The NIT’s semifinals tip off tonight at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, and I want to look at the first game of No. 1 seed New Mexico vs. No. 1 Tulsa at 7 ET on ESPN because that should be more competitive than the nightcap featuring No. 4 Illinois State against No. 1 Auburn. The winners face off in Sunday’s championship game, which moves to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indy, and I expect that to be the Lobos and Tigers.
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New Mexico (26-10, 21-14 ATS) of the Mountain West, which had a case for an NCAA Tournament spot before a late-season fade, was the winner of the Albuquerque Region of the NIT, and is clearly the best team in it. The Lobos beat Sam Houston, George Washington and Saint Joseph’s, all by at least 15 points at the Pit. I previewed that Hawks game last Tuesday here at CBS Sports and recommended SJU alt +16.5 and alt Under 161.5 at a parlay price of -125. We sweated a tad, but it cashed with UNM prevailing 84-69. Didn’t seem to be an ATS worry at the half with Saint Joseph’s up 39-37.
Tomislav Buljan led New Mexico in that one with a career-high 27 points to go with 11 rebounds, his 17th double-double of the season. Star freshman Jake Hall added 24 points. Those two freshmen carry coach Eric Olen’s club … and will be very expensive to keep in the offseason. Frankly, I doubt either will still be with the program.
Hall had his 11th 20-point game and became the all-time leading freshman scorer in Mountain West history with 585 points, breaking the previous record of 564 by UNLV‘s Anthony Bennett in 2012-13. Bennett of course was then the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 draft by Cleveland. Hall, the Mountain West Freshman of the Year, has made a school-record 116 3-pointers, fourth-most by a freshman in Division I history.
Buljan had his third 25/10 game of the season, trailing only Duke superstar Cameron Boozer (six) for the most by a freshman nationally. Among players who played three games in this year’s NIT, Buljan (21.0 ppg) and Hall (19.0 ppg) are the tournament’s top two scorers. Another freshman in Uriah Tenette is leading the NIT in assist/turnover ratio at 13.0.
The Lobos have trailed for just 6:29 of 120:00. Their +21.33 average scoring margin over the first three rounds is the largest in the event since 2008. UNM is the first team since San Diego State in 2016 to advance to the NIT semifinals with three wins by at least 15 points and has reached this round for the third time overall and first since 1990.
I generally prefer to lean Under an alternate total but chose to go Over an alt here because the Lobos are averaging a whopping 92.3 points in this tournament, most over the event’s first three rounds since Oklahoma (94.3 PPG) in 1991. That team lost in the final. Tonight will be New Mexico’s first-ever game in April.
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Tulsa (27-9, 17-17 ATS) of the American Athletic Conference is having its first winning season since 2019-20 and hosted the Tulsa Region in the first three rounds. The Golden Hurricane haven’t had it nearly as easy as New Mexico did, with two of their three wins in the NIT by five points or fewer (one in OT). They knocked off conference rival Wichita State last Tuesday to get here.
The primary starting five of David Green, Tylen Riley, Miles Barnstable, Ade Popoola and Tyler Behrend leads the American Conference with a rating of plus-172. That ranks them third in the country as a group. Tulsa’s 381 made 3-pointers have not just shattered the school record but broke the 2018-19 Houston squad’s AAC record of 337.
The Golden Hurricane are one of 10 schools nationally to have at least 25 games this season scoring 80-plus points and are 24-1 in those games. Only NCAA Tournament Final Four foes Arizona (26-0) and Michigan (25-1) have a better record in such games.
The program is in the semifinals of the NIT for the third time in history and won it the previous two times (1981 and 2001). Head coach Eric Konkol was a student assistant at Tulsa on that 2001 team that beat Alabama, 79-60, in the NIT title game.
New Mexico leads the all-time series 2-1, but they haven’t played since 1998. The Lobos are +210 second favorites to win the NIT behind Auburn (+110) – they were the two favorites when the event tipped off. Tulsa is +380, a nice jump from an open of +1000. As of this writing, Auburn is taking the most Yes shares to win it at Kalshi with 44%.
DraftKings single-game parlay (-115)
- New Mexico ML
- Alt Over 149.5
The SportsLine Projection model has UNM 81-77, Torvik has it 84-82 and Haslem 81-76. KenPom ranks the Lobos at No. 44 nationally and the Golden Hurricane 58th. Tulsa is 1-5 ATS in its past six games, while New Mexico is 5-0-1 ATS in its past six. Check out NIT and other expert picks in the daily newsletter.
