A few reasons why No. 25 UNM isn't taking San Jose State for granted

Jan. 23—Richard Pitino, and pretty much all coaches, insist they don't care how wins come, just that they come.

So the fact that Pitino's No. 25 UNM Lobos (16-3, 4-2 Mountain West) have won three consecutive Mountain West games by double-digits — with wins over then-No. 19 San Diego State, then-No. 16 Utah State and on the road at Air Force — for the first time in a decade (the last such stretch in the 2013-14 season) doesn't mean as much to him as it might to others.

While such a stretch of blowouts might be better on the blood pressure than the alternative, coaches like Pitino know the hot streaks don't last forever.

Next up for the Lobos is Wednesday night's Mountain West road opponent, the San Jose State Spartans, who have a league record of 1-4.

Should be an easy one at the old Provident Credit Union Event Center, especially for a newly ranked team like the Lobos, right?

Not exactly.

"Every game — they're all hard. They really are," Pitino said, referring in particular to the grind of conference play. "... You just treat them like one game Super Bowls. You try to learn from all this. You try to continue to get better, get rest. Then, just one-game championships. San Jose, Coach (Tim) Miles has done an amazing job. They're talented, they can score, they can shoot."

Coachspeak, right?

These Spartans are a deceiving team, however, if all you do is look at the standings.

Entering the midweek slate of games in the Mountain West, nine of the league's 29 games this season have been decided by one possession (three points or fewer) or in overtime, giving the league a "close game" rate of 31.0%. That's the third highest among the country's 32 conferences.

San Jose State has been a part of four of those nine close losses:

Jan. 2: Buzzer-beater loss at Wyoming, 74-73.

Jan. 9: Loss in the final 10 seconds vs. then-No. 19 San Diego State, 81-78.

Jan. 13: Buzzer-beater win at Air Force, 70-67.

Jan. 16: Buzzer-beater loss at Fresno State, 85-82.

The only league game San Jose State played that wasn't decided in the final seconds was a loss to Boise State in which the Spartans led almost all game until under five minutes remaining.

SAY WHAT?!

OK, so maybe we've been saying it wrong. Or, at least a lot of us, anyway.

Lobo forward Mustapha Amzil, the 6-foot-9 forward from Finland, when asked on the preferred pronunciation of his first name said it is "MOOSTA-fa" as opposed to the more commonly heard "Mu-STOF-fa" that he says is a more English way of saying his name.

"Either way, I don't really mind," he said during a conversation in Episode 76 of the Talking Grammer podcast, which was posted Tuesday online at ABQJournal.com, YouTube or wherever you download podcasts.

Those of us who write his name regularly are in the clear, but if you're talking to or about Amzil at the next Lobo game, or yelling at the TV when they play San Jose State, now you know.

The rest of the podcast with Amzil covers plenty of ground, including his shaking off a rough start to the season to becoming one of the best players off the bench in the Mountain West conference.

After not reaching double-digit scoring in UNM's first 11 games (he played in 10 and did not get off the bench in the 11th), Amzil has since scored in double figures in six of the last eight games and his current four-game streak of scoring 10 or more points makes him the first Lobo to do that off the bench in league play since Alfred Neal did it in the 2003-04 season.

Per UNM, bench players Canonchet Neves (1992-93) and Willie Banks (1988-89) had four-game double-digit scoring stretches in WAC play for the Lobos.

DANGEROUS NUMBER? Some people are happy about recognition for a job well done.

And some people are sports fans.

While Monday's news that the UNM Lobos bring into the national rankings, earning the No. 25 spot in both the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Top 25 polls this week, more than a few made sure to let local sports talk radio and any social media account they could log on to bemoan the ranking as a sure sign of bad things to come — not fond of the "bullseye" it now places on the Lobos.

So, here are the numbers. The Lobos went almost a decade between national rankings until last year's tremendous start to the season landed them in the AP Top 25 on Dec. 26 after a 12-0 start. As a ranked team last year, they went 3-3.

Dec. 26, 2022 (No. 22): W, vs. Colorado State; W, at WyomingJan. 2, 2023 (No. 21): L, at Fresno State; L, vs. UNLVJan. 23, 2023 (No. 25): L (2OT), at Nevada; W, vs. Air Force

The Lobos play two games this week at No. 25: Wednesday at San Jose State and Sunday in the Pit vs. Nevada.

WHAT RANKINGS GET YOU: So, about all that recognition and respect that comes with a national ranking.

Tuesday, across the country, media outlets that are members of the Associated Press, including the Journal, that get daily television listings saw this notation for Wednesday night's college basketball broadcast schedule:

"9 p.m. (MT) — CBSSN — New Mexico St. at San Jose St."

(The Journal fixed the listing in its print edition before it published).