Last Year: 22-12; Sixth (8-10) in the Mountain West Conference, lost in the first round of the NIT
Head Coach: Richard Pitino (Third Year; 35-31 at New Mexico, with no NCAA Tournament appearances)
Projected Starting Lineup
| PG Jaelen House – 6’0″, 170 – Senior (5th) |
| SG Jamal Mashburn, Jr – 6’2″, 195 – Senior |
| SF Isaac Mushila – 6’5″, 210 – Senior (5th) |
| PF Mustapha Amzil – 6’9″, 220 – Senior |
| C Nelly Junior Joseph – 6’10”, 240 – Senior |
Projected Starters’ 2022-23 Stats
Jaelen House: 16.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.7 apg, 2.7 apg – 37.7% 3FG
Jamal Mashburn, Jr: 19.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.1 apg, 0.7 spg – 38.2% 3FG
Isaac Mushila: 14.5 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 1.2 apg, 1.3 spg – 53.7% FG @ Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Mustapha Amzil: 9.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.7 apg, 0.3 bpg – 36.6% 3FG @ Dayton
Nelly Junior Joseph: 14.9 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 1.2 spg – 55.0% FG @ Iona
Experienced Reserves
| G Donovan Dent – 6’2″, 170 – Sophomore |
| G Jemarl Baker, Jr – 6’5″, 205 – Senior (5th) |
| F Deraje Agbaosi – 6’7″, 215 – Junior |
| C Sebastian Forsling – 7’0″, 245 – Junior |
Experienced Reserves’ 2022-23 Stats
Donovan Dent: 5.6 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.3 apg, 0.9 spg, 0.7 bpg
Jemarl Baker, Jr: 12.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.0 spg – 32.7% 3FG @ Fresno State
Deraje Agbaosi: 1.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.3 spg, 0.3 bpg – 45.9% FG @ North Alabama
Sebastian Forsling: 1.5 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.5 bpg, 0.2 spg – 71.4% FG
Freshmen
| G Tru Washington – 6’4″, 195 – Freshman – Consensus Top 150 recruit |
| F Jadyn Toppin – 6’9″, 210 – Freshman – Consensus Top 150 recruit |
| W Braden Appelhans – 6’7″, 195 – Redshirt Freshman |
| W Quinton Webb – 6’6″, 205 – Redshirt Freshman |
Would you believe that New Mexico won 14 straight games, was ranked in the Top 25 of the AP Poll as late as the final week of January, and missed the NCAA Tournament, all in the same season? It’s no urban legend; last season was a roller-coaster that was all too real for Lobos fans. Head coach Richard Pitino’s team was expected to be improved in his second season, but very few people expected a 14-0 start to the year which catapulted the Lobos into the AP Poll national spotlight.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last. New Mexico went on to lose ten of their final 14 games, allowing their opponents to score more than 81 points per game in the process, with five of the losses coming by more than ten points. It was a crushing end to the year.
Despite the unsavory ending, though, Pitino not only held his roster largely together but has also made some improvements. The collapse after the new year showed off his last team’s flows, and Pitino’s staff set out to correct things with a vengeance this spring. Now, the Lobos will be keen to show that they are so much more than the smoking crater left over from last year’s burgeoning potential.
Jamal Mashburn Jr and Jaelen House form one of the best backcourt tandems in the country, a high-scoring duo who give the Lobos a chance to win every game they play. House, a former Arizona State transfer, has averaged 16.9 points in each of the past two seasons playing in Albuquerque. He’s also dished out 288 assists and racked up 154 steals while making 332 trips to the foul line and knocking down 87% of his freebies since joining the pack. After averaging just over four points and 17 minutes as a Sun Devil, he’s emerged as one of the best point guards in America with the Lobos. Last season, House cut his giveaways tremendously, coughing up 34 fewer turnovers than the season prior and posting a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio for the first time in his career. Explosive with the ball in his hands, House has always been tremendously creative once he puts it on the floor and drives. He can finish through contact and loves to draw extra defenders away from his teammates in order to set them up for easy buckets at the rim, too. House splashed a career-best 57 triples at 37.7% last winter, making his dribble-drive game even more dangerous. House is also the Lobos’ most tenacious defender and his suffocating on-ball pressure creates myriad steals and turnover hassles in general for the opposition; and he’s excellent at getting points in transition. Really, there’s nothing he can’t do, and any coach would sleep better at night with House at the helm of their team.
Mashburn also signed with a Power 5 program out of high school, and he followed Pitino from Minnesota after the Gophers fired Lil’ Rick. While House loves to put it on the floor, Mashburn is a true shooting guard. Just like his namesake and former NBA All-Star father, the Lobos’ Mashburn is a silky smooth midrange shooter who can also score off the bounce: and whatever he’s doing, Mashburn puts up points in a hurry. He scored 20+ points in a game 17 times a year ago, and twice scored 30+. He played the most efficient season of his career last year also, shooting 38.2% from deep, handing out 70 assists against 56 turnovers and playing the best defense of his career. Even so, Mashburn simply is not the defender House has been, and can be overwhelmed by bigger guards. Pitino needs further improvements from his star scorer this year if the Lobos are to reach their potential. He only shot one fewer free throw than House a year ago, and New Mexico was one of the best teams in the whole country at earning and then cashing in free point tries last winter. The Lobos made more than 17 free throws per game last season, and took almost 24 trips to the charity stripe in each contest – good for seventh and eighth in the nation, respectively. If Mashburn can guard more like his backcourt buddy this season, it will go a long way towards making those extra points count, and provide fans a more enjoyable ride through Mountain West play this time around.
In even more related news, former Iona star Nelly Junior Joseph is now a Lobo. It must be nice, it must be ni-iiice, to have a dad with no room for his top big man
Being that All-Big East center Joel Soriano plays for the St. John’s Red Storm, that program had no need for a new star at the position. In related news, former Iona coach Rick Pitino is now the Johnnies’ head coach, and if not for Soriano’s excellence, would have brought his favorite big man with him from Iona to St. John’s. In even more related news, former Iona star Nelly Junior Joseph is now a Lobo. It must be nice, it must be ni-iiice, to have a dad with no room for his top big man. NJJ had three outstanding seasons as a Gael, being named Metro Atlantic Rookie of the Year and twice to the all-conference First Team. Now, he’s looking to take the next step and join the short list of most dominant bigs in the country as a Lobo. An irresistible force defensively, NJJ disrupts passes and shot attempts made by anyone who gets too near. He’s also a terrific, bouncy rebounder who feasts on the offensive glass and can’t help but get the opposition’s post defenders into foul trouble. His handle and back-to-the-basket game continue to improve, and after shooting 60% around the rim, he should be flushing lots of slick feeds from Jaelen House in New Mexico. Once he gets back to New Mexico, that is; unfortunately, NJJ has been in his native Nigeria this summer awaiting the resolution of a visa issue which has dragged on for months. There is no panic yet in Albuquerque, but the Lobos are unofficially very ready to see NJJ back on the court in a New Mexico jersey. “I wish I had a direct line to Nigeria. I do not. We’re still very, very confident it’ll get done, just don’t know when,” Pitino told reporters in early October.
Also new to the Lobo frontcourt is Dayton transfer Mustapha Amzil. The proud owner of 99 career triples which he’s made at a 35% clip, Amzil is a stretch-4 who can pull defenders away from the paint. And, Pitino hopes, he will prove just as effective a counterpoint to NJJ in that role as Mashburn has been to House. Amzil is a good passer both out of the post and making clean feeds into the paint from the perimeter, but can disappear sometimes for stretches when his jumper isn’t falling. With NJJ expected to receive the lion’s share of defensive attention and two outstanding guards to pull additional defenders out to the perimeter, Amzil should have more room to operate inside the arc than ever before. He needs to cash in on open opportunities and score a few more buckets from in close if he’s to reach the next level of his game.
Rounding out Pitino’s lineup will be a third transfer forward, Isaac Mushila. While he stands 6’5 and looks more like a rather yoked wing player, Mushila nonetheless led Texas A&M Corpus Christi in rebounding both of the seasons he played. That he’s been so productive inside is particularly impressive because he’s been playing a lot of his minutes against significantly larger guys. The physical edge Mushila brings will be a welcome addition to the Lobos, and he can score too. Mushila can post up against bigger, stronger players and still get buckets. And he gets defenders into foul trouble, too: Mushila attempted 407 free throws in his two seasons as an Islander, and he made 81% of them. He can do it against the best competition, as well. In his three career NCAA Tournament games, Mushila had averaged 12 points and 11.7 boards – including 16 & 15 against #1 seed Alabama this past year. All of which is to say that Mushila should be able to make a smooth transition to the Mountain West in his graduate season. He’s recovering from a broken bone in his hand suffered in practice, but the injury shouldn’t keep him out for too long.
| Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks) |
| 80.2 – Points Per Game (10th) |
| 74.6 – Opponent Points Per Game (279th) |
| 0.391 – Free Throw Attempts Per FG Attempt (25th) |
| 5.7 – Made 3FG Per Game (329th) |
| 8.0 – Opponent 3FG Per Game (273rd) |
A year ago, Pitino had hoped that now-departed Javonté Johnson would emerge as his defensive stopper on the wing, but that was a big ask for more reasons than Johnson alone could be answerable. Now, Mushila will get his chance, and hope to have more help from his new friends. One thing about New Mexico’s new frontcourt is both unique and also a reflection of the spread and massive global popularity of the game: NJJ, Amzil and Mushila were all born overseas and played outside the U.S before signing on to play American college hoops. Joseph is from Benin City, Nigeria; Amzil hails from Helsinki, Finland; and Mushila was born in Lubumbashi, Congo. Additionally, backup center Sebastian Forsling is from Floda, Sweden.
While New Mexico’s defense let them down a year ago, there were also a couple of very uncharacteristic off-scoring nights for the Lobos down the stretch. As if all of the upgrades to Pitino’s starting lineup weren’t enough, he also snapped up Fresno State transfer Jemarl Baker, a high-scoring guard who should prove to be a microwave scorer when he enters the game. A former Top 100 recruit, Baker will don his fourth different uniform in this, his seventh season of college basketball. After stops at Kentucky and Arizona before landing in Fresno – and a lot of injuries – Baker has emerged as a streaky scorer who can create for his teammates and himself. When his outside shot is falling, watch out. He scored in double figures 17 times a year ago, drilling 55 triples in the process; including ten in one game during a 43 point explosion against Chicago State. As long as he brings his defense every night, Pitino seems happy to allow Baker to let fly and see what he can get done. Baker can run the show for stretches, but is best when he plays off the ball and can hunt for good scoring opportunities. Baker is a big upgrade behind House and Mashburn, but even so, he’ll get a challenge for minutes from some very promising young guards.
Donovan Dent returns for his second season as the squire behind House, but he’s been so good that Dent won’t be taking much of a back seat. Dent’s game is very similar to the elder House, and he’s only an improved jump shot away from being ready to take over as the team’s point guard. Dent was terrific defensively as a freshman, and even managed to block 25 shots to House’s 20. Not many teams are getting almost 50 rejections from their pair of 6’2 point guards. Also like House, Dent knows how to get into the lane and create havoc – and he throws down some impressive dunks. He got to the foul line 73 times despite playing just over 18 minutes per game, and Dent was so efficient that he ended his rookie year shooting better than 50% from the field. With such versatility at the point guard spot, Pitino will have the luxury to play to whatever Tempo he chooses based upon matchup or situation – and if the Lobos want to play at 100 mph all the time, they can do so.
Dent and Baker are good enough to be the starting guards on many teams. That Pitino has them in reserve means that the Lobos have one of the most talented backcourts in America. Adding four-star freshman Tru Washington from powerhouse Compass Prep in Arizona probably just feels like overkill to the rest of the MWC, then. Washington is a big, lefty combo guard who likes to attack off the bounce and can score in bunches. “Washington plays with tremendous toughness, is explosive athletically and can knock down open shots from the perimeter,” says Eric Bossi of 247 Sports. He’s also great in transition, turning defense into offense and then finishing on the break. Washington is going to be one of NMU’s biggest guards right away, and Pitino is hoping that he’ll use that aggressiveness and athleticism effectively to guard guys that might try to bully House or Mashburn, as well.
| Five Out-of-Conference Games to Keep an Eye on |
| @ Saint Mary’s – November 9 |
| vs UC Santa Barbara – December 6 |
| vs UC Irvine – December 20 |
| vs Santa Clara – December 9 |
| N – Toledo – November 21 |
Forsling returns to add a true pivot off the bench. The seven-foot Swede isn’t going to leap over the Sandia Mountains, but he can protect the rim, box out, and has surprisingly soft hands and good footwork under the basket. A former soccer player who got sick of being made to keep goal, Forsling nearly redshirted last season, and has gotten stronger in hopes of carving out a bigger role this year. Even when he does have to sit, though, Forsling finds a way to contribute; it’s hard to miss the big guy who’s become known for celebrating the Lobos’ success from the sidelines as enthusiastically as any fan. Quinton Webb did indeed take a redshirt last season, and now the freshman wing is looking to make his presence felt. Long and rangy, Webb profiles somewhat similarly to the departed Johnson. If he can add some scoring off the wing and stay in front of his man on the other end, Webb will see the floor. There are a lot of talented veterans to get past, though – as well as his redshirt freshman classmate, Braden Appelhans. A talented shooter whose release and feel for finding open space in the wing are equally smooth. Appelhans has gotten stronger and better defensively during his year off, and will hope to add even more scoring depth to this year’s roster.
The final freshman who should make an impact this year is Jadyn Toppin, himself a borderline Top 100 prospect. “I liked their coaching style,” Toppin told 247 Sports after his commitment to the Lobos. “They give the ball to their bigs and The Pit is unbelievable. The players are amazing guys who work hard and are dedicated.” Wiry strong and bouncy, Toppin gobbles up rebounds and presents a great deterrent for opponents on their way to the rim. With a 7’1 wingspan and lots of energy, he has every appearance of being a real problem defensively. When Toppin gets the ball, he knows how to post up and can knock down short jumpers, and, while not likely to be a featured offensive player for a couple of years, he’ll find ways to kick in some baskets in a variety of ways. Without NJJ, Mushila, and since Forsling has been dealing with a concussion, Toppin and walk-on grad transfer Deraje Agbaosi have gotten plenty of run in fall practices, and Pitino things that it will pay off as the season goes on. “It’s an opportunity for those guys to get more reps in practice,” Pitino told the Albuquerque Journal in October. “Although Nelly is very, very important, and we are excited to get him here, it’s been a good opportunity for those other guys and it’s forced me to just adapt a little bit differently in practice and change up some things which is good. You need to do that sometimes.”
The Pit was a sad and rather quiet place by the time New Mexico’s season finished crashing to a halt last year, but this new group of Lobos are primed to have the home fans rocking when this season tips off. On paper, this is one of the most talented teams anywhere in the West, and expectations are sure to be very high.
That’s been something of a stumbling block for Pitino’s teams, though. Obviously last year went awry, but so have other seasons, despite very talented rosters. While at Minnesota, Pitino’s teams spent parts of three different seasons ranked in the Top 25, and yet the Gophers only made the NCAA Tournament at the end of one of those years. His 2017-18 Gopher team looked so good that they were ranked #15 in the preseason; they even started 13-3 before bottoming out with a 15-17 record. There has been a trend in his career thus far of assembling very skilled rosters in the offseason. Too often, though, those teams have failed to qualify for the Big Dance or, as has been the case in five of his previous 11 seasons, finished with a losing record.
These Lobos have been built intentionally, and appear deep enough to weather the storms which will come. Some have already arrived; Mushila’s hand injury will keep him out for a few weeks, House has been held out of some activities due to a leg injury, and more. There are enough players banged up that the Lobos weren’t able to play their traditional Cherry/Silver Scrimmage as scheduled this October. “We have a few guys that have had some bumps and bruises, so we can’t do a full scrimmage at this time,” Pitino said in a statement.
If healthy, there are primary, secondary, and tertiary scorers on this team. There are guys who can play at a high level in varied situations and lineup combinations. Most importantly, there are tough defenders new to the team who have already proven that they won’t give in when punched in the mouth. The Mountain West remains very strong, but New Mexico is out to turn the bitter taste left over from last season into conference title aspirations – and hopefully, a ticket to the Dance.
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