Lobos Address Interior Defense with Addition of Junior-College Transfer AJ Pierre-Jerome
Photo of UNM signee AJ Pierre Jerome from apj_bballer_23 Instagram Account.
The search for size in college basketball often feels like hunting for gold in today’s transfer portal era— expensive, and hard to come by. But after openly acknowledging that he would like to have more rim protection on his roster next season, Eric Olen and the Lobos may have found part of the answer with 6-foot-9 forward AJ Pierre-Jerome.
Pierre-Jerome appeared in 35 games for Butler Community College during the 2025-26 season, averaging 6.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in 17.8 minutes per game while primarily coming off the bench for the Grizzlies. The 6-foot-9 forward led the team with 32 blocks and earned All-KJCCC Honorable Mention honors. After playing last season as a redshirt sophomore, Pierre-Jerome is expected to enter UNM as a junior.
Pierre-Jerome’s highlight tape shows him as a big who can run the floor, finish at the rim, while also having a solid low-post, back-to-the basket scoring ability. He does not look like he has much finesse to his game—he’s more dunks at the rim or drop-step finishes. Keep in mind that he was playing against junior college level competition where there is some rim presence, but there is a sizeable gap between the players Pierre Jerome will face next season even in a some-what watered down version of the Mountain West.
Pierre-Jerome looks like he could become capable 3-point shooter. The highlight clip above shows he can knock down a few outside and mid-range shots with some fluid form. But, he shot only 5-of-17 (29%) and was 6-of-20(30%) for his two-year career at Butler.
Defensively, Pierre-Jerome is a shot blocker, who had multiple games last season with two or more blocks in one game. He may not be the high volume rebounder Tomislav Buljan was, but can impact rebounding in short spirts.
Possible Fit Concerns: Pierre-Jerome’s back to the basket post-game does not really seem to have a place in an Eric Olen offense. Rock and Buljan last season were expected to be threats on the permitter, with Buljan being able to beat slower posts off the dribble for finishes while Rock could stretch the floor shooting 39.7% from the 3-point line.
Pierre-Jerome’s shooting numbers make him a below average 3-point shooter, but his shooting form looks pretty good in the four makes I counted between those three clips shared above. Pierre Jerome looks like he could be an elite rim finisher with his length and dunking ability.
Pierre Jerome adds a shot-blocking element that was absent from last year’s Lobo team. The Lobos’ 2.9 blocks per game were 259th overall in the country.
“Its easy to look at our statistical model and say this is a weakness but its not as simple to fill that hole, Eric Olen told the Pit Press on May 12, 2026 during his media availability. “Rim protection for the sake of rim protection if they don’t fit into other things and don’t contribute into how we’re operating, can be a misuse of resources. There’s a lot of factors in those decisions. We’d like to have the most complete team we can. We also feel like there’s other ways to win basketball games as well.”
My Take: I would expect Pierre-Jerome to be a serviceable big-man off the bench who can bring energy through shot blocking, rebounding and finishing dunks at the rim. His fluid form displayed in these shooting clips from his career at Bulter show he may be able to develop a more consistent mid-range and 3-point shooting if given more opportunities. He’s a solid-pick up for what was likely a very market-friendly deal considering Pierre-Jerome was not a high-profile junior college recruit. He did not have any reported Division-I offers or interest on his X or Instagram accounts, though he was being marketed.
