UTEP Men’s Basketball Stifles Delaware, 70-55
EL PASO, Texas – Elijah Jones registered his first career double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds, with eight offensive) to pace a quartet of Miners in double figures, and the UTEP men’s basketball team locked up Delaware defensively in a convincing 70-55 win at the Don Haskins Center Saturday evening.
The Miners (8-14, 4-7 CUSA) made things miserable for the Fightin’ Blue Hens (6-15, 2-8 CUSA), who finished with the worst shooting percentage (26.5 percent) by a UTEP opponent in nine years. That season (2016-17) the Orange and Blue limited UTSA (1/21/17) to 24.1 percent (14-58) from the floor. UD was an abysmal 8.7 percent (2-23) from 3-point range, the worst effort from distance against UTEP since Old Dominion (1/15/22) went 1-15 (6.7 percent) four years ago.
The defensive effort helped the home side overcome an 11-point deficit (18-7) 11 minutes into the affair. The Miners struck back with a 16-2 run, including 13 straight at one point to pull ahead by three (23-20). They would never trail again.
The difference was two (27-25) at the break before UTEP exploded with a 14-2 surge to commence the second half. It began by the Miners tallying the first 10 points of the period to blow the game open. The margin eventually swelled to as many as 14 (41-27, 15:36, 2H). UD battled from that point on, but the Orange and Blue never relinquished their advantage.
Jamal West Jr. (15 points, six rebounds), Caleb Blackwell (10 points, career-high tying six rebounds) and Kaseem Watson (10 points, team-high tying three assists) buoyed the play of Jones. KJ Thomas chipped in five points and a squad-most three steals. The Miners’ bench also got involved. LA Hayes led the charge with seven points while matching Watson with three assists. Trey Horton III added five points and a pair of boards while Cassius Brooks rounded out the scoring with three points, all at the charity stripe.
UTEP forced Delaware into making 14 turnovers, and it made the most of them by converting them into 20 points. The Miners finished with 12 steals, their seventh game this year with 10 or more thefts. UTEP also had a 22-2 advantage on fastbreak scoring and converted 13 offensive boards into 12 second-chance points.
UTEP shook off a slow start from the floor (3-20) on the way to connecting on 22-57 (38.6 percent) of its attempts. That including making 6-16 (37.5 percent) from 3-point range. The Miners also continued their solid free throw shooting since the start of CUSA play by nailing 80.0 percent (20-25) from the stripe.
Delaware struggled to get into any rhythm on offense, with exception at the free-throw line. The Blue Hens were practically perfect, finishing 27-29 (93.1 percent) at the stripe.
“Credit Delaware, they’re tough to play against. They play a slow pace, and they grind you out,” UTEP head coach Joe Golding said. “The start wasn’t’ great but we hung in there and then we were able to score the basketball at the end of the first half. Then in the second half we went on a run and were able to separate, which I thought was the difference in the game. Credit our guys to that. I thought we were better against the zone in the second half than in the first. We had 13 assists and only six turnovers. Overall, I thought it was our best defensive game we’ve played all year.”
Delaware jumped out to a 9-3 edge five minutes into the contest, taking advantage of a sluggish start from the floor by the Miners. After a slam by Jones, the Blue Hens ripped off seven straight as UTEP fell behind by double figures (18-7, 9:10, 1H).
The Miners turned up their defense by forcing four turnovers in a four-minute stretch. It helped the Orange and Blue put together a 16-2 surge, including 13 straight, to vault into the lead for the first time of the tilt (23-20, 1:36, 1H). They never faced a deficit from that point on.
It started with a Brooks free throw before a flush from Watson on a breakaway. Two free throws from the visitors once again made it a double-digit deficit (20-10), but the Miners got things going at both ends of the court. Four free throws were sandwiched by a corner 3-pointer from Horton III. Two more triples, from Watson and Hayes, respectively, capped off the 13-0 run that let UTEP stake the three-point cushion.
After UD tied the contest on two separate occasions, Jones floated home a layup to beat the buzzer and send the Miners into the locker room up by a pair (27-25).
UTEP exploded with a 14-2 run to start the second half, including tallying the first 10 points of the frame to suddenly bolt ahead by 14 (41-27, 15:36, 2H). Seven points from West Jr., including two dunks, along with a pair of buckets by Jones and a step-back triple from Blackwell fueled the sequence.
A trey from the visitors stopped the surge, but the Orange and Blue had given themselves some breathing room. A turnaround, fadeaway jumper from West Jr. stretched the margin back to 13 (45-32, 13:36, 2H).
UD punched back with a 10-1 run to cut the lead down to four before Watson splashed home a trey on an out of bounds play, with a nice feed by West Jr. It was a seven-point differential (53-46) before Hayes had quick hands to come up with an offensive board and putback. After the Blue Hens once again crept within seven, Blackwell was pure from the top of the key on a 3-pointer.
Two free throws and a layup from the visitors cut it to six, but they would get no closer as UTEP closed out the contest in style.
UTEP returns to action with a split week, playing once on the road and once at home. The Miners open things up by playing at Sam Houston (5:30 p.m. MT/6:30 p.m. CT) on Wednesday before locking up with I-10 rival NM State (at 7 p.m. MT on Feb. 7). Fans who buy a ticket for UTEP’s matchup with the Aggies will be able to get in free to the women’s contest at 2 p.m. vs. Sam Houston. For further ticket information for the matchup with the Aggies, call (915) 747-UTEP.
