Richard Pitino is not as intense as his father. The two have different demeanors, different daily routines (at 72 years old, Rick is still working out before sunrise), different leadership styles. Richard’s approach to coaching is “less volatile,” as he tells Hoops HQ. “I would say Coach K and [my dad] are the two best coaches to ever coach the game, so I don’t want to act as though I don’t like his style,” Richard adds. “It’s just not me. I mean, when you lose a game when you play or coach under my dad, it’s like World War III. Legitimately the sky is falling. The highs are very high and the lows are very low and that’s worked for him. I just can’t live my life that way mentally, whereas he can operate through that and get the guys to be better.”
Their styles may be different, but the results have been the same: the Pitinos can’t stop winning. In much the same way that Rick has turned things around at St. John’s, Richard has rebuilt New Mexico into a force in the Mountain West. When he took over the program in 2021, the Lobos had not won 20 games since 2013-14. After Saturday’s victory at Air Force, they have now reached that mark in three consecutive years. “If you want to build a great culture, to me, it’s all about the people that you hire and the players that you recruit,” Pitino says. “So I work very, very hard on that part of it.”
New Mexico currently sits atop the league at 12-1 (20-4 overall). Ten days ago, the Lobos dominated Utah State, another contender for the conference regular season title, on the road. Then they breezed past Colorado State, 87-65, at The Pit.
Last season, the Lobos finished 26-10 and won the Mountain West Tournament. Pitino made his third appearance in the NCAA Tournament as a head coach — he went twice during his tenure at Minnesota (2013-21). In the off-season, New Mexico lost three of its top players. Fifth-year guard Jaelen House, the team’s leading scorer, graduated. Senior guard Jamal Mashburn Jr., who averaged 14.1 points per game, transferred to Temple. And freshman star JT Toppin, an All-MWC selection, transferred to Texas Tech.
Pitino’s staff was under the impression that Toppin would either be leaving for the NBA or returning to Albuquerque, but on the last day of the portal, the 6-foot-9 forward decided to join the Red Raiders. To make matters worse, the program had secured a commitment from Missouri guard John Tonje, who then changed his mind and signed with Wisconsin.
My Day With Rick Pitino: Get Up, Show Up, Try to Keep Up
The Hall of Fame coach, now 72 and in his second season at St. John’s, hasn’t slowed one bit
Thus, New Mexico’s success this season largely hinged on the team’s key returners: 6-foot-2 junior guard Donovan Dent, 6-foot-10 senior center Nelly Junior Joseph, 6-foot-9 junior forward Mustapha Amzil and 6-foot-4 sophomore guard Tru Washington. “They had very productive summers and falls,” Pitino says. “They know the system. They’re comfortable with it. And I think they were ready to just hit the ground running without us having to teach them all brand new things.”
All four players have thrived in their new roles, particularly Dent and Junior Joseph. Like his father, Richard wants his teams to play fast and Dent is New Mexico’s engine. The Lobos have ranked in the top 25 in adjusted tempo every season under Pitino, according to KenPom. This year, they are fourth. Dent has been handed the keys to the offense and he has taken full advantage. “I’m honestly not surprised that his game has elevated because he’s the quarterback right now and he’s elite in ball screens and he’s really good at finishing,” Pitino says. “Did I think he’d have some 30-plus games? I don’t know if I thought that.”
Heading into Wednesday’s contest against Wyoming, Dent is averaging 19.6 points (on 49.7 percent shooting), 6.5 assists and 1.5 steals. He has scored 30 or more on three occasions, including a masterful 40-point performance in a win over VCU in mid-December. He also ranks ninth in the country in assists per game. “I just think that Donovan has a special gift to read the floor,” New Mexico senior guard CJ Noland, who averages 8.6 points off the bench, tells Hoops HQ. “He sees the defense in a totally different way than [most] players do.”
Pitino’s offensive system is more conceptual than rigid. The players are afforded a lot of freedom to take whatever the defense gives them. A major reason that Dent, Noland and many others have excelled at UNM is because Pitino instills confidence in them to make plays. “The biggest thing about Coach Pitino is the trust that he has in his players,” says Noland, who played at Oklahoma and North Texas before transferring to New Mexico this past off-season. “You always want to play for a coach that has confidence in you and has trust in you. Ultimately, that makes the players play better.” Noland scored a team-high 19 points on 7 of 7 shooting in the Lobos’ win over Colorado State last week. Overall, New Mexico’s offense ranks 16th in the country in points per game (83.7).
As Pitino-led teams tend to do, the Lobos are forcing a lot of turnovers, which helps them get out in transition. They average 9.0 steals per game, led by Washington’s 2.0, and 16.9 fastbreak points (sixth in the U.S.). They have also been elite on the glass, despite losing Toppin. Junior Joseph is averaging 11.0 boards (fourth in the nation), to go along with 13.8 points and 1.6 blocks. When he transferred to New Mexico ahead of the 2023-24 campaign, the big man briefly went home to his native Nigeria and got stuck there because of a visa issue. His arrival in Albuquerque was delayed until the middle of October, hampering his ability to mesh with the team. He has flourished this year in large part because he had a full training camp.
Before joining the Lobos, Junior Joseph played for Rick Pitino at Iona for three seasons, where he went 64-22 and won two MAAC regular season championships. He transferred to Richard’s program after Rick left for St. John’s.“I think he was comfortable with me,” Richard says. “He’s got a great relationship with my dad. I think he really trusts me.”
The passionate Lobos fan base has rallied around Richard’s team. The Pit, which consistently gets crowds over 13,000, ranks second in KenPom’s home court advantage estimates. New Mexico is in position to win the Mountain West and could surprise people come March. (Hoops HQ’s bracketologist Brad Wachtel has the Lobos as a No. 10 seed right now.).
“It’s fun to be sitting atop the standings, but the [conference] champion is not crowned until the first or second week of March, so we have to understand that,” Pitino says. “But the vibe is good. I think when you taste success early in the process like we did, whether it was the NIT in year two [or the] NCAA Tournament in year three, that’s what you want. You want it to be about winning.”
For the Pitinos, it usually is.
