LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KTSM) – Suspended New Mexico State men’s basketball player Mike Peake entered the NCAA Transfer Portal on Wednesday afternoon.
Peake entered the Portal a little more than four months after he was involved in a deadly shooting in Albuquerque on Nov. 19, 2022, that left Peake injured and 19-year-old University of New Mexico student Brandon Travis dead.
Peake has been suspended from all NMSU basketball activities since Nov. 29 for his role in the shooting and events leading up to it. A university spokesperson told KTSM on Wednesday that Peake, “was still listed as an NMSU student.”
Peake is the latest NMSU player from the 2022-23 roster to enter the portal. In all, 11 players from the 2022-23 team are currently in the portal after Chi Chi Avery and DaJuan Gordon also entered the portal last week.
According to police, Travis and fellow UNM students Jonathan Smith and Eli’Sha Upshaw allegedly wanted revenged against Peake for a fight at the Oct. 15, 2022, football game between UNM and NMSU in Las Cruces.
The three men lured Peake to UNM’s campus with the help of a 17-year-old female UNM student in the early morning hours of Nov. 19 – the same day NMSU and UNM were supposed to play the Battle of I-25 rivalry game at The Pit.
According to the girl’s statement to police, she told Peake she would have sex with him to get him to come to campus. Once he arrived, Smith, Travis and Upshaw can be seen on surveillance footage running up behind Peake. Travis pulls a gun out and points it in Peake’s face and Upshaw assaults him with a baseball bat.
When Peake tried to run away, Travis chased after him; Peake then pulled out his own gun and the two exchanged fire. Police say Travis shot first and that Peake acted in self-defense; Travis was shot four times and died from his injuries, while Peake was shot once in the leg.
The three other UNM students were all arrested and charged with multiple crimes, including aggravated battery and conspiracy. Neither, Peake, nor anyone else tied to NMSU has been charged with a crime in the case, though New Mexico State Police and the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office are still investigating the shooting.
An external investigation by the Rodey Law Firm commissioned by NMSU found two weeks ago that the school, “did not identify any failure by NMSU to meet its legal obligations in managing its student-athletes.” The firm also said in its report that they did not identify any violations of NCAA or WAC rules and regulations.
The events involving Peake in Albuquerque were the first of two major scandals involving the NMSU basketball program in 2022-23. The second scandal – serious hazing allegations levied by one player against three of his teammates – forced the school to cancel the remainder of the season and fire head coach Greg Heiar in February.
It remains unclear if any program will take a chance on Peake moving forward. He has played at Georgia, Austin Peay and NMSU during his college career.
New NMSU head coach Jason Hooten is currently in the process of recruiting a new team and NMSU chancellor Dan Arvizu has hinted that he would prefer that no one involved with the 2022-23 season be involved with the school moving forward.
“As far as returning players, I haven’t had a chance to wrap my arms around any of that right now moving forward,” Hooten said. “We’ll be recruiting really hard regardless of what’s coming back or not coming back. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Part of the intrigue of the job is, it’s like taking a new job. First time starting over a little bit, you get to build your culture. You get bring in the type of student-athletes you’ve always had and always recruited. We’re excited about that.”
Added Arvizu, “I’m not one to say ‘one size fits all,’ but it’s very clear that we had a culture issue. Culture typically means that it’s more pervasive and everyone’s bought into it. But really, it’s a coach’s decision.”
