Cherry Heat Check

Lobos Roll Santa Clara and Move on to VCU

• Ricky Thompson, 808 Guac, and Friends • Season 1

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On this episode we check in on the Lobos after their blowout win in The Pit vs Santa Clara, 98-71. Ricky dives into how New Mexico was able to play their best game of the season so far. Then the upcoming matchup of UNM at VCU is previewed, as we jump into what makes the Rams a threat, and what to expect in the game on December 10, 2025.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome back in everyone to a new episode of the Cherry Heat Check, unofficial New Mexico Lobos basketball podcast. I will be your host on the show. It is Monday, December 8th, two days after the New Mexico Lobos take down the Santa Clara Broncos at home in a thriller with the Lobos beating down the Broncos 98-71, a game where the Lobos led by as many as 31 points in the second half. A whiteout game in front of the biggest fan base, over 13,000 fans there in the pit to cheer on the Lobos in this victory. And the energy is something you could feel from the TV screen or computer screen as you were watching it at home, and the players definitely fed off of it. Other teams around the Mountain West also turning up the heat a little bit this weekend. A lot of big wins around the conference. I'll touch on those briefly here to begin before I dig into what went right versus Santa Clara and then preview the VCU matchup where the Lobos will be traveling to Virginia this week on Wednesday to play play in the Siegel Center versus a very good VCU team. And I will tell you what awaits with the VCU Rams. So let's get into it and quickly take a look at what some of the other big wins from around the Mountain West Conference were. Colorado State Rams taking down in-state rival CU in Moby 9186 taking down the Buffs. And then Boise State taking down Butler on the road in Finkel Healed House, upset win for Boise 7768. Then yesterday evening, UNLV down here in Palo Alto taking on Stanford with their big man Emmanuel Stefan back for the first time for the Rebels. They win by 1.7574. And Nevada visiting Pullman Washington to take on the Cougars of Washington State. They got a win under Coach Steve Alford last night on the road. And Utah State bouncing back after losing to South Florida. They defeated Charlotte yesterday in Charlotte. So things looking up for the Mountain West after a very, very rough start where many of these top teams had lost to teams that were rated way below them. Things kind of turning around. We'll see if San Diego State also kind of follows suit here and wins some of their next games by a convincible margin. But the one we want to talk about the most is the Santa Clara game versus New Mexico, obviously. That took place in the pit. Again, Lobos win 9871, where the Lobos only shoot 23 three-pointers, much uh different than the previous game. Lobos making nine of those 23 three-pointers at 39%. And Tomislav Bulyan, Dayton Albury really leading the way for the Lobos in this one. Definitely Albury's best game, in my opinion. We'll look at him a little deeper and what his stats were in the game. But overall for the Lobos, good free throw shooting, 88%. That will be ever important as they go on the road here versus VCU. 12 turnovers for the Lobos, but causing 15 for the Santa Clara Broncos. And fast break points are where the Lobos really built their lead and thrived in this game with 29 fast break points to add 50 points in the paint as well. And uh 18 of those 34 field goals that the Lobos had ended up being assisted. So good ball movement, chemistry coming together. Dayton Alberry finishing at the rim also will bump that field goal percentage up. So great overall team effort. Um allowed a team that was um getting a lot of blocks on this season. I believe averaging over eight blocks, only having one block in this game. And that really started with Tomislav Bulyan, his great play um right away getting into the body of Bukia Boye, the 7'1 center of the Broncos, getting two fouls on him within the first, I believe, two minutes of the game. And ultimately Buljan winning freshman of the week honors in the Mountain West again this week for his 16 points and what is it, 10 rebound performance here to go along with two assists. And you can't say enough about just how mature he looks on the court. His decision making seems to be a level um above most guys he's playing against. He's able to get the rebound on the defensive end, push it himself, and make a good decision while he's dribbling the ball. And just his smart play to get these fouls on one of their most important defenders early in the game. That will also be important against um VCU, and we'll get into that later. But Dayton Alberry, his best game by far, uh 22 points, converting eight of nine two-point chances and one of three from behind the line. That one three-pointer, I believe, was a bank shot, but at that point everything was falling for the Lobos, so why not? Um, great job by him in this game. Three of three at the foul line where he's lived so far this season, but also had six assists getting his teammates open. Surprisingly, in this one, Jake Hall was not a factor early. Uriah Tanet subbed in him for him actually around the 17-minute mark of the first half. And when Hall was in, his shots were not even coming close. He hit the side of the backboard two times and was just not really effective. So credit Coach Olin for seeing that early, letting Tanet come in early to play alongside Albury instead of taking Albury out for Tanet. Actually, their most efficient lineup is having Tanet and Albury in it by the numbers so far. So I really like Tanet on the floor with Albury. And Tanet finished with uh 15 points in this one to go along with three assists, three big three-pointers for Tanet, and he just has a knack for being in the right place at the right time because he's playing hard all the time. And his defense, even at a small size, he's able to be effective on defense, get steals and run outs, and finish at the rim as well as knock down the three. So very, very um happy to see Tanet continue to grow his role, um, just continue to grow in this on this team. 31 minutes overall in the game for him. Chris Howe, the old man of the team, 24 minutes, but hit two critical three-pointers in the first half when the game was still close. And most of this first half was back and forth with the Lobos extending a little bit of lead before halftime. Hal had a lot to do with that, with his savvy playmaking, knocking down those two three-pointers, did not score in the second half, but his defense obviously was effective with two steals for Chris Howe on top of three assists as well. Other starter Antonio Chole had 30 minutes, 13 points, going three of five from three-point line, um, four of four from the free throw stripe, and one steal for Mr. Chol. Only two rebounds for Antonio, and I would like to see him up that number. It's going to be important for conference play and to just give Bullion some help on the glass. Big night, though, from the other big man, besides Bullion, JT Rock, 12 minutes, but four of four from the field, third or 11 points in total, and three of three from the line. Just a great impactful um 12 minutes from JT Rock. You can tell he's getting more comfortable. He's getting his feet set on his post moves when he's setting the picks. He's not jumping around like he was doing, getting called for offensive fouls as he was doing early in the season. And I think if JT Rock can play 12 to 15 impactful minutes, that's going to be a big bonus for the Lobos because this is definitely one of his better games coming off a good game he he had also at home against Highland. So he's continuing to grow. Kevin Patton got 10 minutes in this one, zero points for Patton, but three rebounds. Didn't get much time at all, but he has been playing better of late as well. And when you look at what the Lobos were able to do to Santa Clara defensively, they were trapping them early on, and actually throughout the game in the corners. Bullion would come over on the help when the Broncos would get the ball in the corners. That would lead to erratic passes or passes that would lead into a turnover or quick three-point shots. Broncos shooting 44 three-pointers in this one, only going 22%, making 10 of those 44 threes. So the Lobos want teams to shoot three-pointers, and we know that the stats show that. And when they're getting them to shoot three-pointers that are not really out of offense that's flowing correctly, then it's harder for other teams to get good looks because they're not coming in rhythm. And the Lobos did that. So hats off to them, also causing 15 turnovers and getting, what was it, 28 or 29 points out of those. So converting those turnovers into fast break points obviously helped big time by Auberry finishing at the rim on a lot of those to net getting runouts, Bullion running the floor at full speed at all times, and converting those defensive either turnovers or sometimes the long three-pointers can act just as well as turnovers because the ball comes off the rim long. The Lobos were able to get a defensive rebound and immediately push it up. Look for shooters or get all the way to the rim. Look for the Lobos to do more of that against VCU on Wednesday. This convincing win ended up being a big time metric booster for the Lobos due to Santa Clara's uh success so far this season and their net ranking. The Lobos moving all the way up to 80 in the net ranking today, Monday, where they were sitting at 114 before defeating Santa Clara over the weekend. So good things for the Lobos here. Just have their report card on how they're doing in the net against teams. Of course, 0-1 in quad one games. Believe that would have been the Nebraska loss, 2-2 in uh or 1-1 in quad 2 games. Believe that would be the New Mexico State loss with the loss, and then quad three win, I'm guessing, is the Mississippi State win, and they are 4-0 in the quad four games, and of course, one and oh versus non-Division I opponents. So Lobos report card not looking too shabby. Um, biggest, I guess, grade of the non-conference season coming up against VCU would be great to see another victory on this report card here. And if the Lobos are able to pull off that victory this Wednesday at VCU, where they will most likely be uh underdog um December 10th in the Siegel Center, as I mentioned earlier. This will check in as a quad one win, as it will be a big game on the road for the Lobos. It would be a quad three win for VCU if they win. And both of these teams really like to get up and run, both in the top 80 as far as tempo goes, total possessions and how many possessions they're getting a game, both scoring similar numbers so far this year with VCU scoring over 84 points a game, only giving up over 70 a game. So a team that likes to get up and down, but mostly known for what they bring defensively and holding people from getting three-point looks up, converting those deep shots. So we'll see how that plays out for New Mexico. But impressive report card for VCU. Only losses coming against Utah State, where they were down double digits most of that game, and actually came back and only lost by three points against the Aggies, also losing to the NC State Wolfpack in a back and forth game where they had opportunities to win, ultimately losing by six to NC State. More recently, a loss coming to Vanderbilt, where they lost by double digits 89 to 74. But coming off two wins as of late over Virginia Tech and a convincing win 86-68, and then defeating Samford last Friday 83-57, giving them a 6-3 record on the year out of the A10 conference. As I mentioned, Coach Phil Martelli Jr. in his first season there last year under uh coach Ryan Odom, who has since moved on. He also was one time coach at Utah State, as we know. Coach Ryan Odom moving on, I believe, to Virginia, if I'm not mistaken. They did win the 8-10 last year and finish first place in the conference, win the conference tournament. They returned 25% of the minutes backed from last year's team, surprisingly, with a new coach and Phil Martelli Jr. and 16% of the scoring from last year. The Rams will be led by 6'6 senior guard, a transfer from Oregon, Jadarian Tracy. He comes in so far this season, averaging 12 points, four rebounds, shooting over 40% from three-point land on over five attempts per game, but somehow only is shooting 63% at the free throw line. Also does turn the ball over over three times per game, but he is a big time starter for them, can catch fire, and that is Judarian Tracy down low, big man from Serbia, Lazar Djokovic. He's a 6'11 junior. He's a transfer from the College of Charleston. I believe he also played at Xavier before that. He is a big man that can bang down low, block shots, can stretch it on offense, shoot the three-ball if he needs to. Comes in averaging 11 points and five rebounds a game. And Djokovic, his matchup with Bulyan will be critical. I think if Bullion's able to use his savviness to get Djokovic in foul trouble early in the first half or at any point in the game, that would be a big loss for VCU. And Bullion would be able to take advantage, whoever the second string guy coming is. Freshman guard for the Rams, Nick Lewis. He's a six foot-one scoring guards, averaging over nine or yeah, nine points a game, three rebounds, and he is a dog on the court. He's a pest on defense, playing 100 miles an hour at all times, shooting over 35% from three-point line so far this season for him. Um, joining Djokovic down low will be Barry Evans. He is a transfer from Bryant, who came with Coach Phil Martelli, who was coaching at Bryant last year. He's a physical big man that's athletic, standing at 6'8. He's able to guard the perimeter, but also bang down low and hammer home hard dunks with put back rebounds, whatever he needs to do to really battle down low. He comes in averaging over nine points a game, six rebounds, and shooting over 42% from the field. So finding somebody to put a body on Barry Evans will be critical for the Lobos as he is their leading rebounder so far. In the backcourt, Brandon Jennings, he's a great defensive player, making plays all over the court. He's a six foot-four guard, averaging over seven points a game, about three rebounds, shooting over 50% from the field, really known for his defense, being a pest on the ball, creating havoc, and just being tough out there for the Rams. Starting um with their bench players here, their leading scorer actually comes off the bench, and that's Terrence Hill Jr. He's a six foot three returning guard who they were able to retain there. He plays 17 minutes a game off the bench, but averages over 13 points a game so far. And he is somebody that can just catch fire. The Lobos are gonna have to know where he is and locate Mr. Hill at all times. They like to look for him in transition, much like the Lobos look for Jake Hall in the corners. Terrence Hill for the Rams will go to the corner. They will look for him among other spots. So the Lobos need to know where Hill is when he's on the court, shooting over 34% from deep to get those 13 points per game. Six foot six guard off also coming off the bench as another key player. Tyrell Ward. He's a transfer from LSU. Actually, did not play all of last year. Um so he's coming back after not playing basketball for over 500 days. So he's a little rusty at this point, but look for him to improve. He's averaging six points a game, three rebounds, but shooting 48% from deep. So very capable shooter among the starters out there. So the Rams really loaded a deep roster, and when one player really isn't coming up in a game, Martelli just plugs in somebody else, and thus far it has been working for them in most of their games. So let's look at some numbers for when the New Mexico offense will have the ball against the stout VCU defense who comes in ranked 15th nationally in defensive efficiency. The Lobos offense continues to move up the efficiency charts on offense. They come in at the 107th best offense, going up against this VCU defense that will play. Man-to-man a lot. They want to switch everything on the outside and provide a lot of help side defense. And that's where they'll be vulnerable in all their help side and their denials of the ball. The Lobos have to be able to create driving lanes so they can kick out as there will be open shooters. I think it kind of fits into what the Lobos want to do offensively, but they have to be making shots if they're going to keep this game within reach versus the Rams. So a big key of this VCU defense is they do not give up a lot of three-point attempts, and they do not allow teams to shoot uh the three-pointer at a high clip. They come in at uh the 12th ranked team in the nation as far as the amount of three-pointers they give up per game, only giving up 31% of shots from deep. And the Lobos come in being a team that want to shoot a lot of threes. So if the Lobos aren't able to get up good looks from three, they have to find other ways to score. I think the free throw line will be critical for UNM as they've shot fairly well there, about 74% so far this year at the line for the Lobos. I think they will have the advantage as the better free throw shooting team if this does can't come down to a um you know close game down the stretch where free throws are ever important. So that three-point defense of VCU is gonna be interesting to see how the Lobos counteract it and if they try to hoist a lot of threes or similar to this last game, if they kind of limit the threes and try to get the ball more inside to the paint. So now looking at the matchup of the New Mexico defense versus the VCU offense, New Mexico will probably want VCU to settle for bad three-point looks as New Mexico's strategy thus far this year is to allow their opponents to get a lot of three-point attempts, averaging almost 54% of the looks of opponents from deep so far. That's almost best in the country in that regard. But they don't want good looks, obviously, for VCU. They don't want the ball to kick out to players off of drives or paint touches because that means the New Mexico defense will be shifting. They want to be in control of where the ball is going for VCU. Look for that trap from Bullion to try to create havoc. Of course, Auberry and Tanet pestering guys up top, trying to throw VCU out of their offense so they can't get in rhythm looks. But I think VCU will hoist up a lot of threes. The question will be what kind of threes will they be? And will they be contested to a point where it's challenging for VCU to not hit a high clip of them? And how often will VCU get to the line and actually make free throws in this game? As they do come in as a team that gets to the line a lot, number 25 in terms of free throws attempted per field goal attempted, but their percentage that they're making at the free throw stripe falls below 70% right now. So not a good foul shooting team, but they do get there a lot. So they're getting a good amount of their points at the foul line because at this point it's either three-pointer or getting all the way to the hoop as they shoot only 40% of their points from two-point field goals. This is what the Lobos really want teams to do. So can they play their style well enough to get VCU to miss enough shots, cause enough turnovers, and get run outs for the Lobos to create their own offense like they did in a fantastic fashion against Santa Clara? If you check Ken Pom today, they have the Rams favored by about eight points. I would expect the Las Vegas Books to also have VCU favored at home by eight or nine points. I think the Lobos can easily cover that. It'll really come down to communication on defense. Can they have that same intensity that they've been feeding off of from the pick crowd? Can they feed off their own energy, being that road dog, being the villain? Can they um, you know, bring that all together with them and put together a full 40 minutes, something they really had not done until this last game against Santa Clara? I'm gonna say the Lobos can do that. I think they can win this game if they knock down enough perimeter shots and take care of the ball, their defense right now, causing enough turnovers to keep New Mexico in the game, hitting three double-digit runs in that game against Santa Clara. And I think things are clicking right now for Coach Eric Olin and the Lobos, and he's really pressing all the right buttons with this team as he's figuring out when to play guys and what their roles will be. I think the bench will be more important as this one as VCU goes very deep, and they will have guys stepping up. If the Lobos need to go nine deep, I think this might be the game we see that with all nine being impactful, hopefully. So I will get out of here. Appreciate everyone that's followed along checking in with us here on the Cherry Heat Check. I will have a um post-game wrap-up pod once this one ends, and really looking forward to it talking to you guys out on Twitter and over the airwaves here. And I will check you guys out on the next one. Thank you.