ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. _ Monday was UNM Day at the state legislature in Santa Fe, where hundreds of students and faculty from the University of New Mexico were invited to the capitol building known as the Roundhouse.
Tables were draped in cherry and silver linen. President Garnett S. Stokes was there. Athletic Director Eddie Nunez was there. The UNM Fine Arts choir sang the national anthem in both legislative chambers. The Senate declared it "UNM Day," a university release said, in recognition of the school's "contribution to education, research and public service."
Then their cellphones started buzzing.
News began circulating of an off-campus party Saturday night that included Lobos athletes from several sports and teenage football players on official recruiting visits. It turned ugly. Shots were fired. Police responded at 2 a.m. Two people sustained non-life-threatening gunshot wounds in the leg, including, reportedly, a UNM female athlete.
The party, as details emerged Monday, was at a four-bedroom house in northeast Albuquerque rented through Airbnb. The name on the rental agreement: Lobos basketball player JaQuan Lyle.
Both San Diego State and New Mexico entered this season with high hopes in men's basketball, picked to finish second and third, respectively, in the Mountain West preseason poll, with rosters loaded with talented transfers from power conference programs.
They meet Wednesday night at The Pit, headed in different directions.
The Aztecs are 21-0 and ranked No. 4 in both major polls. The Lobos are 16-6 overall, but 5-4 in conference after losing three of their last four games and four of their five starters.
Point guard J.J. Caldwell and 6-foot-10 forward Carlton Bragg Jr. are suspended indefinitely and unlikely to return. Lyle and Vance Jackson both have minor knee injuries that are expected to heal soon, but Lyle may face disciplinary action as police and the university continue separate investigations into Saturday's festivities.
The optics aren't good. The Lobos played at Nevada on Saturday night, but Lyle stayed back because of his knee injury. The rest of the team chartered home immediately after the 22-point loss _ for probably $15,000 more than it would have cost to fly commercial the next morning _ and landed in Albuquerque at 10:42 p.m. In time for several players, reportedly, to get to the party.
For Lobos coach Paul Weir, in his third season at New Mexico, it is just the latest incident in a season full of them _ a cautionary tale of building a program with high-profile transfers with checkered pasts, the temptation of talent.
"Four of their leading scorers are out of the lineup," SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. "(Weir) has done a great job of piecing it together, holding it together. I'm sure he's hoping when they get closer to full strength, they'll be able to make a run down the stretch."
When, or if.
Caldwell and Bragg were both suspended before a Dec. 22 game for separate incidents that have been forwarded to the district attorney's office by Albuquerque police. Caldwell was accused of hitting, grabbing and putting his hands on the neck of an ex-girlfriend; he denies the allegations and has not been charged. Bragg was accused of attempted rape by a woman who said she was dating one of his teammates at the time; he, too, has not been charged and told police "nothing inappropriate happened."
Both had brushes with the law in previous college stops, Caldwell at Texas A&M and Bragg at Kansas. Bragg initially transferred to Arizona State, but was booted from the team for undisclosed reasons before landing at New Mexico.
Lyle had his transgressions as well. He confirmed to NCAA investigators in 2015 that reports of paid escorts during his high school recruiting trip to Louisville were true, and a month after quitting Ohio State's team he was arrested at 2:09 a.m. on charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct for punching a police car.
On Jan. 2, Caldwell filed a due process lawsuit against the university for evicting him from his apartment, banning him from campus and preventing him from registering for spring semester classes. The campus ban was lifted on Jan. 17 and he is enrolled for the spring semester, but Nunez, the athletic director, has maintained his suspension from all team activities, practice included.
Bragg was reinstated to the team on Jan. 6 after missing three games. He played 22 and 25 minutes in home wins against Fresno State and Air Force, then this happened:
A few hours after the Air Force game, he was stopped at a sobriety check point driving a white BMW and charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated plus possession of under an ounce of marijuana. The police report said Bragg performed poorly in several sobriety tests and was "very irate with officers once arrested."
Weir immediately dismissed him from the team.
Then Lyle, the 6-5 Ohio State transfer averaging 17.1 points and 4.9 assists, and Jackson, a UConn transfer who had 29 points and 13 rebounds against Fresno State, suffered knee injuries. MRI scans showed no serious damage to either, but the Lobos have been without them for the last two games.
One was an 86-59 win against San Jose State.
The other, a 96-74 loss against Nevada.
The difference? The San Jose State game was at home, where the Lobos are 13-0 this season. The Nevada game was on the road, where the Lobos have lost their last three by 33, 21 and 22 points while surrendering 105, 99 and 96 and where a team's chemistry is truly tested.
"I thought the kids played hard," Weir told the Albuquerque Journal after the loss to Nevada. "This is not on them. There's a lot of things that have happened in the last month or so that has put us down four significant players.
"This is not their cross to bear. They're trying. They're working. They're doing the things we're asking them to do ... I feel great about the guys who are in the locker room now, the effort that they're giving, the willingness that they have to do the things that we're asking them to do."
The incidents with Caldwell, Bragg and Lyle are not the only stains on the UNM athletic department in recent years.
Last February, the state attorney general charged former AD Paul Krebs with fraud, evidence tampering, money laundering, criminal solicitation and producing false public vouchers from a 2015 golfing junket to Scotland with boosters. That came after investigations into athletic department finances by the AG and state auditor.
In 2018, two UNM football players were suspended _ one after being arrested for allegedly hitting his ex-girlfriend and firing a gun at her car, the other after getting into a fight with a teammate at a party and, according to the victim's mother, causing internal bleeding in his brain.
In 2016, the basketball team's director of operations was accused of making more than $60,000 in unapproved charges on a university credit card, including nearly $3,000 at a Las Vegas night club.
In 2014, an internal investigation confirmed allegations of annual hazing on the women's soccer team and resulted in several staff changes.
Now, two players suspended from the basketball team for legal issues and a third renting a house for party where a female athlete was shot in the leg.
"We are aware of an incident that occurred on Saturday night involving some of our student-athletes," Nunez said in a statement. "We are currently working through the proper channels to gather more information. We consider this matter very serious."
