yahoo
When first-year Arizona State coach Randy Bennett leads his Big 12 Sun Devils into the Pit on Sunday afternoon for an exhibition against the New Mexico Lobos, he'll be doing so with a mix of competitive fire and genuine admiration for a couple of familiar faces on the opposing sideline.
Bennett, who amassed 589 coaching victories during his long tenure at Saint Mary's, is no stranger to winning. But as he returns to a building he knows well, he's also coming as a supporter of Lobos sixth-year guard Chris Howell, a player Bennett originally signed as part of the 2021 recruiting class at Saint Mary's, where Howell spent his first three collegiate seasons from fall 2021 through spring 2024.
"He's a player. He was a player then, and he's proved it since," Bennett said of Howell, a San Diego native who transferred closer to home to play for Eric Olen at UC San Diego during the 2024-25 season. "I'll always be a big fan of Chris. He's a great kid and a great teammate. The whole deal. So I root for him. I'll even root for him Sunday afternoon."
While Bennett never doubted Howell's on-court intelligence, he recently offered a different prediction for the 6-foot-6 guard's future vocation when asked if Howell might become a coach. "He's got such strong faith, I could see him being a pastor," Bennett said. "Of course, he had a really high basketball IQ, too. Still does. He does sneaky stuff. You may not see his value in a stat sheet—I'm sure Eric would say the same. He's not gonna score big, but he'll make decisions that you can see he's two steps ahead of everybody. So I loved him as a player, and I love him as a kid. So a pastor or a coach, I could see either one and he'll be good at it."
Howell, for his part, credits his time under Bennett with helping him develop the leadership qualities that Olen now praises. "I think as a freshman going into the program at Saint Mary's, I had to figure out a way of learning how to lead from essentially the back," Howell said. "As a redshirt freshman, you usually don't hear many people trying to lead from there, but in any way possible, that's what I really tried to instill."
During Howell's three seasons playing for the Gaels, Saint Mary's reached the NCAA Tournament each year. Bennett noted that Howell's opportunity to return to San Diego for the 2024-25 season was beneficial for multiple reasons: being close to family, having his older brother Mikey Howell on the UCSD staff (Mikey is now an assistant coach for the Lobos), and getting to play for Olen, a coach Bennett greatly respects.
Bennett, a UC San Diego graduate himself, watched with admiration as Olen transformed the Tritons from a Division II national power into a Division I program that came within a possession of upsetting Dusty May and Michigan in the 2025 NCAA Tournament—the first year UCSD was eligible for the Big Dance. "I would tell the people down there, you better not lose that guy," Bennett said. "Whatever you gotta do, keep Eric."
The feeling is mutual. Olen praised Bennett's ability to build a sustained winning culture at Saint Mary's. "I think Randy's one of the best college basketball coaches in the country that people don't recognize enough because he was up there at Saint Mary's for so long," Olen said. "So much respect for what he built there."
Key Analysis
Bennett's Saint Mary's teams were renowned for their defensive efficiency, particularly in limiting assisted baskets. In his 25 seasons coaching the Gaels, his squads ranked No. 1 nationally in defensive assist rate four times and finished in the top six (out of 300-plus Division I teams) in 14 of those 25 years. Olen explained why that statistic matters: "Assisted baskets are some of the most efficient baskets. They're trying to eliminate those. They eliminate assists, they eliminate 3-point volume, and then they do a great job on the glass. You're gonna have to find some individual scoring in this type of matchup more than you would in maybe some different defensive schemes. But they're always one of the best defensive teams. They're always one of the best rebounding teams."
As for Sunday's game, the Lobos will be without transfer forward Rytis Petraitis, who will miss the contest with an ankle sprain that Olen had hoped would be healed by now. The game will not be televised or broadcast on radio; it will be streamed on the Mountain West's subscription-based MW+ app. UNM chose that route for preseason broadcast rights, a decision that either boosts in-person attendance or increases subscriptions to MW+, with each league school receiving a share of subscription revenue when users select a school to support.
Olen said his team will continue its preseason progression by balancing self-improvement with opponent preparation. "I think we can do both," he said. "I think that's sort of the progression of the preseason. I think each time we've been able to spend a little more time or move towards the opponent preparation. We've done a little more each time." He added that facing Arizona State's unique roster will provide valuable tests that could mirror challenges UNM will face against top teams in the regular season. "This is a team that poses some specific problems for us that maybe we won't see a ton during the regular season, but I think the best teams in our league or on our schedule are gonna have some of the same questions for us to answer in those games," Olen said.
Originally reported by yahoo.