Rested Lobos visiting Colorado State as Mountain West games remain

It wasnt a white Christmas for the Pitino family.

With his team taking advantage of a few days off prior to the holiday, the University of New Mexico mens basketball coach hit the road last weekend.

Richard Pitino said he went to Miami to visit with his dad and two brothers for a couple of days where he golfed, attended the Dolphins-49ers game and sampled some of the South Beach warmth before heading back to New Mexico.

From there, it was back to the 505 for family time with his wife and kids, and plenty of time poring over game film in preparation for Saturdays Mountain West Conference road opener against Colorado State.

In between, he held practices on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, then hosted the players and coaches for a holiday party at his house.

With the gift-giving days behind them, the Lobos are back to full throttle behind the scenes.

UNM (9-3) opened its 20-game Mountain West schedule Dec.

4, beating San Jose State in The Pit.

The final 19 games on the regular season slate are all in the MWC.

Youre all fighting for an at-large [NCAA Tournament] bid, those are obviously very, very hard, Pitino said.

If youre getting an at-large bid, youre probably a top 30 teams in the country.

Everybody wants that, and so the pressure of if you drop a game in the nonconference, its just as high as league games.

With UNM students off until Jan.

21, Pitino said its easier for the Lobos to take extended trips.

Its also cheaper in many ways.

UNM was able to charter the teams flights for what amounts to a two-game road swing through Colorado and California.

The Lobos usually fly commercially for games at San Diego State, UNLV and Utah State because those schools are close enough to large airports offering direct flights from Albuquerque.

The trip to Colorado State is a bit different because of the distance between Denver and Fort Collins.

The Lobos flew to Fort Collins on Friday afternoon and will head to Fresno, Calif., after the game for a New Years Eve matchup at Fresno State, then return home.

NOTES Tru story: Pitino said sophomore guard Tru Washington practiced Thursday and had an MRI this week on a lower leg injury that kept him out of the game against VCU.

"Still has some pain but I think it's getting a little bit better," Pitino said.

Star power: Saturdays game features two of the early top candidates for Mountain West player of the year honors.

Lobos guard Donovan Dent leads the league in scoring (19.6) and assists (7.3) while Colorado State forward Nique Clifford tops the rebounding chart (10.7).

Clifford is averaging a double-double (16.3 points), the only MWC player to do so thus far.

Achilles heel: Its no secret the Lobos are vulnerable against the 3-point shot.

They enter Saturdays game last in the Mountain West at 3-point defense.

Opponents are hitting 37.8% of their tries (102 of 270) through the first 12 games.

Nationally, they rank 341st out of 355 Division I teams in that category, just ahead of UConn (347th) and Baylor (350th).

Colorado State averages nearly 25 3-point attempts per game.

Assuming the numbers hold, expect the Rams to score at least 27 points from long range.

Top o the charts: The Lobos lead the Mountain West in scoring (87 points per game), rebounding (40.5), offensive rebounding (14.3), steals (10.3) and turnover margin (plus-5.42).

They are second in average home attendance at 11,628 per game, an average of 776 fewer fans than league-leading San Diego State.

Counting all the road and neutral-site games, UNM leads the MWC with an average of 8,989 fans through 12 games.

Too early for the bubble?: The Lobos spent much of last season hovering in the 20s in the daily KenPom Ratings and in the top 40 for the NET Rankings.

As of Friday, the metrics havent been nearly as kind.

Theyre 67th in KenPom and 85th in the NET.

Utah State, San Diego State, Boise State and Nevada are all ahead of them in both algorithms.

The loss to New Mexico State (201 in KenPom, 238 in NET) hurt, but uninspiring wins over Texas Southern (307 KenPom, 323 NET), Grambling State (307/317), Nicholls (236/266) and Division II Western New Mexico clearly havent helped.

Checking in: A few former Lobos are still playing college ball, including ex-UNM and Colorado State guard Javonte Johnson.

The 6-foot-6 swing man from Colorado Springs, Colo., played three years in a Lobos uniform, starting 33 times during the 2022-23 season.

He averaged 5.8 points and 3.6 rebounds before packing his bags for CSU last season.

He barely played as a Ram, appearing in 19 of the teams 36 games and not getting a single start.

He averaged just 1.9 points and 0.7 rebounds in about six minutes a game.

Hes now at WAC member Cal Baptist as a graduate transfer.

He has started three of the Lancers 12 games and is fourth on the team in scoring at 6.8 points (3.3 rebounds).

He had a season-high 20 points against Fresno State on Nov.

27.

Two players off last years UNM roster forward JT Toppin and guard Jamal Mashburn Jr.

lead their new teams in scoring.

Mashburn is a graduate transfer at Temple and averaging 20.2 points for the Owls while Toppin (18.6 points, 11.0 rebounds, 1.9 blocks) is Texas Techs top player despite missing the last four games with a knee injury.

Chipping away: Pitino is 70-44 as UNMs coach, placing him 10th on the programs all-time wins list.

He has an opportunity to pass Craig Neal (76-52) and Ritchie McKay (82-69) before the end of the season.

Only two head coaches in the last 60-plus years have posted a losing overall record in their time on the Lobos bench.

Charlie Harrison went 6-22 in his one season, the memorable 1980 campaign that immediately followed the Lobogate scandal that forced UNM to field a roster overloaded with walk-ons and football players.

Paul Weir went 58-63 in his four seasons from 2017-21.

He won 19 games twice but was undone with a disastrous 6-16 season during the abbreviated pandemic season of 2020-21, but he's also the last Lobos coach to beat Colorado State in Fort Collins (Feb.

28, 2018)..

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