Lobos thump Western New Mexico 102-63, improve to 8-0

Dec. 7—ALBUQUERQUE — Listen to any coach long enough and it becomes clear that certain phrases are played on repeat like a broken record.

Former Lobos football coach Dennis Franchione: "It's a marathon, not a sprint."

Former Lobos football coach Mike Locksley: "They're mistakes but they're correctable mistakes."

Former Lobos football coach Bob Davie: "Schematically, we need our own niche."

Fast-forward to current University of New Mexico men's basketball coach Richard Pitino, whose team improved to 8-0 with a 102-63 blowout of Western New Mexico on Tuesday night in The Pit. The second-year coach has said his team has not yet arrived so many times he might as well trademark it.

The Lobos are one of just 10 unbeaten teams still standing, three of whom are in the Mountain West Conference.

So, just what does it mean when Pitino says they haven't arrived? There are undoubtedly Lobos fans willing to claw their way to the top of the Sandias to pound their chests over the team's fast start, but the coach isn't among them.

"You don't want to say NCAA Tournament or bust because where we were 15 months ago, it's crazy to even think that," Pitino said. "I'd hate to even put that pressure on anybody."

The Lobos are coming off eight straight seasons without a postseason berth, eight straight seasons without at least 20 wins, eight straight seasons without much reason to fill The Pit and rekindle the glory days of national rankings and packed houses.

The team's revamped lineup that features a pair of 6-foot-8 power forwards who can score, rebound, protect the rim and pass only adds to one of the most talented backcourts in the country behind all-conference types Jamal Mashburn Jr. and Jaelen House, not to mention junior sharpshooter K.J. Jenkins and the reigning MWC freshman of the week, Donovan Dent.

To Pitino, "arriving" means consistency over a number of years. It means sustained recruiting classes that pad the program's depth. It means cementing the Lobos' name atop the Mountain West — and the rest of the country.

"I believe that New Mexico should be fighting for championships," he said. "I think we have one of the best fan bases in the West — if not the country — when it's good. We've got a great buy-in from the community. We don't have a lot of other things to rival in the winter time, which is great. It reminds me a lot of Louisville when my dad first got there, very similar in a lot of ways — and you don't have to deal with Kentucky fans."

UNM's two true road wins at SMU and Saint Mary's have vaulted the team up through the computerized analytics used to rank teams. The Lobos have slingshot all the way to No. 20 in the NET Rankings used by the NCAA. They've also risen steadily in the RPI and KenPom ratings, cracking the top 100 in both.

"I just feel like we're not at the top of the Mountain West yet," Pitino said. "Adversity hasn't hit us. Knock on wood we don't have injuries. You just don't know, but in order to get where we want to get, you need to have multiple recruiting classes. It just takes time. We're trending in the right direction and everybody seems excited about it and I appreciate that."

The Lobos did lose one player of the season-opening roster. Junior forward Jay Allen-Tovar entered the transfer portal after just two games, citing discontent with his role on the team after losing his starting spot to the aforementioned bigs, Morris Udeze and Josiah Allick.

The only injuries so far are minor, and each stems from before the season began. Center Sebastian Forsling is off to a slow start after an ankle issue while shooting guard Emmanuel Kuac is slowly getting back to full speed after breaking a leg late last season.

Moving forward, the schedule does get a bit more challenging. The Lobos will host UT-San Antonio on Saturday in The Pit and head on the road two days later to face a 7-2 San Francisco squad at the Jack Jones Hoopfest in Las Vegas, Nev. After that is perhaps the most anticipated nonconference game on the schedule, a Dec. 18 visit from Iona and its famous coach, Rick Pitino.

"I'm not going to temper anybody's enthusiasm but we still got a long way to go through this thing," Richard Pitino said.

Arrived? Not quite.

But getting closer, for sure.

NOTES

As expected: UNM had no trouble with WNMU as every player on the roster scored at least two points. That includes walk-ons Mac Manzanares and Safi Fino-A-Laself. No one played more than 25 minutes, and five Lobos finished in double figures, led by Udeze's 18. Allick had 13 rebounds.

The 39-point margin of victory was the largest of the Pitino era at UNM. The Lobos led by as many as 45.

Busy guy: Backup post player Birima Seck only played 11 minutes but he finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, falling just short of his first career double-double. He also fouled out, picking up five whistles in no time at all.

The undefeated club: The ranks of the unbeaten continues to shrink. As of Tuesday night, they were Houston, UConn and Missouri (all 9-0), Virginia, Purdue, UNLV, Mississippi State, Auburn and UNM (all 8-0), and Utah State (7-0).