ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team remained unbeaten at home this season with a 78-58 victory over Wyoming on Saturday night at The Pit. The Lobos (11-3, 2-1 MW) dominated the second half to down the Cowboys (10-4, 1-2 MW) and record their 20th straight home win.
Tomislav Buljan led the way for New Mexico, scoring a career-high 25 points on 11-13 shooting to go with 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. Uriah Tenette added 14 points off the bench and Luke Haupt scored 10 points. Deyton Albury matched a season high with seven assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams got off to a quick start offensively with the game tied 9-9 after four minutes of play. Wyoming took a 16-11 lead with 13:15 to play and held an 18-16 lead at the midway point of the half. A 6-0 Cowboy run gave them a 24-18 lead with 7:15 to play, a lead that grew to 29-22 with 6:00 left. The Lobos used a 10-0 run to retake the lead, 32-29, with 1:55 left. New Mexico would take a 34-31 lead into halftime, with Buljan having 13 points and five rebounds to lead UNM in the first half.
In the second half, Jake Hall made back-to-back threes to push the lead to 40-31 and force a Cowboy timeout with 18:17 to play. The lead grew to 48-34 with 15:00 left as the Lobos went on an 8-0 run, and matched that advantage at 55-41 with 12:00 to play. UNM held a 57-44 lead at the midway point of the half before taking a 64-49 lead with 8:00 left. The Lobos pushed the lead to 76-53 with 2:20 left with a 10-0 run before closing out the 20-point victory.
LOBO NOTES
• New Mexico’s 20-game home win streak is the fifth longest in program history and longest since a 22-game home win streak from Dec. 2004 to Feb. 2006 (it is also T-5th longest current active streak in the nation)
• Buljan becomes the third Lobo freshman to post a 25-point/10-rebound game, joining Kenny Thomas (twice in 1995-96) and JT Toppin (twice in 2023-24)
• Buljan’s 11-13 FGs (.846) was third-best FG percentage ever by a Lobo in a Mountain West game (min 10 FGs), and best by a freshman (trailing only Nelly Junior Joseph’s 11-12 FG vs. Utah State in 2024 and Sam Logwood’s 11-12 FGs at Wyoming in 2018)
• The Lobos’ 15 assists were a season-high allowed by Wyoming (previous high 11), who entered the game leading the nation in lowest assist percentage
• Attendance was 13,763, a season high at The Pit
• It was the first meeting between New Mexico and Wyoming since 2015 with both teams ranked in the KenPom Top 100
QUOTABLE
“It was a good performance tonight. I thought we found our rhythm after the second media timeout and played well defensively after that point. It was nice to see the ball go in the basket. We were able to force some more turnovers in the second half and I thought that was key to creating the separation.” – Eric Olen
UP NEXT
The Lobos will travel next week to Colorado for a pair of games, visiting Colorado State on Tuesday (7pm) and Air Force on Saturday (1pm). Both games will air on the Mountain West Network.