Amy Eagan Begins Roster Rebuild as Lobo Men’s Basketball Has a Quiet Two Days in the Transfer Portal
Photo of Amy Eagan courtesy of UNM Athletics.
One day after being formally introduced as the new UNM women’s basketball coach, Amy Eagan already has a head start on Eric Olen in building a roster for 2026-27.
As of Thursday evening, the Lady Lobos announced three returners from last year’s team, tabbed by UNM athletics as “Real Ones,” and a new commit that will be following Coach Eagan and her coaching staff from Lindenwood to UNM, giving them four signed players for the upcoming season.
The highlight of this week’s signings is All-Mountain West Freshman Laila Abdurraqib who averaged 7.5 points and shot 37.9% from the 3-point line for Mike Bradbury last season.
“You talk about Laila coming back off a great year, a three-level scorer a kid that had a huge impact from last year,” Eagan said at her introductory press conference yesterday. “I mean what a way to start it off, right.”
Abdurraqib’s announcement was followed by signing Drew Jordon, a 5-foot-11 guard who spent the previous two seasons at UNM under Bradburry. Jordon scored a season high 16 points and recorded three steals in a Nov. 28 win over Chicago State. Jordon is a glue guy type player that could fill a larger role in a new system.
Rounding out the Real Ones for UNM women’s basketball is 6-foot-2 freshman guard Kaia Foster. Few people outshot UNM men’s basketball star Jake Hall in the Pit last season, but Foster got the best of him in the Lobo Howl’s 3-point shooting contest.
Foster’s minutes were up and down this season as she battled a broken pinky in her shooting hand and shot only 29% from deep. But Foster has great size for a guard at 6-foot-2, and can be a nice piece to the puzzle for Eagan as she tries to build the roster.
The three top scorers from last year’s team, Destinee Hooks, Joana Magalhães and Cacia Antonio still have not formally announced their intention to enter the transfer portal. Magalhães and sophmore guard Nayli Padilla were in attendance at Eagan’s introductory press conference yesterday.
“I know we have some of the young ladies here,” Eagan said referring to players from last year’s team in attendance. “We started the process with them first. It’s very clear that there’s some talent already here and still here. We started the process immediately with them with individual FaceTimes, talks, and so forth with them.”
UNM also announced the signing of Valerie Norwood, a freshman guard who played for Eagan at Lindenwood and averaged 4.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game across 17 minutes.
Bayou Bella on the Move
Former Eldorado high school standout guard Bella Hines announced her intention to enter the transfer portal on Tuesday leading some Lobo fans to reach out to her extended family directly on social media in the hopes that she could come back to Albuquerque to be a Lobo.
Hines averaged 4.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists for Kim Mulkey at LSU last season. Mulkey praised Hines after she played well against National Runner-Up South Carolina in February and played good defense on standout guard Tessa Johnson.
“I saw a kid that I need to play more,” Mulkey said. “She needs to take away the minutes of some of them. She got out there and guarded Tessa, she wasn’t afraid to bow up to her, she made shots, she had a lot of energy and effort, and she has my respect.”
Hines is represented by the Young Money APAA Sports Agency and likely commands an NIL price that would fall outside of the revenue sharing budget UNM women’s basketball could pay. Hines also has aspirations to play in the WNBA, and would not get near the exposure she would at a Power 4 school.
But, Eagan made it clear in her introductory press conference that she would put a high priority on recruiting New Mexico kids.
“We want to win the State of New Mexico,” Eagan said. “We want to win that talent. We want that talent here. If they fit us as people if they fit us as players that’s where it starts for us.”
More Transfer Portal Targets for UNM Men
The Lobo men have just two confirmed signings for 2026-27 in Uriah Tenette and Benjamin Schuch.
Two more portal targets for the Lobos were posted on twitter in the last 48 hours. UNM was rumored to have contacted Penn State redshirt sophomore forward Eli Rice (6-foot-8) after he entered the portal.
Rice averaged 6.7 points and shot 39% from the 3-point line. He began his college career at Nebraska where he averaged 4.2 points and again shot an impressive 39% from deep.
Many Lobo fans have expressed a desire for UNM to recruit taller and more athletic players like Rice at the wing position. Last year towards the end of the season, the Lobos often went with a smaller backcourt of Uriah Tenette, Jake Hall, and Deyton Albury on the floor at the same time.
“It would be great and I think we’ll see an athletic wing or two join in,” said Kurt Roth of 505 SVF when he joined the Pit Press Live! earlier this week. “That’s a need.”
“This staff, I just want to tell everyone, I was in the war room I guess you would call it, the conference room at the Pit, and the entire staff was involved. The technology is amazing. You can type in a player and They have a program or a subscription where you get video highlights of I’m assuming every player in the portal, his stats pop up. So they are working full-time on the portal.”
The other transfer portal target that was posted on X was Troy junior forward Victor Valdes (6-foot-7). Valdes put up impressive numbers for a Trojans team that beat San Diego State in Viejas and made the NCAA Tournament. Valdes’ highlights show that he put the ball on the floor and be a playmaker, but he did shoot an underwhelming 24% from the 3-point last season.
There is still no official word on whether Jake Hall will be returning next season. His brother Dax Hall is scheduled to have an official visit to UNM on Friday.
