TyTy Washington's uncle, Rick Pitino's son secure spot in NCAA Tournament
If you’re looking for a team to follow closely in the upcoming NCAA Tournament that *isn’t* the Kentucky Wildcats, might I suggest the New Mexico Lobos?
New Mexico took down San Diego State on Saturday afternoon in the Mountain West Conference championship, locking up a spot in the Big Dance for the Lobos, the school’s first appearance since 2014. There are a handful of notable connections to the Big Blue Nation within this group that might be enough for you to cheer them on.
For starters, New Mexico’s head coach is none other than Richard Pitino, the son of former Kentucky head coach Rick Pitino who is now in charge at St. John’s (a team on the bubble; something else to keep in mind ahead of Selection Sunday later this evening). The younger Pitino is in his third season in charge of the Lobos, improving the program every season since arriving. New Mexico heads into the NCAA Tournament with a 26-9 record and a 10-8 mark in the Mountain West.
The Lobos entered its conference tournament as the six-seed, having to win four games in four days to make the Big Dance. New Mexico beat 11-seed Air Force, 3-seed Boise State, 7-seed Colorado State, and then 5-seed San Diego State to win the conference title. This will be Richard Pitino’s first NCAA Tournament since he led Minnesota to the Round of 32 in 2019.
But the next Kentucky connection to this New Mexico team is even more interesting. Freshman Tru Washington, who played 15 minutes in Saturday’s championship game, recording two rebounds and three assists along the way, is the UNCLE of former Kentucky point guard TyTy Washington, who is now in his second season playing in the NBA.
You might remember this story from when KSR first mentioned it nearly two years ago now, but Tru is brothers with TyTy’s father, Tyrone — separated by 22 years. So, despite TyTy being a couple of years older, Tru is technically his uncle. Tru and TyTy just tell everyone they’re brothers to avoid the explanation.
Tru has played a significant role in his first college season under Pitino, too. The 6-foot-3 guard has appeared in 34 games for the Lobos this season (one start), averaging 6.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.4 steals in 17.7 minutes per game while shooting 42.9 percent overall from the field. As a three-star recruit out of high school, Kentucky never seriously recruited him, but he’ll have his chance to shine the rest of this month in front of the college basketball world.
But wait, there’s even more!
Remember a guy named Jamal Mashburn? He was pretty good for Kentucky in the early 1990s and those fast-paced Rick Pitino-led offense, evidenced by his SEC Player of the Year award in 1993. Well, HIS son, Jamal Mashburn Jr., now plays for Rick’s son at New Mexico. I swear I’m not making any of this up. Mashburn Jr. is the Lobos’ second-leading scorer this season at 14.4 points per game. He dropped 21 points and four rebounds in the MWC championship.
Surely that’s all, right? Nope!!
New Mexico senior guard Jermal Baker — who is in his seventh and (maybe?) final season of college basketball — started his career in Lexington. Baker was redshirted as a freshman at UK in 2017-18 before playing 28 games for the Wildcats in 2018-19. He then transferred the following offseason, spending two seasons at Arizona and two more at Fresno State before landing at New Mexico this past offseason.
In 34 games played (12 starts) this season, Baker is averaging 4.5 points per game while shooting 38.7 percent from long range. He was held scoreless despite playing 21 minutes in Saturday’s championship win over San Diego State.
I have one more tidbit to share from his New Mexico team, too (not Kentucky-related, finally). The Lobos’ leading scorer is fifth-year senior Jalen House, the son of former NBA player Eddie House, who played 11 seasons in the league and won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008. Jalen was the star of New Mexico’s conference championship with 28 points, but his dad stole the show.
I am officially rooting for New Mexico to go as far as possible in the NCAA Tournament (as long as Kentucky isn’t on the other side of the matchup).
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