Cullen Neal’s statistics didn’t factor much into Saturday afternoon’s game against San Jose State: six points, three rebounds. But his presence resonated throughout WisePies Arena.
Neal, the starting point guard for the New Mexico basketball team, received uproarious support from fans during the game just days after his father, head coach Craig Neal, said that he has received death threats.
In his press conference heading into the game this past Thursday, Craig Neal said his son changed his phone number twice and deleted social media accounts due to continuing and increasingly harsh criticism that, he felt, crossed the line.
Later that day, Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs issued a statement saying the Athletic Department was investigating an incident involving threats made against a UNM student-athlete. The statement did not specify which individual has been threatened.
Cullen Neal did not address the media following the 74-58 victory over the Spartans, but he released a statement to the media.
“I love this game. I really appreciate the way this community has supported me and my teammates the past few days,” he said in the statement. “It’s an honor to be a student-athlete here and I’m proud to represent this university and this city. We will continue to work hard and strive for excellence.”
During player introductions, fans cheered loudly as Cullen Neal’s name went over the public address system and he took the floor. Several fans held up signs saying “Go Cullen” and many continued their ovation at various moments in the game.
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Neal found himself in foul trouble and played for only 20 minutes, with his only field goal coming on a drive from the top of the key to the bucket with 2:15 to play in the game. He fouled out shortly after.
Craig Neal declined to elaborate on his earlier comments about the threats, saying he’s done with that part of it. He plans to work with Krebs and others to handle the situation, and his goal is to help Cullen Neal return to normal. He wants to move forward, he said.
The coach also said that he doesn’t regret going public about the threats made against Cullen Neal, nor did the outpouring of support surprise him. He called the positive show from the fans awesome and good to see. The detractors are also a vocal minority, he said.
“I feel kind of bad that I had to come out and say something, and it’s one of those things where you don’t want that to happen and you want the fans to support all our players in our program,” Craig Neal said. “I would have done that for any player. It just so happens he’s my son and it happened that way.”
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Elijah Brown, Cullen Neal’s teammate in the Lobo backcourt, said he and his teammates have tried to show that they will continue to support him as well. Brown said he would tell Cullen Neal that, rather than dwell on the negative feedback, it should be something that fuels him to prove them wrong.
In practice, Brown said, Cullen Neal shows signs of turning it around.
“I think that the fact he knows we have his back, he knows now that the fans are supporting him,” Brown said, “I think he’ll start to come around and be the player that he is.”
San Jose State head coach Dave Wojcik said his players were unaware of the Cullen Neal situation, and he did not address it with them as there wasn’t any need to discuss it. Wojcik said he told Cullen Neal he was a great kid and a good player, and he wished him the best.
“It’s unfortunate that some people out there are bitter or ignorant or whatever you want to call it,” he said. “No kid deserves that, in my opinion.”
Besides, if anybody has a problem with Cullen Neal, UNM baseball coach Ray Birmingham said that they can talk to him about it. The whole situation breaks his heart, he said.
“You know what? Leave Cullen Neal alone. You want to yell at someone, yell at me,” Birmingham said. “He’s a student athlete. He’s a kid. He’s wearing Cherry and Silver. He’s our brother. He’s our teammate.”
J.R. Oppenheim is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s basketball and women’s soccer. Contact him at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JROppenheim.
