Outside their locker room in Viejas Arena on Jan. 31, losers to perennial Mountain West Conference championship contender San Diego State, the UNM Lobos were a beaten team.
And it was about much more than the lopsided 72-47 score still lit up on the videoboards in the arena.
The UNM Lobos knew that night, that despite their best efforts to lean heavily on speedy, high-scoring guard play and utilize as much smoke and mirrors as they could to mask roster deficiencies in the frontcourt, there was only so much the 2021-22 team could do against the elite teams in their conference.