The University of New Mexico Lobo Men and Women’s basketball teams returned to The Pit for their opening event of the preseason: The Lobo Howl — the first time in seven years the event has been held.
The Howl introduced fans to the new men’s basketball Head Coach Eric Olen, along with the entirely new team he assembled. Fans also met the head coach of the women’s team, Mike Bradbury, and his team of seven new faces and six returners.
“It’s a great opportunity to engage with fans, and let them see our players for a little bit. Obviously, we don’t start for another month, but it’s cool to get a little taste of it here in early October,” Olen said.
The exhibition, hosted on Saturday, Oct. 4, featured a number of festivities including a skills competition, a three-point contest and a dunk contest.
The skills competition was a team timed obstacle course where each member, one after the other, went down the court, hit passes in a net, dribbled through cones, then hit a layup on the respective end twice. Forward Jessie Joaquim and guard Tajavis Miller won the competition with a time of 57.7 seconds against guards Chris Howell and Destinee Hooks, despite having the best time of round one with 51.8 seconds.
The 3-point contest format was a one-versus-one tournament competing to be the first to seven 3-pointers on both the men and women’s side, with the respective winners facing off in the finale. In the end, guard Kaia Foster beat out guard Jake Hall to win the contest.
“I was super confident in myself, I’ve been putting work in here so I just showed y’all,” Foster said.
The dunk contest was a close call as all participants had two dunks in round one to impress the judges, with the two best combined scores meeting in the finals.
In the finals, guard Kevin Patton Jr. faced off against guard Uriah Tenette, with only one dunk, though it was not easy, as both tied with 30 points, sending it to another round with Tenette taking the win.
Olen had high praise of Patton Jr. and his team during their performance at the dunk contest.
“Kevin (Patton Jr.) did some great stuff. I thought (Deyton Albury) had a pretty tough grade, I thought he had some good ones, so those guys make a lot of plays. They’re fun to watch everyday in practice, so nothing they did out here surprised us but more for the fans to see it,” Olen said.
The vibes of Lobo Basketball were positive as they gear up toward their upcoming season. The Lobo men’s basketball team will play their preseason opener on the road against Washington State University on Oct. 25, and their regular season opener Nov. 5 at home versus East Texas A&M University. The Lobo women’s basketball team start their preseason at home against Adams State University on Oct. 22, and their regular season Nov. 3 versus Northern Arizona University.
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Alex Joe is a freelance videographer at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com and on X @DailyLobo
