Wish they all could be California guards: Olen, UNM add another SoCal floor general
Luke Haupt flexes during Point Loma’s 77-50 win over Division I Pepperdine University in 2021. Photo courtesy of the San Diego Union-Tribune
If you like big guards that play defense, you will like UNM men’s basketball’s most recent commit.
Luke Haupt, a 6-foot-6, 215-pound graduate transfer from Division II Point Loma Nazarene University, announced his commitment to the Lobos via Instagram on Saturday.
Haupt played high school basketball in San Diego, Calif. at St. Augustine High School, where he was a two-time All-CIF selection and averaged 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals per game his senior year.
“I had a chance to go to a low Division I level where the team might not have been very successful or go Division II and have a chance to win a national championship, and I chose to try to win a national championship at Point Loma,” Haupt told San Diego Prep Insider in April 2020 after finishing his senior season.
At PNLU, Haupt helped the Sea Lions reach the Division II Sweet 16 in two of his four seasons as a big guard who often handled point guard duties. In his sophomore season, 2022-23, Haupt led PNLU to an 18-game winning streak, during which he averaged 11.8 points, six rebounds, and just under five assists per game.
He was named All-PacWest First Team and had the highest assist-to-turnover ratio in the PacWest conference.
Haupt tore his ACL during the PacWest Tournament in 2023. After this setback, he was forced to sit out his entire junior season.
Last year for Point Loma, Haupt averaged 13 points, six rebounds and three assists per game while shooting 49% from the field and returned to the All-PacWest Conference First Team.
Photo Courtesy of Luke Haupt’s Instagram page lukehaupt2
“He’s a great player on both sides of the ball. He guards the other team’s best player every night, which is a tall task, and then he runs the point guard and handles presssure well for us… he can get to the paint, he’s shooting at a high clip and he’s a great leader,” Haupt’s PNLU teammate Coby Barnes told to “The Point.”
Haupt could be compared to Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones.
Last season, Tait-Jones was the Big West Player of the Year for UNM head men’s basketball coach Eric Olen at UCSD.
Tait-Jones was an unorthodox point forward who made a living on driving the ball to the basket, drawing contact, and scoring at the rim in various ways. Tait-Jones led all of NCAA Division I in free throw attempts last season and was in the top ten for Ken Pom Player of the Year.
Both Tait-Jones and Haupt were both Division II transfers into D-I. Haupt’s game looks similar to Tait-Jones’ in many ways on the offensive end.
In this clip showing PNLU’s 69-67 win over Menlo, Haupt scored 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting.
Like Tait-Jones, Haupt attacks the paint using his 6’6 frame and size to score through contact. Haupt also knocked down two shots from behind the arc. He shot 40% from three, but he shot less than two 3-pointers per game last season for PNLU.
Haupt adds ball-handling to a UNM roster that was looking for a point guard with experience.
With Uriah Tenette as the only true point guard on what is now a nine-man roster, Haupt figures to take on some primary ball-handling responsibilities for Olen next season.
