Dec. 12, 2025, 9:48 a.m. MT
Within the seek for hope for a UTEP males’s basketball workforce nonetheless in search of its first victory towards a Division I workforce, there’s this: The Miners’ greatest recreation this 12 months was their final one, the highway loss at 7-2 Seattle, the place they have been tied with 3:00 to play towards a workforce corresponding to the highest of Convention USA.
That adopted two lackluster video games at a match in Jacksonville, which got here after that miraculous additional time escape towards Division III St. Thomas, so at this level any excellent news must be accepted.
UTEP is off to 9-2 Hawaii now with a three-game dropping streak and a 3-5 mark, and per the NET rankings the NCAA makes use of as its metric, the Miners are the twelfth and final workforce CUSA (value noting: Seattle could be second in CUSA in these rankings).
The Miners have been eighth within the preseason CUSA ballot with no all-conference picks and so they have work to do at this level to stay as much as that.
How does UTEP repair its sluggish begin
So what has gone improper, and extra to the purpose, what can get fastened righted?
“It is clearly rebounding, now we have to get higher rebounding, now we have to have higher offensive execution,” coach Joe Golding stated. “We have to proceed to determine it out offensively, and I feel we’re figuring it out. Defensively, rebounding has been an Achilles heel. And now we have to do a greater job of guarding the ball with out fouling.”
The place UTEP wants to start out
Rebounding is the place to start out. UTEP has been crushed on second-chance factors in 4 of its 5 losses to Division I opponents and for the 12 months the Miners are -4.8 on the glass.
UTEP is undersized and the plan was to offset that with a giant turnover benefit, however it is just +3.8 there and that hasn’t overcome the rebounding points.
What did assist towards Seattle was going with an even bigger lineup. UTEP’s 6-foot-6 ahead Jamal West set season highs for minutes (36), factors (21) and rebounds (14), whereas 6-8 ahead Elijah Jones logged 25 minutes with 18 factors. Trey Horton, a 6-5 guard who provides UTEP backcourt measurement, logged his first begin and a season-high 26 minutes.
In opposition to Seattle, UTEP was outrebounded 33-29, so nearer than their season common, and misplaced second-chance factors simply 11-10. After the sport was tied with 3:00 to go, Seattle received boards 5-2, accounting for many of their game-long benefit and declaring the subsequent step the Miners must take.
The Miners aren’t going to abruptly begin successful rebounding, that is not who they’re, however they’ll minimize into their deficits there.
The opposite drawback is offensive effectivity, and this is not fully surprising. UTEP has 10 new gamers and 4 returners and the items have not come collectively but. That is a part of why there was a lot encouragement in Seattle when the Miners did appear to take a step ahead.
Their 47.4% taking pictures was a four-point enchancment over what they got here in with and significantly better than it had been towards Division I groups. The 13 turnovers was additionally a slight enchancment adjusting for the extent of competitors.
Defensively UTEP is rounding into the workforce Golding desires by way of aggressively pressuring the ball and forcing turnovers. Opponents are taking pictures 44% and turning it over 16.5 occasions per recreation, that are successful numbers. Protection hasn’t been the issue, apart from defensive rebounding, which is a part of the larger rebounding drawback.
Has UTEP began to show a nook?
“It was higher,” Golding stated. “We’re nonetheless making an attempt to determine how you can win with this group. Our effort was higher, offensively we began to determine some issues execution-wise, offensively we have been higher. We gave ourselves an opportunity towards an excellent workforce, we simply did not execute down the stretch.”
What UTEP has to hope is that as a principally new workforce learns itself, the offense will proceed to pattern upward. That offense nonetheless is in search of an id, they’re nonetheless studying to play collectively, however the Miners might have hit on one thing by feeding West inside.
UTEP received factors within the paint towards Seattle 36-26, one recreation after getting outscored 40-14 within the paint within the 75-59 loss to UAB that was the low of this season.
Stopping the dropping streak in Hawaii might be troublesome, but when UTEP can proceed the pattern it began in Seattle, it will probably deliver some momentum into the WestStar Don Haskins Solar Bowl Invitational. These are its final two video games earlier than convention begins on Dec. 29.
UTEP goes to want these subsequent two and a half weeks to proceed to develop. The Miners are a protracted methods from the place they must be, however they might have taken step one.
Bret Bloomquist will be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
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