Can Jake Hall lead the nation in scoring?

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Albuquerque Journal, N.M.

Story by

Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
Can Jake Hall lead the nation in scoring?

Geoff Grammer, Albuquerque Journal, N.M. · Albuquerque Journal, N.M.

Sun, November 1, 2026 at 3:59 AM UTC ·

9 min read

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Eric Olen let out a chuckle.

Look, the reporter did preface the question with a "I hesitate to ask" because everyone pretty much knew the answer.

Nevertheless, after last weekend's UNM Lobo exhibition game 91-86 loss to the Big 12's Arizona State Sun Devils in the Pit, it was hard not to look at the start to the game of Preseason Mountain West Player of the Year Jake Hall, the second-year star shooting guard, and at least wonder...

"Was there any point in that (1-for-14 overall, 0-for-9 3-point shooting) start where you thought about going away from Jake shooting?"

For the record, Hall's final stat line last Sunday was 19 points on 6-19 shooting (2-of-13 from 3-point range) and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.

"No," Olen said with that aformentioned chuckle. "No. I wish he could have shot it 29 times. ... We at no point considered not trying to get Jake more shots and at no point during the season will we consider not trying to."

So here we are.

As the 2026-27 season is finally upon us with Monday's regular season opener for the Lobos in the Pit against Utah Tech, that same reporter who asked about whether there was thought of going away from Hall while his shot wasn't falling now has another question.

Can the combination of Hall's scoring ability combined with a mix of talented players with games specially suited to complement Hall's abilities all being run by a head coach and assistant coach engineering an offensive scheme predicated on maximizing Hall's unique skillset lead to the Lobos having their second NCAA Scoring Champion in 24 years?

First, the history

The 2003 Lobo basketball season wasn't one to remember in terms of team success.

Ritchie McKay's first season was... well... it was better known as the Ruben Douglas year than the coach's first year.

UNM finished the season 10-18 with a first round exit from the Mountain West Tournament thanks to a 71-56 loss to BYU. UNM finished seventh in an eight-team Mountain West.

In that tournament exit, Douglas scored 18 points — exactly the total needed to the NCAA Division I scoring title for the season at 27.96 points per game — a sliver better than the 27.93 points per game scored by Eastern Illinois' Henry Domercant and the 26.88 scored by Oakland's Mike Helms.

What should also be noted is this. Douglas' dream 2003 scoring season came with a usage rate of 42.1%.

According to Basketball-reference.com , usage rate is defined as: "An estimate of the percentage of team plays used by an individual player while they are on the floor."

Also according to Basketball-reference.com , which only officially started keeping that stat for all DI games in the 2009-10 season, there's never been another player in that time to even reach 40% usage rate.

Basically, it was Ruben's show and the rest of the roster was just along for the ride.

That doesn't mean he wasn't a team player. He also led the team in rebounding (6.6 per game), and was third in assists (2.1 per game).

"I trust Ruben and I know he's got the best interest of the team in mind," McKay told the Journal in March 2003, on the eve of the Mountain West Tournament.

The drive

Jake Hall had a dream freshman season at UNM, right?

He averaged 16.4 points per game. Won Mountain West Freshman of the Year. Was the third freshman to earn MW First Team honors (joining NBA star Kawhi Leonard and former No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett). His 117 made 3-pointers was fourth most all-time as a freshman, trailing only Antoine Davis, Steph Curry and Trae Young.

Sounds good, until you ask him.

"We left a lot out there," he says, before pointing to a March 7 loss at Utah State that he feels he cost his team the game.

Mind you he went into Logan in front of the wildest student section maybe in college basketball last season and scored 32 points with seven made 3-pointers in the loss.

"One of the worst feelings in the world," he said of his feeling he let his team down.

And it's not just words seven months after the fact to sound like a team player.

"I remember not being able to sleep that night after we lost that game," recalls Tom Tankelewicz, UNM assistant coach and offensive coordinator of sorts for the Lobos who also, with Olen, led the recruitment of Hall to UC San Diego starting four years ago.

"At 3 a.m. I get a text from him, and it's a long text about all the mistakes that he felt he made in that game. Stuff like 'Look at all the ones I missed down the stretch. I cost us this the chance at a regular season title.' It's unique, right? Kid just had 32 points as a freshman, and it was all genuine. It bothered him."

Hall says he doesn't ever want to let his teammates down again, working like a madman at times in the offseason on shooting and conditioning and whatever else he can to avoid feeling the way he felt after that 32 point, but losing, game in Logan in March.

"It could have been better," he said. "Could have brought home (a share of a Mountain West championship). But it's OK. It's great motivation."

The formula

Over the years, the nation's leading scorer is usually around 26 points per game, not quite as high as Douglas's 28 in 2003.

Can Hall get there this year? Let his stats loving, but raw-number (like points) disinterested head coach explain.

"I don't know how it equates because I don't care about the raw numbers, right?" Olen said. "But I think he can be 60-plus true shooting on high usage, certainly which equates to a lot of points. So, I think that that's something where we want to keep getting his usage up."

True shooting percentage is "A measure of scoring efficiency that accounts for field goals, 3-point field goals, and free throws," according to Basketball-Reference.com .

And usage rate, according to Basketball-reference.com , is defined as: "An estimate of the percentage of team plays used by an individual player while they are on the floor."

Hall last season was 63.8% true shooting at just a 21.7% usage rate.

"Can we get him to 25 usage? Can we get him to 30 usage? And can he maintain that (shooting)? Those are things we're trying to figure out," Olen said.

Last season, there were eight players in Division I basketball who averaged 60 percent True Shooting and had usage rates over 30%. Six of them averaged between 21.3 points and the 25.5 points of national scoring champion A.J. Dybantsa of BYU, the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.

UNM's plan to get him there has to do with, as Olen said in last week's presser, getting him even more looks than last year — just in a much more efficient way than they went into last season planning to do when even they didn't realize he would be as good as a freshman as he was.

"I think the one thing that fans could notice this year, if they're paying attention, is there were times last year where we couldn't get him those touches?" Tankelwicz said. "We couldn't get him the look that we wanted, so you'll probably see more off-ball screening opportunities for him, and try to free him up off the ball."

Can Hall lead the nation in scoring?

He doesn't care as long as it comes with that NCAA Tournament run he feels the Lobos should have had last season.

And either way, he knows a lot of the team's success rides on his shoulders with how the coaches and his teammates have bought in to a system designed to maximize his abilities.

"I love that I have that pressure on me, man," Hall said. "It's awesome. It's such a cool experience. Olen always tells me, 'Man, just sit back, look at this experience you're in. Look at this spot you're in. It's awesome, man. You would have dreamed of this two years ago.' And he's completely right."

Geoff Grammer is the Sports Editor of the Journal, a podcaster, columnist and covers UNM Lobos basketball, among other things. Reach him at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.

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