UNM stifles UTA as Lobos blow out another opponent

Jordan Lowrey didn’t stand a chance in that moment as Antonio Chol unfurled his 7-foot-2-inch wingspan while closing in on the UT Arlington freshman guard near midcourt with 9 minutes, 4 seconds left in the first half of Saturday’s game in the Pit.

Chol, the Lobos’ 6-foot-9 junior college All-American transfer wing who 10 seconds prior sank two free throws, stole the ball and coasted down to the other end with a dunk that woke the Pit crowd up.

Just 20 seconds later, it was UNM senior point guard Deyton Albury stealing the ball on a pass from UTA’s Marcus Rigsby Jr., coasting to the other end for a fast break layup with 8:32 left in the half.

The announced Pit crowd of 11,513 — for the first time in the still very young Eric Olen coaching era — erupted as UT-Arlington coach K.T. Turner called a timeout to help his team try and regroup.

“We could really feel that,” Olen said of that UT-Arlington timeout after a pair of defensive plays sparked Lobo offense amid an 8-0 first-half run that turned a 2-point Lobos lead into a 10-point lead in a game that was never close again, and UNM walked away with the 74-56 win. The Lobos’ record improves to 2-0.

“I thought that was a big moment in the game. ... We haven’t been here long, but that was the most we’ve felt the crowd. I really thought (Chol’s steal and dunk) really contributed to the next steal — coming right back. You could feel the whole building. That was cool.”

UNM scored 32 points off 23 turnovers and held UT-Arlington (1-1) to 35.3% shooting in the game, including 3-of-25 (12.0%) from 3-point range — the third worst opponent 3-point shooting percentage with at least 20 attempts in UNM history.

Saturday was also the second consecutive game to start the season in which the Lobos defense forced at least 21 turnovers and held the opponent under 36% shooting. According to Sports-Reference.com, that is the first time in at least the Mountain West era (starting in the 1999-2000 season) that a Lobos team hit those particular defensive numbers in back-to-back games, and only the second time it happened twice in the same season.

Freshman power forward Tomislav Buljan led the scoring charge Saturday with 17 points to go along with four rebounds in 19 minutes played. Albury added 15 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists while. Both Lobos drew six fouls, apiece, with Buljan hitting 5-of-7 free throws and Albury going a perfect 8-of-8 at the line.

The Utah State transfer point guard, whose shots hadn’t been falling during a pair of preseason exhibitions or in Wednesday’s win over East Texas A&M, agreed that the first half flurry of defense turning into easy offense was special.

“That feeling reminded me of when I came here last year with Utah State,” Albury said. “Crazy. You could feel all the vibrations going, you know? It just makes you want to get another one, make another shot, get another block, get another steal. That’s just what the Pit brings. And it’s such a blessing to play in it.”

UNM led 31-19 at halftime, having held the Mavericks to 22.2% shooting, including 2-of-15 from 3-point range.

The visitors picked up the offense substantially in the second half, scoring 37 points and shooting 50.0% from the field, but never seriously threatened with a comeback as the Lobos also revved up their offense.

UNM’s second half, the best half of offense thought four games (two exhibitions and two regular season games) included 43 points, 48.1% shooting and going 13-of-16 at the free throw line.

Buljan in particular seemed to use the second half as his personal coming out party, scoring 13 of his 17 points in the half, including eight in the first 4:32 of the period.

“It helps a lot, especially when you have shooters on the outside,” Albury said of Buljan’s presence in the paint opening things up for the rest of the offense. “All it takes is a paint touch for us to get a good look (on the outside) ... Tomislav had it going today.”

UNM’s 14 steals coupled with the 11 they had Wednesday against East Texas A&M give them the most steals in the first two games of the season since 2017 — the first two games of the Paul Weir coaching era, though one of those two gams was against NAIA Northern New Mexico.

UTA was led by 17 points and nine rebounds by forward Raysean Seamster and the Mavs, thanks in part to their missing so many shots and in turn getting 14 offensive rebounds, outrebounded UNM 38-30.

UNM played 12 players and had 10 of them score for the second consecutive game.

UNM takes down UT Arlington at the Pit: Photos