Jul. 13—It isn't exactly Paul Weir 2.0, but we do have another highly unusual Lobo/Aggie hoops exchange, of sorts.
Ibrahima Sacko, the 6-foot-6 forward who played 19 games for the UNM Lobos this past season, has committed to transfer to play for the New Mexico State Aggies this coming season, according to an initial report from CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein.
This past season with the Lobos, Sacko appeared in 19 games, averaging 1.2 points, 1.2 rebounds and 5.8 minutes per game. His UNM highs were four points (three times), four rebounds (twice) and 14 minutes played (Nov. 12 vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi).
Against his new team, New Mexico State, on Dec. 7 in the Pit, Sacko played 8 minutes, had two points, one rebound, one block and one steal in the Lobos' 89-83 overtime loss to the Aggies.
Sacko's collegiate scoring high was the 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting he had in a Feb. 14, 2024, loss at Notre Dame when still playing for Georgia Tech. Earlier that season he had career highs in rebounds (8) and steals (3) against UMass Lowell on Nov. 14, 2023.
The super-athletic, 6-foot-6 Sacko — built like a linebacker and second strongest overall on the team behind Nelly Junior Joseph — was a highly-touted prospect out of high school when he decided to go play for Georgia Tech over fellow finalists Oregon, BYU and Xavier.
While the Aggies are certainly in the market for more efficient scoring this coming season, as head coach Jason Hooten acknowledged two weeks ago in Episode 110 of the Talking Grammer podcast, Sacko seems to check a lot of the other boxes that tend to fit in nicely with the DNA of Hooten's system, namely the ability to be a tough, punishing defender and rebounder.
2-0 for Nelly
Former UNM Lobo center Nelly Junior Joseph scored four points, grabbed seven rebounds (two offensive), blocked a pair of shots and added a steal in 16 minutes off the bench in a 98-80 win for his Atlanta Hawks over the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Summer League action in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday.
While Joseph is now up to 13-2 in the past two years playing in the Las Vegas area, Sunday's was his first in Cox Pavilion — the gym adjacent to the Thomas & Mack Center, where Joseph is 7-2 in that span (1-1 vs. UNLV as a Lobo, 5-1 in the Mountain West Tournament as a Lobo, 1-0 as an Atlanta Hawk in summer league action). He and the Lobos also went 5-0 playing in nearby Henderson, Nevada.
Joseph was 2-of-7 shooting with no offensive plays run specifically for him but was again valuable in both paint defense and as a highly-skilled screener on the perimeter to open up Atlanta's young guards.
The Hawks' next game is Monday vs. the Houston Rockets at 2:30 p.m.
Jospeh is hopeful his performance in Summer League will lead to his landing a spot on an NBA G-League roster for the coming season.
Other familiar names
Former Utah State Aggie Max Shulga, who played in the Pit this past December as the star senior guard for the VCU Rams, started for the Boston Celtics on Sunday in a 94-81 Summer League win over the New York Knicks.
Shulga finished with seven points, two assists and two steals in 22 minutes.
Former UC San Diego guard Hayden Gray, who played this past season for new UNM coach Eric Olen and several others on the new coaching staff for the Lobos, was held scoreless in just two minutes of play for the Celtics.
His Tritons' teammate and fellow former Olen pupil at UC San Diego, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, has not gotten into either game for the Toronto Raptors in summer league, though he's been going through warmups and is available to play. His Raptors teammate and four-year Mountain West star Tyson Degenhart of Boise State was also held out of Toronto's Sunday game, but did get five minutes of run on Friday's 116-72 rout of the Chicago Bulls. He had one rebound, three fouls and didn't attempt a shot.
Allick is all sick, no?
Josiah Allick, the former UNM Lobo forward (2022-23 season) who completed his college career at Nebraska, was named this past week the MVP of New Zealand's National Basketball League after averaging 18.9 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists while shooting 58% per game for the Southland Sharks, located in Invercargill, New Zealand.
Allick was also, naturally, named first team NBL and voted the forward of the year.
The 6-7 forward helped lead the Sharks past the two-time defending NBL champion Canterbury Rams in the league semifinals over the weekend and will now play in the best-of-five NBL Grand Finale (championship series) starting July 20 against the Wellington Saints.
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