WILD THING! Dent, Lobos grind out first NCAA win in 13 years
New Mexico guard Donovan Dent (2), center, hugs teammate guard Tru Washington (3) after 75-66 win over Marquette at the First Round of NCAA Tournament at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on Friday, March 21, 2025. Courtesy of Junfu Han
CLEVELAND – It felt like a do-or-die situation.
At times, will they or won’t they blow it? Would the demons of past failures creep out from under the woodwork?
Not in 2025. Not even away from The Pit.
Down the stretch, like it had been most of the season: the defense prevailed.
The UNM men’s basketball stifled Marquette and their Second-Team All-American point guard Kam Jones en route to a 75-66 victory on Friday.
It’s the Lobos’ first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2012.
“I just had to come out here and showcase my defense. Fifteen points? I know (Jones) averaged more than that, so we did our job on him,” UNM guard Tru Washington said.
Jones averaged over 19 points a game and was a key contributor to Marquette’s success in his senior year. He helped the Golden Eagles to a 23-11 overall record and a Big East Tournament Semifinals appearance.
“I love these guys to death and I hate it ended this way,” Jones said.
The game was dubbed a match-up between Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Donovan Dent and Jones. Dent with an Honorable Mention All-American selection, who was the only player in the country to average 20 points and six assists per game.
Dent wasn’t his usual self. He displayed sporadic, maybe untamed, play at times against Marquette.
He committed eight turnovers but still showed offensive brilliance. Dent scored 21 and had six assists.
There was no one more important than Dent on the floor in Rocket Arena for UNM.
Dent took over late in the game scoring 11 of UNM’s final 19 points.
None were bigger than a jumper that put the Lobos up three, 61-58 with 5:23 left.
That followed an empty possession by Marquette, Dent drove the lane and put UNM up five, 63-58, with a layup.
UNM never surrendered or looked back.
“These guys have scratched and clawed and made winning plays all year, whether it's Mustapha (Amzil) with some steals, Tru, Donovan making some huge free throws, huge plays and some key offensive rebound,” UNM head men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino said. “It's a tough group, and it's a team that certainly likes to win, and they don't want to go home.”
Despite shutting down Jones, UNM searched for answers to slow Marquette forward David Joplin.
Joplin hit 6-of-10 3s and was 4-of-5 to start the game.
He finished with 28 and four rebounds.
“There's no excuses,” Joplin said. “They had guys that made plays. They were able to get deflections that were costly for us.”
Joplin and Jones combined for 43 points.
UNM’s Nelly Junior Joseph added to his Lobo legacy.
Joseph had 19 points and seven rebounds.
Dent and Joseph combined for 40 of UNM’s 75 points.
“Nelly is a pretty darned good big man and we need to continue to find him,” Pitino said “They were trapping him and doing some things, but then Nelly was able to make some plays and then we were pretty good at the rim.”
UNM was able to get out to a hot start against Marquette, not like the Lobos had a year ago in a 21-point loss to Clemson in the first round.
North Texas transfer C.J. Noland hit all three of his 3-pointers in the first half to extend the UNM lead or answer a Marquette bucket.
“I always tell them all the time, I'm rooting for it to go in,” Pitino said. “I'm their biggest cheerleader. C.J. has been a little bit hobbled with a hamstring, but I thought he gave us huge minutes off the bench making shots.”
Marquette’s Ben Gold also saw early success from beyond the arc.
Gold also made three 3-pointers in the first half. His third came with 9:41 left in the first half to cut the Marquette lead to 19-18. He didn’t hit another shot for the rest of the game.
Smart said it was a combination of things that led to Marquette’s early tournament exit.
“We had some looks that we felt were pretty good that we didn't make. New Mexico did a much better job finishing in the paint than we did,” Smart said. “We also got in the paint quite a bit and had open guys that we either weren't able to find in a timely manner, passes got deflected, passes got stolen or by the time the pass was made, the guy wasn't open.”
UNM’s kill shot happened to come when Marquette held a 58-57 lead with 6:30 left in the game. UNM went on a 10-0 run and it gave the Lobos a 67-58 lead with 3:10 left,
The Lobos never looked back against Marquette and squashed the last three tournament appearance disappointments.
“We had a lot of close games, so I think we prepared very well for this one,” Amzil said. “It's just about us, what we can bring… it's not perfect.”
UNM held Marquette to shooting just 50 percent from the field on 24-of-59 shots.
UNM earned its first-ever win over a Big East team in the NCAA Tournament. UNM was previously 0-5.
NEXT UP: No. 10 New Mexico Lobos vs. No. 2 Michigan State Spartans
Time: Sunday, 6:40 p.m.
Location: Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio
Listen: Lobo Radio Network (96.3 FM/770 AM)
Watch: TNT
