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UNM hoops notebook: Lobos will spend Thanksgiving in Las Vegas
UNM men’s basketball players JT Toppin, left, and Quinton Webb participate in an a July 2023 practice at the Rudy Davalos Basketball Center. Toppin left the program after his freshman year while Webb is back for his sophomore campaign.
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The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team will be spending a lot of time in Las Vegas this season.
In addition to the expected road trip to play UNLV during Mountain West Conference play and the usual trip in March for the conference tournament, the team will be playing Santa Clara in Las Vegas on Dec.9 as part of the Jack Jones Hoopfest. And on Tuesday the school confirmed it is part of a 10-team field (six in the men’s portion, four in a women’s event running simultaneously) playing in the new Ball Dawgs Classic in the Dollar Loan Center in adjacent Henderson, Nev., from Nov. 21-24.
The tournament posted a news release announcing the event on Tuesday stating it will be “headlined by New Mexico, Toledo men and Stanford, FSU (Florida State) women” with a graphic featuring Stanford All-America standout Cameron Brink and UNM’s all-Mountain West guard Jamal Mashburn Jr.
While matchups have not yet been announced for the men’s event, three games a day beginning in the afternoon will take place Tuesday, Nov. 21, Wednesday, Nov. 22 and Friday, Nov. 24 with a day off on Thanksgiving.
The full men’s field is UNM, Toledo, Pepperdine, Rice, Indiana State and UC-Irvine.
The rest of the Lobos’ nonconference schedule, however, is still being finalized.
“Schedule’s not done,” UNM coach Richard Pitino said, later confirming he hopes to line up a home-and-home series with a quality opponent coming to the Pit this fall with the Lobos owing that program a return game in the 2024-25 season.
But finding power conference or quality mid-major programs willing to play true road games in the nonconference is increasingly difficult. Few, if any, power conference programs play more than one true road game in their nonconference schedule anymore because it isn’t to their advantage either financially (they often make more money paying for home games) or in the computer ratings that help determine who plays in the NCAA Tournament.
“That (finding good home-and-home opponents) has become increasingly difficult due to us being better and getting our fan base rejuvenated,” Pitino said. “So, it’s a good problem to have, but it is a bit of a challenge that we’re working through. Trying to be patient and smart, but we’d love to add a really good game for our fans.”
As the Journal reported Monday, the UNM-New Mexico State series has tentative dates agreed upon of Dec. 2 in the Pit and Dec. 16 in the Pan American Center in Las Cruces. But contracts are not yet signed, and NMSU would prefer moving its agreed-upon home date to a time when its students are on campus.
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UNM says it cannot be played on Dec. 16 due to its host role for the New Mexico Bowl football game on that day.
LOBOS REUNITE: Emmanuel Kuac, the athletic wing who spent four years with the Lobos but suffered season-ending leg injuries in each of the past two years, has found a home.
Detroit Mercy of the Horizon League on Monday announced the 6-foot-7 Kuac has signed to play for the Titans, joining former Lobo teammate Jay Allen-Tovar, who left the Lobos last fall to transfer to Southern Utah.
Allen-Tovar, who has two years of eligibility let, never played for SUU, and when that team had a coaching change after the season, he was on the move again.
Now, the two will play for former Indiana Hoosiers coach Mike Davis.
MANAGING THE GAME: Two former UNM student managers are each moving up the coaching ranks.
Estevan Sandoval, the Santa Fe native who was a student manager and then a graduate assistant at UNM, has been promoted to assistant coach for the University of North Dakota, where he was the Director of Basketball Operations the past two seasons. He served as a junior college assistant at both Western Texas College and Gillette College in Wyoming prior to that.
Mike Murphy, a Cibola High graduate and another longtime former student manager at UNM who spent the past year as the Director of Operations at Albuquerque Basketball Club, accepted a job earlier this month as an assistant coach for Niigate Albirex BB, a professional basketball team in Japan.
The team is in the first division of the Japanese B League. It is coached by Casey Owens, a Las Cruces native who was on the staff with Chris Jans at New Mexico State. Prior to that, he was the head coach of the L.A. Defenders in the G-League team and a staffer with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2016-18.
