It was the final night in February.
The injury-riddled UNM Lobos were on the road bumbling through another painful first half of basketball. They trailed the Fresno State Bulldogs 30-8 with 7:31 still to play in the first half of what seemed to many the longest month in the program’s history.
As the Lobos were losing their eighth consecutive game in the month of February last season, some 900 miles away in Albuquerque sophomore guard Cullen Neal sat on his couch (contrary to popular opinion, he wasn’t on the bench next to his father during every game last season).