Lobos guards are key to reaching full potential vs Fresno State

Eric Olen recruited the players on this UNM Lobos roster to do fairly specific things.

While the season has played out, injuries have occurred and adjustments have naturally been made. But for the most part, as the Lobos (20-6, 11-4 Mountain West) head to Fresno State on Saturday to start the final five-game stretch of league play, many of the players in key positions are doing today pretty much exactly what was envisioned by their coach when recruited.

For two of those players in particular — starting guards Antonio Chol, asked to space the defense with a high volume of outside shots, and Deyton Albury, who is asked to suck that defense back in by aggressively attacking the rim at a breakneck pace — their struggles playing exactly as their coach wants can at times be a bit of a painful watch for fans, even appearing to border on being selfish.

Olen insists that's not the case in the slightest.

While Chol had a recent 6-for-26 (23.1%) 3-point shooting slump over a six game stretch, never once did his coach ask him to rein it in.

"Sometimes I'll pass up one — this was when I'm in the slump — and coach would be like, 'You got to shoot that!'" Chol said Tuesday night, the second game in a row of that silky smooth outside shot falling once again for the 6-foot-9 former junior college All-American.

"That's when I started realizing, 'Yo, these guys really believe in me.' I just congratulate them so much because I don't think I could have this breakthrough without them."

Chol's past two games have seen him go for 12 points and a pair of 3-pointers in the road win at Grand Canyon on Feb. 11, and a season-high 20 points and five 3-pointers Tuesday in the home blowout over Air Force.

"He's been doing all the right things," Olen said. "He's coming back. He's putting in the work. He's practicing well. He does a good job. He takes his vitamins seriously and his pre-practice (routine)."

Albury, the senior point guard who dished out six assists on Tuesday, said Chol adds a dangerous dimension to the Lobos offense that is known primarily for the outside shooting of Jake Hall.

"Antonio is so important to our team," Albury said. "His size and the athleticism that he brings, his shooting that could space the floor. When Chol is making shots like that, we're a completely different team. It makes everything easier for everybody. It gives me more space to drive, gives Tom (Tomislav Buljan) more space to work in the post. ... Everybody is better when Chol is playing good."

As for Albury himself, that constant attack the rim mindset is something Olen identified as being so crucial in the offseason he not only grabbed Albury from the transfer portal but had long ago identified freshman Uriah Tenette for having some of the same attributes.

It's a style that, even if not entirely efficient shooting or with ball control — Albury suffered through a recent seven-game stretch with an inefficient 17 assist/20 turnover split — forces the defense to play on its heels a bit, anticipating the drive, which should be opening things up for others on the offense.

"We want Deyton to be aggressive all the time," Olen said. "We understand that there is a cost benefit to that, right? Deyton is going to have more turnovers than other players. The ball's in his hands a ton. He's aggressive. He's in traffic. We feel like the benefits outweigh some of those negative possessions with his rim pressure. ...

"We want him to be himself as he continues to grow in what we're doing. But we need a good version of Deyton Albury to be the best version of our team."

Double trouble?

The Bulldogs are 1-3 this season (all Mountain West games) when their fantastic guard duo of Zaon Collins, in the conversation for best point guard in the league, and Jake Heidbreder, in the conversation for best shooter, aren't both playing.

Collins is now back (missed the Jan. 21 UNM win in the Pit) but Heidbreder has missed recent games with back spasms, though should be back for this game.

That said, the stats don't entirely paint a picture of Fresno State being significantly better when the two are on the court together.

In the 11 Mountain West games the team has played with both in the lineup, Fresno State has been outscored by 25 points. Overall in Mountain West play, the team has been outscored by just 17 points.

Final fling in Fresno

With Fresno State moving on to the new Pac-12 conference after this season, this is the last scheduled trip for UNM to the SaveMart Center in Fresno.

Through the years, there have been some memorable games there, and the Bulldogs quietly had the Lobos number as much as (or more than) any Mountain West team over much of the past decade (they are 9-4 in the SaveMart Center vs. UNM).

Here are three games that took place at SaveMart — since Fresno State joined the Mountain West in the 2012-13 season — that stood for the Journal:

Dec. 31, 2024: UNM 103, Fresno State 89

In the second-highest possession/fastest tempo game UNM has played since at least the 1996-97 season, C.J. Noland and Mustapha Amzil each scored 23 and Donovan Dent had 18 points, five rebounds, six assists, two blocks and five steals in the highest-scoring non-overtime game the two teams ever played (the 1996 WAC championship game that went three overtimes and UNM won 104-99 had more total points).

Jan. 3, 2023: Fresno State 71, UNM 67

Entering the game 14-0 and the last undefeated Division I team in the country, the Lobos committed 16 turnovers and Jaelen House and Jamal Mashburn Jr. missed a combined 18 shots in a 71-67 Bulldogs win. Former Lobo Emmanuel Kuac suffered a season-ending knee injury in pregame warmups, his second season-ending leg injury in as many seasons for UNM.

Jan. 18, 2014: New Mexico 89, Fresno State 78

Through the first 30 minutes, UNM led 54-44. The final 10 minutes of game time seemed to take at least an hour as the two teams combined to score 69 points in a game that featured 74 free throw attempts (UNM was 29-of-41, Fresno State 26-of-33). Cameron Bairstow finished with 22 points and was 14-of-19 at the free throw line before fouling out.

Series notes

The Lobos lead the series with Fresno State 22-21 — 15-3 in the Pit and 5-16 in Fresno (2-2 neutral court).

The Lobos have won the last five in the series. In those past five wins, the Lobos average margin of victory has been 17.2, but it was only nine in the Jan. 21 game in the Pit (Fresno State had a late scoring flurry to cut into the 20-point deficit before falling, 83-74).

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