Former UCSD coach Eric Olen and his analytics-based approach face old-school Aztecs in Viejas Arena

by Mark Zeigler

Eric Olen, who grew up Alabama and spent more than two decades coaching basketball at UC San Diego, is adjusting to the high desert living of Albuquerque, N.M., enjoying the sweeping views from his home in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains and developing a preference for green chiles over red, the eternal state question.

And New Mexico’s fanbase is adjusting to him, to a less experienced, less athletic, less physically imposing roster than past Lobos teams and an almost religious devotion to an analytics-based system that took UCSD to a 30-5 record and the NCAA Tournament in its first season as a fully-fledged Division I member.

“I like our group,” said Olen, who was hired in April to replace Richard Pitino and has entirely new roster and coaching staff. “They’ve done a good job of buying in. We’ve just been improving as the year goes on. We’re playing some pretty good basketball right now, but we’re going to get tested like we haven’t so far, so we’ll learn a lot about ourselves.”

That starts Saturday at Viejas Arena (5 p.m., CBS Sports Network), when Olen’s 14-3 Lobos play a hot San Diego State team that has won six straight and nine of 10, most recently a convincing 74-57 decision on the road at 7,220 feet against a Wyoming team that was 9-1 and averaging 90.6 points at home.

The Lobos are 5-1 in the Mountain West. The Aztecs are 6-0, tied for first with Utah State.

But this game is more than just another date in an endless, 20-game conference schedule, offering a homecoming for seemingly half of New Mexico’s players and coaches.

Olen spent 21 years at UCSD, the last 12 as head coach guiding the Tritons from Division II to a near-upset of Michigan in the NCAA Tournament last year.

Olen took most of his staff with him. Carlsbad High School’s Jake Hall and Arizona prep star Uriah Tenette, who had both committed to UCSD, followed him as well. So did forward Chris Howell, a Torrey Pines High School alum who started for the Tritons last season. So did Saint Augustine High School alum Luke Haupt, who spent five years at Division II Point Loma Nazarene. So did former USD wing Kevin Patton Jr.

Many of them arrive at Viejas Arena – likely the Lobos’ final trip here for the foreseeable future with Aztecs headed to the Pac-12 next season – with shoulder chips, overlooked by SDSU recruiters.

“I’m sure there will be some emotions for guys coming back to San Diego,” Olen said. “But it also feels different in another way. When you’re at UC San Diego, you’re going across the street to play an exhibition game versus this is a conference game at the top of the standings that means a lot.

“Being in a league with them and having the game matter in a different way feels like it trumps the other things, at least for me personally.”

New Mexico head coach Eric Olen celebrates a basket during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Mississippi State, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Beyond implications on the title race and NCAA Tournament at-large resumes, there is the undercurrent of another storyline — a tantalizing clash of playing styles and basketball philosophies, modern vs. established, numbers vs. feel, tangible vs. intangible, fit vs. physique.

Olen and UCSD assistant Clint Allard operated in the shadows for years, experimenting and refining an analytics-based system that borrows from the NBA’s obsession with statistics and marries that with an unorthodox matchup zone defense that Allard learned in a season at Cal Poly under head coach (and UCSD alum) Greg Kamansky.

Their success this season in separate programs with almost entirely rebuilt rosters has served as validation that they’re doing something right. Olen’s Lobos have climbed into the top 50 of the Kenpom metric and are challenging for a Mountain West title after being picked fifth in the preseason media poll. Allard replaced Olen at UCSD, lost all five starters and is 13-5 after opening the season 10-1.

“I feel like we evolved over time,” Olen said. “I feel like we learned a lot about what we believe in and landed on some things we’re pretty convicted in. We have some conviction in how we do things.”

Said Allard: “The fun part about college basketball in this era is the information is at your fingertips. We try to maximize it and use it, and know our guys are smart and can handle a lot that we throw at them. … That formula worked for us here. It seems a similar thing has worked for Eric at New Mexico.”

On offense, they space the floor, often with all five players positioned across the perimeter, opening lanes for dribble drives that lead to layups or kick outs for open 3-pointers — statistically the two most favorable shots. New Mexico and UCSD both rank in the top 20 nationally in the shortest average distance for 2-point attempts, meaning they largely forego the mid-range jumpers that analytics frown on.

On defense, they confuse opponents with a mix of matchup zone and switching man — a zone with man-to-man principles, man-to-man with zone principles — that lures them into launching, and missing, an inordinate amount of 3s. New Mexico’s opponents attempt 50.6% of shots behind the arc, more than all but six of the 365 teams in Div. I, and make 28.8%, 11th lowest.

“I think you’re seeing more of it,” Olen said of their approach. “When you look at people’s numbers, you see more teams with analytically-friendly profiles, so to speak. I do think that’s making its way more and more into college basketball. You’re also seeing more coaches with NBA backgrounds coming to college basketball. The landscape is changing.”

He also adds this: “I like that there are different ways to do it. I like hearing about how other people think about it.”

Unlike the NBA, where one team looks like the next, college basketball still offers a variety of ways to skin a cat.

The Lobos rank 26th nationally in defensive efficiency. The Aztecs play exclusively man-to-man with a long, athletic, physical roster recruited for that purpose, and are 27th.

The Lobos rank 83rd in offensive efficiency. The Aztecs, with a more traditional approach of low-post touches and mid-range jumpers, are 79th.

“Sometimes as a coach, you have to have a feel for your team to keep their confidence up,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. “I believe in the metrics, but I also believe in what I see from each individual player and try to get them the best they can be.

“There are different ways to play, and obviously that will be on display (Saturday) night.”

Adversarial styles, but not an adversarial relationship.

Olen talks about how as a young assistant at UCSD, Dutcher and previous SDSU coach Steve Fisher “made me feel as a peer” and “I’ve always appreciated them on that level more than anything.”

Dutcher routinely scheduled the Tritons in exhibitions when they were Div. II and entered into a three-game series with once they began the transition to Division I, even agreeing to play a nonconference road game at LionTree Arena — something programs of SDSU’s stature almost never do.

“A lot of respect for him and the job he’s done, and will continue to do,” Dutcher said of the 45-year-old Olen. “He’s a lot younger than I am. He’s got a lot longer career ahead of him than I do. But I’m happy for him and the success he’s had.

“Hopefully, he won’t have any against the Aztecs.”