Eric Olen started Sunday's postgame press conference in the Pit thanking the announced 6,168 fans who showed up for a preseason exhibition game that, frankly, wasn't a particularly a good show.
That was no fault of the Lobos, who thumped their Pac-12 opponent 92-64 in a game that saw UNM, even without the services of one expected starter, empty the bench in the first 10 minutes of the game, lead by as many as 42 points, have five different players hit a 3-pointer in the first 7 minutes of the game and check just about every box their coach wanted to check in terms of improvement since their double-digit win last week at Oklahoma State.
"Overall, I thought it was a step in the right direction," Olen said. "We did some things significantly better, so that's encouraging."
UNM led 17-14 with 14:05 left in the first half. The Lobos went on a 13-0 run with six players scoring — a sign of things to come in a sharing-is-caring themed night.
By the 6:35 mark, it was 39-19 UNM thanks to a 22-5 run.
By halftime, it was 51-26.
By the time the clock showed 8:44 left in the game, it was 80-38 — a 42-point lead.
UNM finished the game hitting 14 of 26 3-pointers (53.8%) and assisting on 23 of 33 made FGs.
"We feel like we have a lot of offensive weapons, and I do think we share the ball," said Olen, before adding a rather surprising followup for a game that was so dominated by the Lobo offense.
"But we also think we left a lot of points on the board. You know, the free-throw line (UNM was 12-of-22/54.5% at the free-throw line), some rim attempts (UNM missed nine layups) that I think we can get better at. I think you look at the total, and it's easy to feel good about it, but it's not about how many score. It's how many could we have scored."
Sunday, Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year Jake Hall followed last week's 31 point game at Oklahoma State with 22 vs. Wazzou in just 19 minutes on the court; Uriah Tenette finished with 14 points, five assists, two steals and a block; Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi had 15 points and hit five 3-pointers off the bench; and St. John's transfer Imran Suljanovich added 12 points and two steals in under 20 minutes of play.
UNM outscored the Cougars 38-12 in the paint, 23-8 in points off turnovers and 21-6 in fast-break points.
The offense was, for the second game in a row, pretty spectacular.
And as for the rebounding concerns of a week ago when UNM gave up 22 offensive boards and was outrebounded by Oklahoma State 45-35 overall, the Lobos flipped that script. UNM outrebounded Washington State 37-33 and surrendered nine offensive boards.
"We certainly improved in some of those areas," Olen said. "Points in the paint, defensive rebound percentage, points in transition — we didn't allow as many of those. ... We'll look at the film to really understand but it felt like we took a step in the right direction."
Hall ball
In two exhibition games, Hall's numbers against the Big 12's Oklahoma State and the Pac-12's Washington State:
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47 minutes
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53 points
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10-for-13 3-point FGs (76.9%)
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6-for-6 2-point FGs (100%)
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11-for-13 free throws (84.6%)
Head count
Preseason games mean different things to different people. That's clear.
One year ago, the Lobos played a preseason exhibition game at Washington State in Pullman with an announced crowd of 670.
Sunday's return game on the home-and-home contract between the same two teams in the same preseason/exhibition game format drew an announced 6,168 fans in the Pit.
Last week in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State did not announce an attendance for the exhibition game in historic Gallagher-Iba Arena, but the Journal was present at the game and there couldn't have been more than 1,500 in the stands.
All right with Rytis
He isn't 100%, otherwise he would have played Sunday. But Cal transfer Rytis Petraitis was held out of the Washington State game after a minor ankle injury in practice last week.
"I think if this were a regular-season game, he could have played," Olen said. "(He had) a little ankle sprain during practice. Just kind of taking some precaution to make sure we don't make it worse. We expect him to practice next week and be available Sunday (against Arizona State)."
Up next
UNM hosts the Big 12's Arizona State next Sunday (Oct. 25) in the Pit as the second game in the Power Ford Tip-Off Series and the final of three preseason games.
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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