Craig Neal definitely knows how to make an entrance.
At the annual Lobo Howl, the men’s basketball team began its portion with Lobo Louie dancing through the decades to various hit songs. The crowd of 6,676 erupted when Louie took off his head to reveal himself as the team’s head coach.
Only a handful of people knew that Neal was going to come out as Lobo Louie. Not even his own team knew that he would start off the Howl in a costume.
“I knew all of them (the dances). I just didn’t think I could do all of them,” Neal said after the Howl on Friday at WisePies Arena, aka The Pit. “We had it to 15, and that was too much. I could only go two minutes in that suit. I thought it was funny because the guys had no idea.”
It wasn’t the first time that Neal made his presence felt at a Howl. Two years ago, during Neal’s first Howl as head coach, he came down The Pit ramp on a custom motorcycle that got the crowd going. Last year, Neal didn’t make a big entrance, but he did shave his head in front of the fans to raise money for breast cancer awareness.
“I came up with it because it’s kind of hard to repeat the motorcycle deal,” Neal said. “... I can’t rappel from the ceiling. I don’t think they’ll let me ride a cyborg down there or let me drive a car down there.”
After a couple of warm-up drills, the 3-point contest was held. The participants were guards Cullen Neal, Jordan Hunter, Anthony Mathis and Elijah Brown.
Mathis showed off his shooting skill by having the highest unofficial scores in both rounds. He ended up beating out Cullen Neal in the finals to win the contest.
A few minutes after the 3-point contest, Craig Neal, who was mic’d up during the Howl, said UNM will not have a shooting problem as it did last year.
“I don’t mind shots as long as they’re good shots. I don’t mind distance of shots as long as they’re open shots,” Craig Neal said. “I’m sure there will be some shots that some have taken two or three in a row, and they’re going to have a heat check. That’s one way to open up scoring if you can spread the floor.”
The dunk contest followed shortly after, and guard Xavier Adams stole the show. The highlight dunk of Adams was when he took a bounce pass from guard Tim Jacobs, who was up in the crowd, and slammed it home to seal the win.
Later in the dunk contest, Adams put on a Texas state flag and wore it like a cape for one of his dunks. Adams celebrated his victory by throwing a shoe into the stands.
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“It’s fun. It’s supposed to be entertaining,” Craig Neal said. “We’re supposed to be entertaining the fans. We have the best fans in the country and they come out for a practice.”
Winner-winner
Stevie Burns, a freshman nursing major, will have her next semester’s books paid for by Craig Neal.
Craig Neal said before the Howl that a student would get their books paid for if the person or one of his players hits a half-court shot.
Burns chose Cullen Neal to try his hand at hitting the half-court shot. Though Cullen Neal missed three attempts, Craig Neal decided to honor the deal regardless.
Craig Neal will also donate the same amount of money to UNM Libraries.
Injury report
Center Obij Aget didn’t participate after breaking his nose earlier this week. Guard Sam Logwood didn’t participate in the dunk contest because he had ankle surgery in the offseason.
Thomas Romero-Salas is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
