (entering the game) and the 16-14 (11-6) UNM Lobos in the first season under head coach Paul Weir.

Star power in the Pit

In addition to legendary halftime performer Red Panda scheduled to be in the Pit on Wednesday night, it's also the first CBS Sports Network call of the season in Albuquerque for the great Pete Gillen, who will be on the television's broadcast along with Chris Lewis.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.