New Faces, Same Fire: Lobos Show Early Signs of Chemistry and Confidence
UNM men’s basketball coach Eric Olen speaks with junior foward Antonio Chol and senior post Tomislav Buljan during practice on Sept. 30. Photo courtesy of Nick Nunez/The Pit Press.
At last Saturday’s Lobo Howl, the curtain was unveiled for UNM men’s basketball team.
We still don’t know much, other than Uriah Tenette and Kevin Patton Jr. can put on a show in a dunk contest.
What is encouraging is that this new group of Lobo basketball players appears to grasp the tradition that comes with representing UNM on the court.
“Just to hear who played for this for this university motivates me, said Milos Vicentic, the senior forward from Serbia who followed Eric Olen from UC San Diego after last season. “Danny Granger, Alex Kirk, Luke Longely, and others…[This] is a great place. We have everything that a basketball player could dream of.”
This team of newcomers has also shown it has bonded early. Lobos Deyton Albury and Timéo Pons, and Albury’s brother Mike Albury are seen below in a TikTok video believed by some to be taking shots at Utah State fans.
Albury has also recently given some of his new teammates high praise. On Monday, he was heard on the Talking Grammar Podcast with the Albuquerque Journal’s Geoff Grammar predicting that Jake Hall could be a candidate Mountain West Freshman of the Year and Kevin Patton Jr. has the potential to be drafted in the NBA.
“I like that Deyton believes in his teammates,” said Olen to a small group of media members before practice on Thursday. “I don’t think it puts anymore pressure on anybody. It’s more about Deyton genuinely believes those things and he thinks he’s got good players around him.”
The Starting Five Will Be…
More than any other question, other than whether he prefers red or green chile, Eric Olen gets asked who will be the starting five pretty much every time he makes a public appearance.
The answer is always the same—he does not know yet.
However, Olen did give a hint at how many players could be part of his primary game rotation when the season starts. Currently, UNM has a roster of 14 players.
“In the past, we’ve played shorter rotations,” Olen said. “Usually eight is a pretty standard number for the rotation that I’ve played in the past. That’s something that we’re evaluating now because we have more than eight good players…. I really like our depth, but that will be a challenge for our coaching staff to sort of narrow it down and create a real rotation.”
Last season at UCSD, Olen played his starting five heavy minutes. All five starters averaged 25 minutes per game or more, while three primary bench players averaged between 13 and 19 minutes.
Mountain West Title Odds
On Thursday, odds as to who will win the Mountain West Conference regular season title were released.
No real surprise that odds makers picked San Diego State and Utah State to finish in the top 2.
San Diego State returns seven players from last season, including the reigning Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Magoon Gwath and candidate for Mountain West Player of the Year this season, Myles Byrd.
Utah State brings back Mason Falslev who was an early candidate for Mountain West Player of the Year last season averaging 15 points, 6.3 rebounds, and nearly 4 assists. The Aggies also return Carson Templin (7.4 ppg and 5 rpg ) and Tucker Anderson (5.8 ppg) and have an exciting newcomer in transfer guard Kobly King.
The Lobos, with a brand new roster and brand new coaching staff, were picked to finish fifth.
Coach Olen was not buying into the hype for any team, one way or the other.
“I don’t think any of the chatter matters at all, in any direction. If you say one team’s good and one team’s not, it’s just talk… It’s what happens on the floor is all that matters.”
UNM will get its first chance crack at opposing competition in two weeks on Oct. 25, when the Lobos travel to Pullman, Washington to take on Washington State in an open scrimmage.
