Prolific southern California scorer Jake Hall is first new Lobo of the Eric Olen era

With a nearly complete roster turnover of Lobo basketball, new UNM men’s basketball coach Eric Olen is pretty much piecing together his roster from scratch.

Landing a guy who can score a little and happens to be from the home of Legoland as your first building block seems like a pretty good start.

Jake Hall, a 6-foot-4 senior guard who scored more than 3,100 points at Carlsbad High School in southern California, committed to play for Olen and the Lobos on Thursday night, becoming the first official recruit of the Olen era.

“Coach Olen is a great guy and more importantly instilled a belief in me that no other coach showed (during recruiting),” Hall wrote to the Journal Thursday night in a text message.

Hall, who said Olen’s interest started in 8th grade, had previously committed to play for Olen at UC San Diego, where Olen just led the Tritons to a 30-win, Big West Championship season and an NCAA Tournament appearance in the first year the program was eligible as a Division I team.

“Super stoked to be able to continue this journey with him,” Hall said.

He initially made his announcement on a live segment on KUSI-TV in San Diego and posted the news on his social media accounts shortly thereafter.

During this past season at Carlsbad, Hall averaged 28.5 points per game, 6.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists and he hit 40.3% of his 3-pointers (71-of-176).

He had seven games of at least 40 points.

Hall scored 3,106 points as a four-year varsity player at Carlsbad. That is the second most all-time in the San Diego Section behind Foothills Christian forward Troy Leaf (3,318 points from 2007-10), according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

Troy’s brother, T.J. Leaf, is the only other member of the 3,000 point club in the San Diego Section (3,020 at Foothills Christian from 2012-16).

As for what Lobo fans can expect in the new recruit, Hall is hopeful that he’s an instant contributor who affects the game all over the court.

“I would say fans can expect a high IQ player that plays the right way and can shoot it at a high level,” Hall said. “I believe I can affect the game in all facets and can’t wait to show Lobo nation what that looks like.”

MORE NEWS: Olen hinted Tuesday at his introductory press conference that assistant coaching announcements were expected in the coming days and there’s a good chance such news for some of those spots comes Friday ahead of Final Four weekend in San Antonio.

As for more recruiting news, a lot of that is up to the players themselves. Coaches aren’t allowed to talk about recruits before the players sign, even if they’ve already told the coaching staff. Often times, the players — college transfers or prep recruits — make their announcements on social media on their own schedule, sometimes even before the coaches know.

Coming and going

Counting Hall’s commitment, the UNM Lobo roster on Thursday just doubled in size.

On roster:

• F Ibrahima Sacko, 6-6 (returning player)

• G Jake Hall, 6-4 (prep recruit)

In transfer portal:

• G Braden Appelhans, 6-7 (transferred to Drake)

• G Dylan Chavez, 6-5 (walk-on)

• PG Donovan Dent, 6-2 (transferred to UCLA)

• G Kayde Dotson, 6-2

• G Shane Douma-Sanchez, 6-1 (walk-on)

• G/F Filip Borovicanin, 6-9 (transferred to Xavier

• F Jovan Milicevic, 6-10

• F Daniel Thomas, 6-8 (redshirted 2025 season)

• G Tru Washington, 6-4

• G Quinton Webb, 6-6

Exhausted eligibility:

• G C.J. Noland, 6-4

• F/C Atiki Ally Atiki, 6-10

• F Mustapha Amzil, 6-9

•C Nelly Junior Joseph, 6-10