The state’s Higher Education Department wants the rivalry games between the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State men’s basketball teams to continue.
But the HED expects those games to be scheduled with open dialogue — and the exchange of safety plans by both schools — so player and spectator safety is the top priority. That’s especially in light of several violent incidents that occurred at an NMSU-hosted football rivalry game in October and a deadly shooting on UNM’s campus involving UNM students plotting to attack an Aggie basketball player a month later.
UNM athletic director Eddie Nuñez has said he can’t, in good conscience, sign off on the Lobos men’s basketball team agreeing to play a game in Las Cruces this coming season until he has — in writing — a security plan from NMSU ensuring safety of his team and fans in the Pan American Center.