More than just a shot: Jake Hall's all-around game earns respect of Lobo teammates

Jake Hall hasn’t lost many 3-point contests in his life.

After all, the 6-foot-4 UNM freshman shooting guard did score more than 3,100 points in one of the most prolific prep careers in California history — plenty of those points coming from beyond the arc.

But last weekend, as the curtain was pulled back on the new-look Lobos roster, the men’s team favorite in the 3-point contest found himself on the business end of a scorching Kaia Foster shooting performance, leading to the freshman on the UNM women’s team knocking Hall off in the men’s vs. women’s championship match.

“Man, not a lot, to be honest,” Hall admitted Thursday when asked by reporter how often through the years he can remember not winning such a shooting contest.

“I mean, she caught fire early, and it was hard to come back from.”

Foster did, indeed, catch fire — casually knocking down the first six 3-pointers she shot in the first-to-seven contest.

The natural reaction of his Lobo men’s teammates was to give him a bit of a hard time — knowing they’ve seen him since June show a mostly seamless transition as a natural scorer from starring for Carlsbad (California) High School last season to now sitting less than a month away from the Lobos opener as a player appearing likely to get big minutes from Day 1 of his collegiate career.

“Definitely all the guys, at first, gave me a hard time,” Hall said. “They expected me to win the whole thing. I was kind of bummed I didn’t win.”

The ribbing didn’t last long. He did, after all, face Foster in the title round after first dispatching of all of his men’s teammates.

The reality is, the freshman seems to have already earned the respect of his older teammates, and not just because of his outside shooting.

Senior point guard Deyton Albury, who transferred to UNM from playing in the Mountain West last season at Utah State, told the Journal’s Talking Grammer podcast on Monday (Episode 117) that he predicts Hall will win Mountain West Freshman of the Year.

“When a guy who is going to be PG1 is saying great things about you, it’s awesome and good to hear,” Hall said. “And obviously, I’m confident in myself to do that, and hearing that from teammates and coaches and everything, just gives me that confidence. It’s exciting.”

Hall understands there will be skeptics about his talents and ability as a potential instant-impact freshman. A shaggy-haired and yes, white, sharpshooter often gets pigeonholed in basketball as being just a shooter.

“I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder,” Hall said about the stereotype. “People have always been saying that about me. I’ve been hearing that from coaches, program directors, college coaches (when) recruiting. So, I just carry that with me — the chip on my shoulder. And you know, I’m gonna prove everyone wrong this year.”

Television

The Mountain West on Wednesday released the broadcast schedule for each team’s 20-conference games. The Lobos landed 14 televised game and six that will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.

But that doesn’t mean the wheeling and dealing is over for more televised games.

There is a chance that as many as all six “streamed” games could still be broadcast on television through Altitude, the Colorado-based cable sports network that has also picked up multiple UNM Lobo football games for broadcast this season.

It is unclear when such a decision will be made.

Student tickets

Students get in free to the Pit, but there are a limited number of seats in the student section.

UNM announced Thursday that the allotted number of student season tickets — 600 of the 1,200 seats for the student section — have been “sold out.” The other 600 will be made available on a game-by-game basis, usually being made for picking up one week before games throughout the season.

KT on the air

Former UNM Lobo Kenny Thomas, who has been hosting a Saturday radio show called Unfiltered with Kenny Thomas on The Sports Animal — 610 AM/95.9 FM — in addition to hosting postgame call in shows after UNM Lobo men’s basketball games on the station, has updated his social media channels indicating he is the new afternoon host on 95.9 FM/610 AM KNML.

An official announcement from the station has not been made, but his first show is expected to start Monday.