New Mexico picks up commitment from Junior College All-American

Chol spent two seasons at Rutgers to begin his college career

New Mexico Lobos mascot “Lobo Louie”. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

New Mexico head coach Eric Olen and staff continue to put the pieces together on next season’s Lobo roster. On Thursday, New Mexico received a commitment from 6-foot-9 junior college recruit Antonio Chol.

Ranked as the nation’s No. 5 junior college recruit in this year’s class by JucoRecruiting.com, Chol spent this season playing at Garden City Community College in Kansas. Chol led the Broncbusters to an 18-14 record, averaging 19.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while shooting 40 percent from three-point range.

Chol is New Mexico’s third commitment under the new staff, joining incoming freshman Jake Hall and UC San Diego transfer Chris Howell. Chol’s ability to shoot from the perimeter likely appealed to Olen and staff. At their previous stop at UC San Diego, Olen’s teams ranked in the top three in the Big West in three-point percentage and attempts in each of the past two seasons. The Tritons regularly employ lineups that have four or five three-point shooters on the floor.

Originally from Buffalo, Chol finished his high school career at Minnesota Prep Academy before enrolling at Rutgers in the summer of 2022. He played in four games for the Scarlet Knights and was awarded a medical redshirt. In 2023-24, he played in seven games for Rutgers before transferring out. Chol initially committed to play at Howard before enrolling at Garden City this past season. He hit the 20-point mark 13 times during the season and had a career high 35 points and 15 rebounds in a victory against North Platte in November. After the season, Chol was named an NJCAA Division 1 second team All-American. He had previously reported interest from Oklahoma State, North Carolina State, Ole Miss and several others before pledging to New Mexico.

Following the exit of previous head coach Richard Pitino to Xavier, New Mexico was hit hard in the transfer portal, as many of the Mountain West Conference teams have been. Mountain West Player of the Year Donovan Dent is headed to UCLA while Tru Washington (Miami), Braden Applehans (Drake), Filip Borovicanin (Xavier), Jovan Milicevic (Xavier) and Quinton Webb (Cal State Northridge) have all committed since exiting New Mexico during this cycle of the transfer portal.