Cold Shooting, Costly Lapses End Lobos’ Season in NIT Semifinal Loss to Tulsa
Tulsa’s Miles Barnstable shoots a 3-pointer against UNM guard Deyton Albury in Tulsa’s 74-69 win over UNM at the HInkle Field House. Photo: Tulsa Athletics.
“If you live by the three, you die by the three” proved only half true for UNM men’s basketball on Thursday night—because while Tulsa’s outside shooting set the tone, it was UNM’s missed chances and late-game lapses that ultimately sealed a 74–69 NIT semifinal loss and ended the Lobos’ season.
Tulsa’s hot 3-point shooting was not the killer blow, but it was the first punch that gave the Golden Hurricane a seven-point advantage at the half 36-29.
Before the team left for Indianapolis, UNM men’s basketball coach Eric Olen was asked if his team would revert to their same defensive philosophy of “protect the paint” against a high volume nad efficient 3-point shooting team like Tulsa that shot 38% from three coming into this game. .
Olen’s response:
“That’s always a pillar of what we’re trying to do,” Olen said. “How we rotate, the urgency we rotate, our ability to contest (shots), can we win in rotation? I think those are going to be the questions we got to answer on Thursday.”
Suffice it to say, those questions were answered quickly—and not in UNM’s favor. In the first half, Tulsa shot 9-of-18 from the 3-point line and the Lobos’ rotations were consistently a step slow, as seen in these open shots given to Tulsa’s Miles Barnstable and Ade Popoola.
Popoola and Barnstable knocked down six of Tulsa’s nine made 3-pointers in the first half, while freshman guard Jayden Lawal, put in two more.
“I feel like we were prepared for everything they (were) throwing at us,” senior guard Deyton Albury said when asked about why Tulsa was able to get so many clean looks. “To begin the game I did not think we had enough urgency to start a Final 4 game…”
Popoola would finish with 12 points on 4-of-7 from deep while Barnstable had 11 on 3-of-8 shooting behind the 3-point line. Both were 41% 3-point shooters coming into this game.
On the flip side, UNM tied its third worst shooting percentage from the 3-point line, going 7-of-33 for the game, and freshman guard Jake Hall was 1-of-10.
“I got all the shots I wanted,” Hall said. “They were playing with fire. I got a lot of open looks, I just didn’t capitalize. It sucks letting these guys down.”
Hall scored 17 points in the second half and led all scorers for UNM with 20 points. He was 9-of-11 from the free-throw line, doing most of his damage driving to the basket.
Tulsa was able to hold fellow freshman Tomislav Buljan to 9 points and 7 rebounds on 4-of-13 shooting. Buljan battled with 6-foot-10 forward Tyler Behrend, who is older than Buljan and tonight, won the physicality battle down low.
The Lobos were able to tie the game 59-59 off of seven straight points for JT Rock, who finished the game was UNM’s only other double-figure scorer with 14 points and six rebounds.
But after Rock tied the game at 59-59, Tulsa responded with an 8-0 run all from Tulsa point guard Tylen Riley who finished the game going 2-of-11 from the field but made critical plays down the stretch by driving to the basket and getting to the free throw line.
Tulsa’s leading scorer David Green finished with 13 points, scoring 11 in the second half and being another closer for Tulsa who took care of the basketball and got to the free throw line late.
A Buljan 3-pointer with 57 seconds left cut Tulsa’s lead to three, but Green was able to get to the free throw line on the next possession and buried both.
The Lobos were not able match Tulsa’s scoring efforts late as Rock and senior guard Luke Haupt bosed missed 3-pointers in the final 40 seconds which would prove to be the dagger.
What’s Next
Is there controversy about whether Eric Olen will be the head coach at UNM moving forward? Watch the entire interaction and judge for yourself.
If Olen remains the head coach at UNM, the next step will be exit interviews with all players with remaining eligibility who includes everyone except for Albury, Haupt, Tajavis Miller and Milos Vicentic.
The Albuquerque Journal’s Geoff Grammar interviewed Buljan after the game, and Buljan told Grammar that he may have been granted another season of eligibility.
“It’s not official,” Buljan said. “I got it,” he said when referring to a question from Grammar about an extra year of eligibility. “Coach didn’t announce it yet, so yeah.”
If Buljan does get an extra year, he will contemplate whether to stay at UNM or transfer elsewhere, as his play this season makes him a candidate to be a 7-figure NIL earner.
“…We all know that the transfer portal opens soon,” Buljan said. “I’m going to need to talk with my representatives about the next steps. I’m going to talk with the coaches here. And then we are going to see and I am going to decide…”
