UNM's Uriah Tenette, a 5-foot-10 point guard from Prescott, Arizona, played 971 minutes for the UNM Lobos this past season against Division I competition, a remarkable stat for him. Despite being overlooked in the recruiting process for Division I teams due to his high school scoring 2,752 points in high school, Tenette played a significant amount of court time for the team. His performance helped stabilize the program after two big men, Tomislav Buljan and JT Rock, had already announced their departures. Tenette's announcement was accompanied by a specially designed "Real Ones 2026" logo and a page asking fans to donate to the Lobo Alliance, the fundraising arm of the department specifically geared towards revenue sharing payments for athletes. The program's nickname is for "real ones," coined by UNM football coach Jason Eck, who used the term during the season.