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Rounding into form, freshman forward Jovan Milicevic is loving being a Lobo
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Jovan Milicevic fell in love with the Lobo basketball early in the recruiting process, committing to UNM in October 2023.
Even after signing his National Letter of Intent, he said Lobo coaches, including head coach Richard Pitino, kept checking in and building a relationship before he even arrived in Albuquerque to begin his college career.
Then came those first few practices, and he noticed something different about Pitino.
“When we were talking on the phone, and when I came on my (recruiting) visit, it was very just normal conversations, as I thought it would be,” Milicevic said about the Lobos coach. “But then when I stepped foot on onto the court with the rest of the guys, I remember, I went up to Staph and Kayde (Lobo teammates Mustapha Amzil and Kayde Dotson). I’m like, ‘Is he sarcastic? What’s going on here?’”
As Milicevic found out, Pitino is quite the jokester. And he’s also the type of coach who has helped Milicevic, the 6-foot-10 Serbian freshman forward from Toronto find his stride. In recent weeks, Milicevic has become a valuable threat off the bench for the first-place Lobos (16-4, 8-1 Mountain West).
In league play, Milicevic is shooting 56.3% from 3-point range, he’s hit six 3-pointers and his defense has stepped up in key moments. In the past three games, he’s scored 22 points and hit six 3-pointers in just under 14 minutes per game, an increase from the eight minutes a game he’s averaged for the season overall.
In Episode 96 of the Talking Grammer podcast, Milicevic talked about Pitino’s demeanor, about the team’s chemistry — which he says is unlike anything he’s been a part of — and about his losing 30 pounds since arriving on campus.
In Episode 96 of the Talking Grammer podcast, I have a conversation with UNM Lobos forward Jovan Milicevic, the 6-foot-10, 237-pound freshman who has been playing his best basketball recently as the Lobos have been hitting their stride in Mountain West play. We talk about his Serbian roots, role on the team, playing with a great point guard and for a sarcastic coach, and lots more. (TG 01.22.25)
Watch the podcast above. Also, here are a few excerpts from the show:
• • •
On playing with point guard Donovan Dent, who is having a potential Mountain West Player of the Year season:
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“I’d say playing with Donnie is amazing. I’ve never played with a point guard that could see the court like him. It’s been amazing.”
Has Milicevic ever been hit with a Dent pass he didn’t even know was coming?
”Yeah. A lot of the times, he always tells us, ‘Be ready for the pass.’ And even coach is like, ‘Donnie is going to get it to you, so just be ready for it.’ A lot of the times, even in practice when I cut to the basket, I don’t think it’s going to go through to me, and it finds a way to get to me. ... Donnie’s a really good guard.”
• • •
On arriving on campus at 266 pounds and now playing at 237 pounds.
“They wanted me in between that 235-240 range. I actually cut down to 237, which I’m currently at right now. Coach, as you can see, pace is big in his game play. So he said coming in a little bit heavier — just lose a little bit of weight, especially the way we’re going to be running up and down the court. And I think it benefited me, it helped me a lot.”
Did the diet and conditioning program with strength coach Matt Flores get miserable?
”It did. It did. Flores was on me, I’ll tell you that. He was on me.”
• • •
On the level of the defense and physical play in college.
“That’s probably one of the biggest differences I felt from high school to college, the physicality and the defense — being able to stay in front of the ball, that’s a big thing. But also, knowing that with our defense, we all have each other’s back. If you get beat, we have someone rotating. You just have to scramble out and play. Main thing is just playing hard. That’s the main thing for us.”
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On watching his friend, and fellow Serbian baller Filip Borovicanin, drive baseline and dunk in Monday’s win over Fresno State.
“I thought he was going to lay it up; usually he lays it up. So I was definitely happy for him. Sometimes, Donnie be getting mad at him for pump-faking all the time. He’s like, ‘Just shoot the ball when you’re open.’ You know Filip, he likes to pump-fake the ball out on the perimeter. ... He looked exposed. He looked athletic there.”
• • •
On his relationship with senior forward Mustapha Amzil.
“Staph’s like a big bro to me. One thing I really like about him, he’s always in my ear — practice, games during timeouts, he’s always in my ear trying to help out. He teaches me. He taught me some tricks here and there. ... When he’s on the court, I watch him play (because) he’s in my position. The main thing I noticed about him, Staph plays really hard. If shots aren’t falling for him, he’s still going to do other things to impact the game, which is one thing that I have to work on. If I can’t hit 3s, how can I impact the game in other ways? So he’s been a really good big bro to me since I got here.”
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The feeling of UNM’s recent trends of having huge scoring runs against opponents.
“It feels amazing, especially when we’re at home. That’s the best, when we’re just constantly on a run at home, our home. You know, the fans that go crazy, and it gives you adrenaline and everyone’s happy. ... I’ve never been on a team like that. Usually we start off pretty even, and then throughout the game, (the score) starts to get pulled out for whatever side, but we start off games amazing, and we just need to keep doing that for the remainder of the season.”
