Lobos Set the Tone Defensively, Cruise Past East Texas A&M in Olen’s First Game
Lobos Antonio Chol (5) drives to the basket in New Mexico’s season opener at The Pit on Nov. 5, 2025. Photo: Erik Moulton/The Pit Press
The first real game of the Eric Olen era is in the books.
The UNM men’s basketball team won it’s season opener, defeating East Texas A&M (1-1) 76-54 in The Pit on Wednesday in front of a generously announced crowd of 10,726. The Lobos were 22.5 point favorites coming into the game.
“It was a lot of fun, a lot of fun to be part of,” Olen said of his first real experience in The Pit. “This is a special place. Walking down the ramp. Jump ball going up. Everybody in our room had goosebumps for that. That was fun to experience, we’re looking forward to building on that…Overall, great first time out for us.”
East Texas A&M was coming off a 119-60 win over Arlington Baptist (D-II) on Monday. The Lions had 6 players in double figures and shot 63% for their first game.
UNM’s first half defense flipped the script for the Lions as they shot an abysmal 20% from the field and 0-14 from the 3-point line. ETA&M missed their first 20 3-point field goal attempts before hitting their first at the 11:51 mark in the second half.
“Just crowd them on a catch,” said senior guard Tajavis Miller when describing UNM’s defensive effort. “Whenever they get a catch just be there on it. Just ball pressure. That was really the main thing at the beginning of the game that coach was going over. Don’t let them be comfortable when they catch the ball. Just force them to drive, don’t let them get any open looks.”
UNM’s ball pressure forced 21 East Texas A&M turnovers for the game and 15 in the first half. Olen was pleased with the first half defensive performance.
“I thought we were pretty connected,” Olen said. “Our communication was good. We controlled the ball pretty well. Deep into the first half, their two baskets were transition opportunities off of turnovers….I thought we did a nice job of taking it out of the paint and getting shots contested. They had some looks. For the most part everything was contested for them.”
After losing the rebounding battle to Washington State and NAU in the two exhibition games, UNM won the rebound count on Wednsday 43-39. Tomislav Buljan, the now 23-year old “freshman” from Croatia, led the team with 15 rebounds with 7 offensive boards. UNM finished the game with 17 second chance points.
Hunting the Paint
Buljan scored the first basket of the Eric Olen era, converting a drop-step layup in the paint from an inbounds pass by Chris Howell.
After the Lobo’s shot a combined 76 3-point shots in their two exhibition games, two-third’s of UNM’s shot attempts (43 of 63) against East Texas A&M were from inside the 3-point line. The Lobos shot 44% on 2-point field goals (19 of 43) in this game and missed a few easy ones around the rim. But UNM scored 38 points in the paint compared to 24 points scored from behind the 3-point line.
“I thought we did a nice job tonight of taking what they gave us,” Olen said about his offensive shot selection. “We’d like to more efficient on the 2’s. If they’re going to switch that amount and pressure the ball, we’re going to drive it.”
UNM traded 3-point shots for aggressive drives to the rim in this game. One of UNM’s most consistent slashers was Uriah Tenette, who had a game-high 14 points and 5 assists with only 1 turnover in 24 minutes off the bench.
“I thought Uriah played well,” Olen said. “For his first time out to have an impact like that, I loved his aggression…Verse a lot of the switching he was able to get his feet in the paint pretty much at will and made some plays obviously for himself. The 5 assists, one turnover and 3 steals, those are impactful numbers for him and so he did a great job.”
Lobos Uriah Tenette (4) and Tajavis Miller (2) watch as the ball bounces out of bounds. Photo: Erik Moulton/The Pit Press
Hall, who also finished with 14 points and improved his shooting percentage from the pre-season going 6-12 shooting. Hall, however, holds himself to higher expectations and feels like he can shoot the ball a lot better.
“I wasn’t very happy with how I played to be honest,” Hall said. I thought I missed a bunch of easy ones, floater at the end of the first half, couple open threes, a corner three, I should never miss a corner three.”
Miller was UNM’s third double figure scorer with 11 points on 4-5 shooting and a perfect 3-3 from deep in 13 minutes off the bench. He showed significant improvement offensively after shooting 2-9 in the preseason.
Albury and Chol, UNM’s two other starters struggled shooting the basketball going a combined 6 for 18 from the filed. While Chol was only 1-6 from the three-point line, he found ways to score the ball inside. Here was Chol putting the ball on the floor and finishing with a two-handed flush.
Senior guard Luke Haupt played 23 minutes off the bench and drew four fouls. He went 6-8 from the free throw line and also had 4 rebounds and 2 steals.
“I think where we are from an offensive execution standpoint, we’re going to rely on the defense, Olen said. “I think its ahead of the offense at this stage which isn’t a huge surprise. As we clean things up offensively, we’d like to be complimentary. We’d like to take care of the ball a little better…”
UNM finished the game with 15 turnovers.
The Lobos will take on UT Arlington at 2:00 pm in The Pit on Saturday.
