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HOUSTON – Freshman Ariana Taylor reached double figures in scoring (12 points) for the second straight game but league-leading Rice used a big day on the boards and a barrage of 3-pointers to clip the Miners, 76-42, inside Tudor Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon.

“I think what you saw today was a team that was fighting for a championship and pushing for a berth in the NCAA Tournament.” Baker said. “Our team is still climbing and trying to figure out who we are. We really struggled to put the ball in the hole. I hate that for them (the players) because they’re putting in a lot of hard work and aren’t seeing a lot of rewards for the hard work.”

The Miners (4-12, 1-2 C-USA) had an off shooting day (13-40, 32.4 percent) and also were challenged in the rebounding department (38-24), as the Owls (13-3, 4-0 C-USA) won their sixth straight game and for the 13th time in the past 14 contests.

Rice connected on 50.0 percent (27-54) from the floor, including drilling 12-26 (46.2 percent) from 3-point range. It is just the third time in 47 games of the Kevin Baker era that an opponent has finished at 50.0 percent or better from the floor.

Taylor came off the bench to post a team-high 12 points, giving her back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts for the first time of her career. Sophomore Alexa Hoy continued her strong play of late with nine points while senior Jordan Alexander added eight and junior Katarina Zec pitched in seven.

The Owls relied on a balanced attack, with five different players reaching double figures in scoring. Rice moved the ball effectively, piling up 21 assists on its 27 made field goals.

UTEP had an inauspicious start to the contest, with Baker forced to call a timeout after the Miners fell behind, 9-0, with 6:33 to play in the opening frame. Alexander got UTEP on the board with a pair of free throws. Hoy then started to get going, hitting a pair of triples and a jumper from the wing on the way to tallying eight points in the quarter. UTEP settled down some on defense, but still trailed by 13 (23-10) after the first quarter.

The two sides traded scores over the first five minutes of the second stanza, before a jumper from Alexander and a 3-pointer by Sabine Lipe fueled a 5-0 surge to get UTEP within single digits (31-22) with 4:05 remaining in the second quarter. Rice countered by scoring five straight of its own. The Miners tried to strike back, but were forced to settle for a 15-point deficit (40-25) heading into the locker room.

UTEP didn’t get off to the start it wanted to in the third quarter, with the Owls scoring the first nine points in the frame to put the Miners down by 24 (49-25). Zec stopped the sequence by connecting on a corner triple, but UTEP was unable to build on it. The margin was 23 (54-31) heading to the fourth quarter. The Orange and Blue continued to play hard down the stretch, but were unable to get closer than 20 the rest of the way.

UTEP will open up the home portion of its Conference USA slate by welcoming preseason favorite and defending regular-season champion UAB to the Don Haskins Center for a match-up at 7 p.m. MT on Thursday.

Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for kids, and may be purchased by calling (915) 747-5234.

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The UTEP men’s hoops team will conclude its three-game homestand against Conference USA foe Rice on Saturday night in the Haskins Center. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.

“[Rice Head Coach] Scott Pera has five freshmen over there. Their young guys are playing well and he’s also got a transfer who’s playing well right now,” first-year UTEP head coach Rodney Terry said. “They can really shoot the basketball and score the ball from watching them play. They’re going to put a lot of pressure on us in terms of guarding and trying to defend the three-point line. In transition, they play fast and push the ball. It’s another game where we’ll have to come out and play hard defensively and try to execute on offense.”

The Miners (5-9, 0-3 C-USA) fell to league leader North Texas, 58-51, on Thursday, while the Owls (7-10, 2-2 C-USA), after winning a pair of league contests in a row, fell at UTSA, 95-79. Rice defended its home court by beating Southern Miss, 73-65, on Jan. 3 and LA Tech, 78-66, on January 5.

UTEP freshman sensation Efe Odigie led the Miners with 13 points and eight rebounds, while blocking a career-high four shots against the Mean Green. Odigie is the only C-USA player averaging a double-double (15.1 ppg, 10.1 rpg). Fellow freshman Nigel Hawkins was the only other Miner in double figures as he went for 11 points versus UNT. Hawkins added three assists and three rebounds.

Terry’s other freshman starter, Jordan Lathon, made his way back into the starting lineup after missing both of last week’s games against UTSA with an injury.

Lathon tied his career best with three steals and led his squad with four assists. Lathon chipped in with nine points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.

UTEP leading scorer Evan Gilyard (17.2 ppg) was held to eight points on Thursday, ending his double-figure scoring streak at a career-high nine games. Gilyard also tallied six rebounds.

The Miners blocked a season-high eight shots against the Mean Green, while forcing 19 turnovers. UTEP also held North Texas to its second-lowest point total of the season and fewest points in a half (22) during the opening 20 minutes.

UTEP’s scoring defense (68.7) and field goal percentage defense (.419) both rank sixth in C-USA.

The Owls’ scoring offense (75.9) is ranked fourth in the league, while their scoring defense (80.2) ranks 12th.

Rice freshman guard Chris Mullins leads the team at 13.0 points per game, while junior guard Ako Adams leads the team in assists (51) and ranks second at 12.5 points per contest. Junior forward Robert Martin ranks third on the squad in scoring (12.5 ppg). Graduate student 6-8 forward Jack Williams paces the team with 7.8 rebounds per game.

The Owls fell to UTSA as Mullins and freshman forward Quentin Millora-Brown each led with 14 points. Millora-Brown led Rice with eight rebounds and Mullins dished out a team-high four assists. The Roadrunners went 36-for-73 (49.3 percent) from the field, including a 12-for-31 effort from beyond the arc.

Saturday night’s contest will feature Miners Got Talent halftime performance.

Tickets start at $8, while UTEP student tickets are free by visiting studenttickets.utep.edu. Discounted tickets for groups of 15 or more are also available. Call 747-5234 for tickets.

The contest will be streamed on CUSA.TV and can be heard on KOFX 92.3 with “The Voice of the Miners” Jon Teicher and Steve Yellin. The Spanish broadcast is on ESPN Deportes 1650AM with Omar Ropele and Abel Rodriguez.

After UTEP took a 10-point lead (45-35) on a pair of Nigel Hawkins’s free throws at the 17:11 mark in the second half – its biggest lead of the game – UTSA answered with a 16-4 run and pretty much took control of the contest and coming out on top, 67-63, on Saturday night in the Don Haskins Center.

“You have to give them credit for trying to change the ball game,” first-year UTEP Head Coach Rodney Terry said. “Again, though we have played against zone we had 80 minutes of zone. You do not let the zone slow you down, and in transition you still have to try and attack. At the end of the day you have to make plays. You have to shot fake, get in the gap, you have to be able to make a shot, and we knew going into the game that they would respect us in terms of shooting the basketball consistently so we weren’t surprised that they went some zone.”

The Miners (5-8, 0-2 Conference USA) took a 40-33 lead into the locker room after connecting on 50.0 percent from the field, including an 8-for-14 effort from beyond the arc. But the Roadrunners (8-7, 2-0 C-USA) used a pesky defense to slow UTEP down in the second period, outscoring their opponent, 34-23.

“Yeah, we came out and played with good effort defensively to start the ball game,” Terry said. “Again, the one glaring thing that continues to haunt our group this year is turning the ball over. We have to value taking care of the basketball. This year we have a slim margin for any type of let down in any area. Whether it be rebounding or taking care of the basketball. For whatever reason, we haven’t bought into how important it is to take care of the basketball. Every possession matters for us. We don’t have it where we can take a possession off or think it’s okay to give up a layup or not get back in transition. Games are going to come down to possession games for us, and like I said we have a slim margin of error.”

UTSA outrebounded UTEP, 41-40, while it scored 28 points off 16 turnovers from the Miners. UTEP has lost its last five games to UTSA, including Thursday night’s 75-60 victory in San Antonio.

Efe Odigie registered 16 rebounds for the second consecutive game, but missed his seventh double-double of the season after only scoring eight points. Odigie’s run of double figures to begin his career ended at 12 games – the most by any UTEP freshman.

Paul Thomas, after not scoring in the previous meeting on Jan. 3, came up with 10 points and a 3-for-6 effort from three-point range. Thomas nailed a three pointer to get the Miners within three points (66-63) with 12 seconds remaining in the ball game, but Jackson hit a free throw to put the game away.

Evan Gilyard led the Miners with 18 points, scoring 11 of those points in the first half. He struggled in the second half, shooting 2-of-8 from the field (1-5 on three’s).

Hawkins produced another nice all-around outing, scoring nine points, tallying nine rebounds and led UTEP with four assists. Hawkins also shot 3-for-3 from the charity stripe.

Kobe Magee provided a spark off the bench during the Miners’ big first half, scoring all 10 of his points in that first period. The Miners, after falling behind by five points (25-20) at the 7:34 mark after a Jhivvan Jackson jumper, went on a 16-2 run to take a 36-27 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the first half. During the run, Magee connected on a pair of three-point buckets, while scoring contributing with eight points during the run that got the Haskins Center loud and the UTEP bench excited.

Jackson, one of C-USA’s prolific scorers, led the Roadrunners with 24 points and five assists. Jackson scored 14 points in the second half, silencing the 4,000-plus UTEP fans with big shots down the stretch. Byron Frohnen led UTSA with 13 rebounds.

Neither squad shot particularly well as UTEP connected on 39.3 percent from the field and UTSA 37.9 percent. The Miners finished with 10 treys with eight of them coming during the first half, while the Roadrunners went 7-of-22 from three-point range.

Jordan Lathon sat out with an injury for the second straight game, as six Miners played 27 or more minutes. Kaosi Ezeagu (three points, six rebounds) played 10 minutes and Gilles Dekoninck played two minutes.

UTEP will host North Texas on Jan. 10 and Rice on Jan. 12 to continue the home stand. Thursday’s contest will be streamed on ESPN+.

Redshirt-junior Ariona Gill posted her first career double-double (17 points, career-best 12 rebounds) but an off shooting day and a balanced offensive attack from the visitors proved problematic in UTEP’s 89-61 loss to undefeated Portland State at the Don Haskins Center Sunday afternoon.

Jade Rochelle (career-high 11 points) and Ariana Taylor (career-high 10 points) came off the bench to provide a spark for the Miners (2-7), who played the second half without leading scorer and rebound Zuzanna Puc.

Jordan Alexander added eight points and eight boards, but the Vikings (6-0) simply had too much firepower. PSU was paced by Kylie Jimenez’s 21 points while Ashley Bolston (18 points), Sidney Rielly (14 points) and Ana Tainta (13 points) also had big days.

The Miners finished at 32.8 percent (20-61) from the floor, including 25.0 percent (3-12) from 3-point range. It was a different story for the Vikings, who drained 44.2 percent (34-77) of their attempts on the day. PSU had a slight edge in rebounding (45-41), with the 11 rebounds by Desirae Hanson in 20 minutes making a difference for her squad.

The Vikings also had significant advantages in points in the paint (42-28) and fastbreak points (24-21). UTEP shared the ball effectively, recording 15 assists on 20 made field goals.

“Anytime you give up 89 points you’re not going to win many games,” UTEP head coach Kevin Baker said. “I’m really disappointed in our performance. I don’t want to take anything away from Portland State. They’re a really good team and do a lot of really tough things. I just was really disappointed in the product as a whole today. I think we’re a much better basketball team than the way we played today.”

There was plenty of offense to go around at the onset of the contest, with a 3-pointer by Alexander putting the Miners ahead by two (13-11) midway through the first quarter. PSU countered with a 6-0 push to go ahead by four (17-13, 4:01 1Q), but a pair of free throws by Puc put an end to that. It remained a two-point differential (19-17 2:25 1Q) in favor of the Vikings before they tallied the final seven points of the frame to lead by nine (26-17) after 10 minutes of action.

The run continued into the second stanza, with the visitors eventually extending their cushion to 16 (35-19, 5:13 2Q). The Miners started to chip away at the deficit, inching within 11 (41-30, 00:37 2Q) late in the frame. Much to the chagrin of the Orange and Blue faithful, PSU’s Jimenez drilled a pull-up 3-pointer to beat the buzzer and give her squad a 44-30 advantage going into the locker room.

The Vikings connected on a triple on their opening possession of the third quarter, affording them their largest lead (47-30) of the game to that point. UTEP regrouped and responded by peeling off five consecutive points to reduce the margin to 12 (47-35, 7:02 3Q).

It remained a 12-point contest (51-39, 5:24 3Q) before PSU uncorked an 11-1 run to vault out by 22 (62-40, 2:22 3Q). A pair of free throws by Rochelle ended the sequence, but the damage had been done. The margin was 23 (66-43) heading to the final frame, and UTEP couldn’t get any closer the rest of the way.

UTEP will be idle for finals week before returning to action at Pacific-12 member Arizona at 6:30 p.m. MT on Dec. 17. The contest will be the beginning of a long stretch without a home game.

The Miners will have five road tilts and a pair of neutral-site contests before returning to the Don Haskins Center on Jan. 17, 2019.

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DALLAS – UTEP guard Jordan Lathon was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Week presented by Top of the World and chosen by a vote from a media panel representing the 14-member schools.

Lathon is the second consecutive Miner to earn the honor after producing all-around numbers during the Miners’ two contests last week. Efe Odigie was named the C-USA Freshman of the Week on Nov. 26.

The native of Grandview, Mo., displayed an all-around effort during the last two games for UTEP. Lathon averaged 12.0 points and 5.0 rebounds. He collected five steals, two blocks and four assists in the process.

In limited action (25 minutes) versus rival NM State, Lathon tallied eight points, an assist, block and led UTEP with three steals. He shot 3-for-5 from the field, including a three-pointer.

Lathon, in 31 minutes of action, broke out for a career-high 16 points on five field goals, including a pair of treys during a 77-47 stomping of Northwestern State. Lathon added nine rebounds to lead the Miners, along with recording three assists, two steals (one led to a fast-break dunk during an 8-0 run to open the game) and a blocked shot.

Lathon was locked in on defense as the Miners allowed a season-low 47 points.

Lathon is averaging over seven points per contest and 5.0 rebounds per game. He’s dished out 16 assists, is tied for the team lead with five blocked shots and has snagged six steals in seven starts to begin his UTEP career.

With Odigie and now Lathon earning freshman of the week honors, they are the first pair of UTEP freshmen to earn the award during a single season since the 2013-14 campaign when Vince Hunter (five times) and Matt Willms were named freshmen of the week.

It’s also the first back-to-back honors for UTEP freshmen since Julian Washburn (Dec. 19) and Cedrick Lang (Dec. 26) did so in 2011.

It was a chance for the 2017-18 UTEP Miners to stretch their legs, show their skills and have some fun with fans Saturday night at the Don Haskins Center.

The Miners put on a show for the UTEP faithful, running a scrimmage, a slam dunk contest and autograph session.  Our very own Andres Acosta was there, and while he didn’t show off his patented Windmill Dunk, he did take his gear and brings you his view of the fun in today’s Story in Many Pics.

Starr Breedlove scored 22 while Cameasha Turner added 19 to help the UTEP women’s basketball team push its winning streak to 10 after downing Louisiana Tech, 86-80, in front of a rowdy 3,157 fans at the Don Haskins Center Saturday afternoon.

Coupled with Middle Tennessee’s (13-7, 7-2 C-USA) 83-75 win over Western Kentucky (17-2, 8-1 C-USA) which had won 14 straight, the Miners (18-1, 9-0 C-USA) are now in sole possession of first place in Conference USA. The Lady Techsters (10-9, 5-3 C-USA) had their four-game winning streak snapped in the process as well.

The effort continues the best start in program history at 18-1 (prior best 14-1) while also keeping the Miners unbeaten at home (12-0). The 12-game winning streak in El Paso is the second longest at the school while the 10-contest overall surge ties as the third best.

“It was a great team win,” UTEP head coach Keitha Adams said. “I thought we played extremely hard and again had another great turnout from El Paso. Our fans were amazing. We hung in there and played tough. Louisiana Tech has a really good team so this was a very good win against a team that has been playing well.”

The Lady Techsters set opponent season highs for points (80) and field-goal percentage (50.0) but the Miners) compensated for that by doing so many other things well.

UTEP committed only five turnovers, which ties as the second fewest in program history, with all of them coming during the first half. The Miners had two miscues in the first quarter and three in the second quarter.

They also won the boards (42-34), aided by 18 offensive rebounds, which led to a 15-4 advantage on second-chance points. Senior Chrishauna Parker was a difference maker in that department with a game-high 10 rebounds, including seven at the offensive end.

UTEP nailed 24-30 (80 percent) at the charity stripe, including 8-10 in the final minute to ice the game.

The Miners led for 30:10 of the contest, including the entire second half. UTEP’s advantage swelled to as many as 10 (75-65, 7:09 fourth quarter) at one point. Sparkle Taylor buoyed the scoring efforts of Turner and Breedlove with 10 points off the bench while Lawna Kennedy and Tamara Seda each added seven.

Louisiana Tech was paced by 22 points from Brandi Wingate, but the prolific scored had only three in the second half with Turner on her. Turner let Wingate connect on only 1-3 in the final 20 minutes. Ashley Santos (14 points), Kierra Anthony (12 points), and Brooke Pumroy (10 points) all hit double figures in scoring for the Lady Techsters as well.

UTEP can’t rest on its laurels, with a demanding week ahead. The Miners will head back out on the road to wrap up a swing of four of six in hostile territory. The stretch starts at Marshall at 4 p.m. MT/6 p.m. ET on Feb.4 before wrapping up at WKU at 1 p.m. MT/2 p.m. CT Feb. 6.

Final Stats

Game Book In PDF Format 

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Author: UTEP Athletics

The  UTEP Miners move to 18-1 with an 86 to 80 win over LA Tech. Andres Acosta was courtside and brings you his view of the afternoon contest in tonight’s Story in Six Pics.