No-L, No-L, new Lobos must fight off pre-Christmas game curse

It used to be a thing. A bad thing.

The kind of thing brought up every year by the media (OK, one person in "the media") around this time — a constant reminder of missteps of the past, when the UNM Lobo men's basketball team let the distractions of mid-December, right before their Christmas break to be more specific, get the best of them and stumble on the court.

Over the first 22 years of the Mountain West's existence, the Lobos went 11-11 in the game that fell on the calendar before Christmas.

There have been three 30-point losses in this particular game just in the past decade. In the past 16 years, there have been TWO instances of an undefeated, 12-0 and nationally ranked Lobos squad losing to a double-digit underdog — in 2009 at Oral Roberts by a Lobos team that went on to win 30 games and earn a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and in 2012 to South Dakota State in the Pit by a Lobos team that went on to win 29 games and also earn a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

You get the point.

The game has been a thing.

Then, on the annual pursuit of No-L around Christmas, Richard Pitino came to Albuquerque and the Lobos rattled off four wins in a row in the dreaded "Game before Christmas." So successful were the Lobos in the game, a certain reporter agreed in December 2023 to not write a story about the curse the following season, if only they could pull off a win that season.

Final score of that Dec. 20, 2023, game in the Pit vs. UC Irvine: Lobos 78, Anteaters 65.

December 2024, no story. And the Lobos won, evening the record in the game during the Mountain West era to 13-13.

So then, this year's dilemma. Tell the story this year, or not? An entirely new roster. A new coaching staff. A program not even aware of what they may be walking into.

And then it happened.

A sign.

A clear indication that writing the annual No-L story — with a chance to break the 13 wins, 13 losses tie on the line — was the right thing to do.

UNM's new coach: Eric Olen.

Olen.

Noel.

No-l.

Story on!

So, here it is. This is it. The story. The reminder that, if the 9-2 Lobos don't take Saturday's Mountain West conference opener against the visiting San Jose State Spartans seriously, they too could fall into the same pre-Christmas trap as Lobo teams of the past.

Or, they could make Lobo fans leave the Pit on Saturday upbeat, happy for the holidays.

After all, they are playing the Spartans, coached by Tim Miles.

Miles.

Smile.

The naughty list

And here it is. For those scoring at home, here's the ugly 13-13 history for the Lobos in the annual game before Christmas since the 1999-2000 season, the first of the Mountain West era:

• Dec. 18, 2024: W, 78-71 - VCU
• Dec. 20, 2023: W, 78-65 — UC Irvine
• Dec. 20, 2022: W, 94-63 — Prairie View A&M
• Dec. 21, 2021: W, 68-54 — Norfolk State
• Dec. 23, 2020: L, 89-52 — Boise State
• Dec. 22, 2019: W, 107-88 — Houston Baptist
• Dec. 22, 2018: L, 75-65 — Penn
• Dec. 22, 2017: W, 87-78 — Prairie View A&M
• Dec. 20, 2016: L, 77-46 — Arizona
• Dec. 23, 2015*: L, 96-66 — BYU
• Dec. 23, 2014: L, 68-65 — Grand Canyon
• Dec. 23, 2013: W, 80-68 — Grand Canyon
• Dec. 22, 2012: L, 70-65 — South Dakota State
• Dec. 22, 2011: W, 87-62 — UMKC
• Dec. 23, 2010: L, 66-60 — Northern Iowa
• Dec. 23, 2009: L, 75-66 — Oral Roberts
• Dec. 23, 2008: W, 76-62 — New Mexico State
• Dec. 23, 2007: W, 62-32 — Weber State
• Dec. 23, 2006: L, 72-56 — Kansas State
• Dec. 22, 2005: L, 63-56 — San Diego
• Dec. 22, 2004: L, 81-64 — Wake Forest
• Dec. 22, 2003: W, 65-49 — New Mexico State
• Dec. 21, 2002: L, 69-57 — Southern Utah
• Dec. 22, 2001: W, 83-69 — UNC Greensboro
• Dec. 23, 2000: W, 69-62 — Mercer
• Dec. 23, 1999: L, 63-60 — New Mexico State

* In 2015, UNM also played on Christmas day and lost 82-59 to Washington State. 

A year ago

One year ago in the dreaded Game before Christmas, the Lobos beat VCU on Dec. 19, 2024, and there were a few notable occurrences worth mentioning again, even aside from Donovan Dent's 40-point game and a Lobos win:

• Some dude names Antonio Chol was on an unofficial recruiting visit to UNM — being recruited then by Pitino and staff and later signing with Olen and staff:

• Some dude named Fernando Lovo, still new on the job and apparently not sure where his seats were, found himself sitting in the middle of the Howl Raisers student section in the Pit, cheering the Lobos on to victory:

• Some dude named Jason Eck was introduced to Pit fans as the the new head coach of the Lobo football program, and he proceeded to quickly work the crowd into a frenzy about things to come:

"We are going to build something here that makes you proud, represent the city of Albuquerque, the entire state of New Mexico and University of New Mexico alums everywhere," Eck told fans. "Thank you guys so much for your great support. I look forward to seeing you at games in the fall and let's make some noise and get this team going for coach Pitino."

Geoff Grammer can be reached at ggrammer@abqjournal.com. Follow him on X/(formerly Twitter) at @GeoffGrammer.