Lobos demolish Spartans in Mountain West opener

Shorthanded? No problem for the still-streaking Lobos on Saturday night in the Pit.

Minus two starters due to injuries, UNM had a balanced offensive attack led by a season-high 19 points from seldom-used Milos Vicentic who led five double-figure Lobo scorers in an 88-65 win over San Jose State in the Mountain West conference opener for both teams.

"Whenever we prepare the game, everybody's locked in, and everybody kind of stays ready (for) whenever we get the chance," said Vicentic, the 24-year-old graduate transfer from UC San Diego. "So for me, the mentality is always the same for each game and I need to prepare ... for whatever is there."

The win pushes UNM's home win streak to 19 (10-2, 1-0 MW). 

San Jose State falls to 5-7 (0-1 MW).

In the 24 hours before Saturday's game, the Lobos learned they would be without both starting big man Tomislav Buljan (hamstring) and starting guard Chris Howell (also injured) as well as, for the second-consecutive game, backup forward Kevin Patton Jr. (out for "personal reasons"), leaving Eric Olen's squad to nine available players on Saturday. 

Vicentic, who played more than eight minutes in a game only once this season, and reserve guard Tajavis Miller, who hadn't played in UNM's past five games against Division I teams, were the players who ended up benefitting the most in terms of increased workload, and opportunity. And both — Vicentic 19 points, four rebounds in just 17 minutes and Miller six points on two made 3-pointers and three rebounds — performed like they hadn't missed a game. 

"Really good performance. Great way to start the conference," Olen said. "Lot of guys contributed great minutes off the bench. Milos, Javis specifically, playing well when they haven't had as much opportunity is a credit to their preparation."

The Lobos started ice cold form deep in front of the announced holiday crowd of 12,785, hitting just one of their first 11 three-pointers. In the meantime, SJSU knocked down 6-of-13 in the first half, keeping them in the game.

But UNM's 2-point offense and constant rim pressure — 20-of-24 (83.3%) on 2-point shots; the program's best since a 27-31 (87.1%) game in 2018 at Colorado State — kept things from getting out of hand until the Lobos, and Vicentic (three made 3s) and Miller (two made 3s), could get going from deep.

The Lobos made 10 of their final 19 3-pointers in the game and, thanks to a 17-0 late second half run, turned the first league game in the Olen era into a yawner by the end. 

Deyton Albury had 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds. JT Rock, in his first start at UNM, had 11 points and five boards, Jake Hall had 18 points and fellow freshman Uriah Tenette added 11 points and four assists. 

Olen was pleased with the performance, but was quick to shoot down the notion that it was the team's most complete performance, noting several instances of self-imposed mistakes by the Lobos. 

"When they're controllable things, that's the part that we have to keep getting better at," Olen said. "And (that) would be one of the reasons it might not be our most complete performance."

San Jose State's Colby Garland, the league's second-leading scorer, had a game-high 27 points and hit five 3-pointers. 

But SJSU was held under 40% shooting (38.3%) while the Lobos shot 57.4% for the game and ended up outscoring the Spartans 36-24 in the paint. 

Future Lobo

Tavid Johnson, a 6-foot-2 high school junior from San Diego's Francis Parker School who is rated as a four-star recruit by 247 Sports.com, announced on his Instagram page Saturday night shortly before tipoff that he is committed to play for the Lobos.

He's the first commitment for the Lobos in either the Class of 2026 or 2027 (he's class of 2027).

Johnson was on a recruiting visit to UNM for the Nov. 26 Alabama State game in the Pit.