Chris Howell hasn't been scoring. Here's why Eric Olen doesn't care.

Dec. 3—Chris Howell wasn't brought to the University of New Mexico to hit 3-pointers.

In fact, if the UNM Lobos offense ever gets firing on all cylinders — something it's yet to do with the consistency Eric Olen would hope — it isn't really about whether the senior guard scores much at all.

But, as teams have noticeably been cheating off him defensively to help in other areas amid his 1-for-13 (7.7%) 3-point shooting start to the season, isn't there a point where Olen believes the lack of scoring potential swings Howell's presence from benefit to hinderance?

"No, I don't think so," Olen said Monday night when the Journal asked about the veteran guard's scoring struggles thus far. "Chris has been guarded a certain way for a long time. That's not new for him. He's a mature player who's been in that situation, and he knows that when he's comfortable and he's open and he wants to shoot it, to let it rip.

"We've kind of been through this before. He had a little bit of an up and down shooting season last year, and there were definitely times when teams would try to have a little more active help off of him. And I've watched him make teams pay. I've seen him make five 3s in a game. I couldn't be more confident in Chris as a player."

Howell did, in fact, hit five 3-pointers, to go along with five assists, in one of UCSD's biggest wins of the 2024-25 regular season — an 85-67 road thumping of UC Irvine, which had a top-20 ranked national defense and who the Tritons edged out for the Big West Championship.

The 6-foot-6 guard spent his first two seasons under defensive guru Randy Bennett at Saint Mary's before transferring home to San Diego to play for Olen at UCSD, where his older brother Mikey played and was on the coaching staff. Both Howell's — player Chris and now Lobo assistant coach Mikey — followed Olen to Albuquerque in the offseason.

Howell started all 35 games for the NCAA Tournament-bound Tritons and was never their primary, or even secondary, scoring threat, but he was ranked 15th nationally in total steals in the NCAA and was rated the 24th best defender in the country by the analytics site BartTorvik.com.

Now with the Lobos, aside from being the leader in the locker room on a veteran team entirely comprised of newcomers to Olen's system (other than him), Howell is leading the team in assists (4.0 per game, 32 total when no other Lobo has had 20) and steals (15 total, 1.9 per game).

But he's also shooting just 33.3% and averaging 5.3 points overall this season. If you take out his best single offensive game — 15 points, five assists, four rebounds, two steals, one block and 7-of-10 shooting vs. UC Riverside — then there are seven other games Lobo fans have watched him average under four points per game and shoot just 20.7%.

Box scores, Olen will reiterate, don't tell the story of Howell's value.

"Regardless of system, obviously it's helpful to have been in ours already for a year (when Howell played at UC San Diego last season for Olen), but he just has such a great feel for the game, and he does a ton of stuff that doesn't show up in the box score," Olen said earlier this season.

"Some of the stuff he does will show up with the assists and the steals, but there's so much more that he's doing with his communication, his rotations, putting out fires, helping guys get in the right position. He's doing a lot on the floor that isn't going to show up, if you just look at the box score."

There are some of the offensive statistics that might bear out Olen's belief in Howell — aside from the obvious 36-7 record Olen has with Howell in his starting lineup.

Lobos with Howell ON court:

—Offensive rating: 110.8

—Effective FG%: 52.3%

—Assist rate: 56.6%

—Points per minute: 1.801

Lobos with Howell OFF court:

—Offensive rating: 107.3

—Effective FG%: 48.5%

—Assist rate: 42.9%

—Points per minute: 1.524

While Howell is clearly hopeful his shot does start to fall, he also seems content, and confident, with a role that doesn't ask for scoring, but rather being a "connector", as Olen has described him.

Earlier this season, a local television reporter asked Howell about the challenge of following the exciting tenure of Richard Pitino that included a high-scoring, fast-paced offense led by dynamic point guard Donovan Dent last season.

"I want wins, whatever that takes," Howell said. "My game doesn't always entail the entertainment, super hype, the exciting plays, but I just want the win. That's me. ... I'm gonna do whatever it takes to win. That's all that matters to me."