Cold-shooting Lobos fall to Tulsa in NIT semifinal
INDIANAPOLIS — A chance to cut down the nets fell two games short of happening for the New Mexico men’s basketball team. The Lobos dug themselves a first-half hole in Thursday night’s NIT semifinals against Tulsa and never had enough to get over the hump in a 74-69 loss at Hinkle Fieldhouse. UNM was seeking the first postseason championship in school history in what was its third appearance in the NIT semifinals.
“We didn’t have our fastball tonight,” Lobos coach Eric Olen said. Tulsa moves into Sunday’s championship at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Lobos’ season ends with a 26-11 record — and a flurry of question marks in the days and weeks ahead.
The transfer portal opens Tuesday, and a number of key players have big decisions to make about where they'll play next. New Mexico center Tomislav Buljan had one of the roughest outings of his apparently brief Lobos career, finishing with nine points and seven rebounds on 4-for-13 shooting. Facing an uncertain future with his eligibility as a 23-year-old freshman with a handful of professional seasons in Europe under his belt, he said afterward he's not sure what comes next.
He and Mountain West freshman of the year Jake Hall struggled shooting the ball against a Tulsa defense that blocked a season-high seven shots. “We didn’t have the energy we usually do at the start of games, and they got out early on us,” Hall said. “We never really bounced back from that.
” Hall had a team-high 18 points but missed nine of his 10 attempts from 3-point range. Arguably the biggest miss of the night was a wide-open 3-point shot from the top of the key in a 59-59 game with just over four minutes remaining. It would have given the Lobos their first lead of the second half, but it kickstarted a decisive 8-0 run by the Golden Hurricane.