Oct. 25 – UNM Lobo senior forward Mustapha Amzil hopes the start of this season won’t be the same as it was at this point a year ago.

Amzil, a versatile 6-foot-9 forward who came to UNM and was known as an outside shot threat, went an agonizingly poor 1-for-21 from 3-point range in the Lobos’ first 10 games – drawing audible gasps from Pit fans getting louder and louder with every shot he made.

Will he change his approach knowing how bad things were a year ago?

“Not really. I’m just trying to build on what I completed last year and keep getting better,” Amzil said. “I feel like I can get a lot better. … The attitude is still the same every day, I’m just focused on getting better.”

His start to the season was so poor that Amzil went from being a starter in the first two games of the season to being a healthy starter after the win at New Mexico State in Las Cruces on December 15, the team’s 11th game.

All he did after that was quietly develop into one of the best reserve players in the west of the country and earn the 6th place award. Mountain West Man of the Year.

In those first ten games, Amzil averaged 2.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and shot 4.8% from distance. In the next 25 games he played, Amzil averaged 8.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 36.0% shooting from 3-point range. And it wasn’t just his play that won the respect of coaches, teammates and fans, but also his uncompromising way of getting through this public crisis.

The respect has grown so much that he was one of three players voted team captain by his teammates this year, along with junior guard Donovan Dent and senior transfer guard CJ Noland.

He has been captain of the Finnish junior national team for years. A Dayton transfer, Amzil is a captain in college for the first time.

“It’s just an honor,” Amzil said. “My teammates trust me. I think I’m one of the older guys on the team now, so I have experience that I can use to help anyone.”

He said his experience gave him new confidence. Well, that and something else.

“I think my English has gotten better too,” Amzil joked. “I can talk more.”

RIP, ABDUR-RAHIM: Thursday’s news that South Florida coach Amir Abdur-Rahim died unexpectedly at age 43 shocked college basketball circles.

Few are as tough as UNM assistant head coach Isaac Chew.

Chew and Abdur-Rahim and their families are close. In fact, Abdur-Rahim has publicly indicated that it was a conversation he had with Chew that led him to the decision to go all out as a basketball coach.

Abdur-Rahim spent two years as a graduate assistant at Murray State in Kentucky, while Chew was a young assistant coach.

“He said to me, ‘You could be really good at this, but you can’t have one foot in and one foot out,'” Abdur-Rahim said in an article on Kennesaw State University’s website about being the first of these school is. Year head coach in 2019. “It lit a fire under me.”

Abdur-Rahim led Kennesaw State to the NCAA Tournament four years later before taking the USF job.

He and Chew were assistant coaches at Murray State (2008-2011 after Abdur-Rahim graduated there) and again at Texas A&M (2016-18).

Another assistant on that Murray State team was Steve Prohm, who is now the head coach of the Racers, which this season includes redshirt third-year guard Patrick Chew, Isaac’s son.

MOUNTAIN MEN: The CBS Sports team released its annual “Top 100 and 1” players list on Thursday. There were plenty of Mountain West representatives, counting the several players who at least started in the league.

The three current Mountain West players who made the cut were Boise State forward Tyson Degenhart, who checked in at No. 41; UNM point guard Donovan Dent (81); and UNLV point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. with 96.

Of Dent, reporter Kyle Boone wrote: “Dent is a big name who could have moved up but instead stayed loyal to New Mexico. He is one of the best players in the Mountain West on a Lobos team that could contend for the top spot in the league.”

Six other former Mountain West players were added to the list, including former Texas Tech Lobo JT Toppin (No. 38). The others: No. 15 Great Oobor, Washington (was at Utah State); No. 52 Graham Ike, Gonzaga (was at Wyoming); No. 62 Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State (was at UNLV); No. 75 Darrion Williams, Texas Tech (was at Nevada); and No. 89 Max Shugla, VCU (was at Utah State University).

The Lobos are scheduled to play seven players on the CBS Top 100 and 1 list: No. 14 Kadary Richardson, St. John’s; Degenhart at 41; No. 60 Deivon Smith, St. John’s; No. 88 Dylan Andrews, UCLA; Shugla at 89; Thomas at 96; and No. 100 Kobe Johnson, UCLA.