Battle of I-10: UTEP hosts NMSU Saturday at the Don Haskins Center

Following an eight-day break between games, the UTEP men’s basketball team will continue its demanding early-season schedule at home against NM State on Saturday (Nov. 22) at 7 p.m. UTEP-NMSU Notes (PDF) via UTEP

FirstLight Federal Credit Union is sponsoring The Battle of I-10.

The Miners (1-0) are trying to start a season 2-0 for the first time in five years. NM State (1-2) is aiming to even its record after opening the season with a pair of tough road games versus Wichita State (35-1 a year ago) and Saint Mary’s (23-12).

The Aggies have played in the last three NCAA Tournaments, and four of the last five, having won WAC tournament titles each year. NMSU has posted 26, 24 and 26 wins the last three seasons.

The Aggies return their top three scorers from the 2013-14 season in senior guard Daniel Mullings (16.8 ppg), senior guard DK Eldridge (11.2 ppg) and senior center Tshilidzi Nephawe (11.1 ppg).

The Aggies bounced back from their 0-2 start to rout Northern Colorado, 86-65, on Wednesday in Las Cruces. Mullings scored 20 points and freshman forward Pascal Siakam added 19 for NMSU, which shot 55.2 percent and outrebounded UNC 38-29.

Mullings is averaging 17.3 ppg and 6.7 rpg. Senior forward Remi Barry is averaging 14.3 ppg and Siakam is averaging 10.7 ppg and 5.0 rpg.

“They are a team that has several starters back from a year ago,” UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. “They are very experienced. They have gotten road tough by playing Wichita State, one of the really fine teams in the country, and Saint Mary’s, who has been terrific the last couple of years. They will come in here with a lot of veterans who beat us here a year ago. It will be very difficult.”

NMSU has won three straight over UTEP for the first time since 1997-2000. The Miners have won 10 of the last 14 in El Paso, although they dropped a 77-68 decision in the Haskins Center last season.

“We have to show that we can handle their pressure a little better than we did a year ago,” Floyd said. “They bothered us by limiting us to one shot. They were very good on the boards. We are going to have to get more active in all areas. Defensively I thought it was very, very easy for them a year ago.”

Floyd said the Aggies present multiple problems for his squad.

“Just their overall size,” he said. “Nephawe is one of the more active big guys in the country. He is a very good rebounder. They are versatile, with Mullings being one of the terrific guards in the country. He is just outstanding. I think they shoot the ball well. They haven’t shot particularly well from the three-point line [27.9 percent in 2014-15], but we know that they can.”

The Miners were particularly sharp offensively in their 65-52 win over Washington State on Nov. 14. But they held the Cougars to 35.2 percent shooting, won the rebounding battle 46-37, shot 26 free throws and forced 22 turnovers with 11 steals.

“We missed a lot of free throws and a lot of layups,” Floyd said. “You want to finish. You try to give your opponent some credit for all of that, but I think just having physical practices and bearing down and not being casual and finishing all plays, all of those things contribute [to solving the problem].

“New Mexico State is going to play a bunch of different defenses. We’re going to have to be ready for everything from 1-3-1 to full court presses, zone, man, and we’ll try to come out well-prepared and maybe share the ball a little bit better than we did in the first game.”

Of some concern is the fact the Miners haven’t played in eight days, while NMSU has played three games in the last week. Floyd and his staff have a plan to dust off some of the cobwebs.

“We’re going to scrimmage Thursday afternoon,” he said. “We’re going to get a little time and score with the officials in there, just so we can keep it competitive with the juices flowing.”

Tickets for Saturday’s game start at just $8 and are available by calling 747-5234.

Source: UTEP Athletics